Introduction

A detachment of the fire-fighters (vigiles) in Rome was stationed in Ostia and Portus, and their Ostian barracks are one of the city's most famous monuments. In this section we present an overview of the evidence for fire-fighters in Rome and the harbours.

The fire-brigade of Rome was organised by Augustus in 6 AD, as reported by Cassius Dio. There were seven cohorts of fire-fighters, vigiles, each working in two of Rome's fourteen regions. The chief officer was called praefectus vigilum. He was supported by a subpraefectus and tribuni, who in turn were supported by administrative personnel: adjutants (cornicularii), assistants (beneficiarii), short-hand writers (actarii), scribes (librarii), and so on. The men were called milites, soldiers. They were organized in centuriae led by centuriones. Four physicians were attached to each cohort.

At first the cohorts were made up of freedmen, including the so-called Latini Iuniani, a special type of freedmen, with fewer rights. In the second century freeborn men and "foreign" residents (peregrini) were also joining the ranks. The total number of men was surprisingly large, there is an enormous disproportion between the number and more recent figures from before the industrial revolution. Each cohort originally consisted of 560 men: seven centuries of 80 men each. Based on a complex analysis of recruitment recorded in inscriptions, John Rainbird has argued that the number was doubled in 205 AD, to 1120 men, so a total of 7840.

From a legal text it becomes clear that most of the work of the vigiles took place during the night, when the risk of fire was greater, due to the use of oil-lamps and torches. Fire was made by striking stone with hardened iron, so that a spark could be caught in tinder. Splinters covered with sulphur (ramenta sulphurata) were used, not as matches, but as tinder, or to light the wicks of lamps.

Pyritarum etiamnum unum genus aliqui faciunt plurimum ignis habentis. Quos vivos appellamus, ponderosissimi sunt, hi exploratoribus castrorum maxime necessarii. Qui clavo vel altero lapide percussi scintillam edunt, quae excepta sulpure aut fungis aridis vel foliis dicto celerius praebet ignem.	Some writers mention another kind of pyrites also. Those among them have the greatest affinity to fire which we distinguish as "live" pyrites. They are the most ponderous of all, and are found remarkably useful for advance-guards when laying out encampments; for, on being struck with a nail or any other kind of stone, they emit a spark, which, received upon sulphur, dried fungus, or leaves, produces a fire almost sooner than it could be named.
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia XXXVI,XXX,138. Translation John Bostock and H. T. Riley.
Nam apud nos quoque ramenta sulphure aspersa ignem ex intervallo trahunt.	So with us, shavings sprinkled with sulphur catch fire at some distance.
Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones I,1,8. Translation John Clarke. See also Martialis, Epigrammata I,41,4 and X,3,3.

Vigiles is derived from the verb vigilo: to be watchful, to be awake. In Greek the vigiles were called νυκτοφυλακες, night watchmen. They patrolled the streets, primarily to detect beginning fires: fires can be put out easily, when they are discovered early enough, using buckets with water. Rescuing inhabitants was of course a priority.

An important role was played by the sebaciarii, who will be discussed together with graffiti from a guardhouse in Rome. They were probably in charge of the patrols. Trumpeters (bucinatores), about five per cohort, were essential for communication. They would warn inhabitants and summon assistance from other patrolling units or from the barracks. Runners will also have been used, and a few horses. To fight a small fire about 40 men would be needed, for a rapidly spreading fire 75, for the largest 150.

The intensive patrolling partly explains the size of the cohorts. But the vigiles had extra duties: they also acted as police against thieves and burglars, and kept an eye on the slaves who guarded the clothes of the visitors of baths. Here we should perhaps think of a measure of Alexander Severus: "He donated oil for the lighting of the baths, whereas previously these were not open before dawn and were closed before sunset" (SHA, Alexander Severus 24,6). They returned runaway slaves to their owners. They may also have been in charge of the illumination of some streets. If, when, and to what extent the streets of Rome were illuminated is far from certain, but artificial light seems to have been necessary. Transport carts were not allowed in Rome during the daylight. Much provisioning therefore took place when it was dark, and Juvenalis and Martialis complained about the resulting noise.

To the equipment of the vigiles belonged buckets, hooks, pick-axes, ladders and ropes. They brought water to a fire creating a bucket chain, but pumps were also used, operated by siphonarii. The pump for fighting fires was mentioned explicitly and described by Heron of Alexandria, in the first century AD. Water was drawn from public fountains and basins under the supervision of aquarii. Blankets (centones) soaked in water or vinegar were thrown on the flames. As a last resort walls and buildings were torn down. This will sometimes have led to conflicts, when house owners argued that demolition was not yet necessary. The men wore special boots, and presumably helmets and heat-resisting clothes, perhaps also trousers.

Top: the remains of a pump from Rome. Image: Ramieri 1990, fig. 4. Right: drawing of the pump described by Heron of Alexandria. Image: Sablayrolles 1996, fig. 5.

During the daytime the citizens would raise the alarm. The vigiles then obviously also fought the fires, but during the day the police force was formed by the cohortes urbanae, the urban cohorts under the command of the praefectus Urbi. Part of the vigiles now slept or performed drills in the barracks, while others made inspection rounds through the city, checking that a quantity of water was present in all buildings and apartments (so that a small starting fire, for example after knocking over an oil lamp, could be extinguished immediately by the inhabitants). If people were careless they could be punished with a whip or even forced labour.

After three years of service the vigiles received the right to free grain, the distribution of the frumentum publicum. This is documented in inscriptions from both Rome and Ostia. The typical formula is: F(rumentum) P(ublicum) A(ccipit) D(ie) [number] T(abula) or O(stio) K(ausa) C(ognita). The day from which the grain is received is recorded, followed by a reference to the place of distribution (the Porticus Minucia Frumentaria in the centre of Rome), and by the phrase "the facts having been ascertained". This would have been problematic for the Latini Iuniani, because of their limited rights, but the problem was solved by conferring Roman citizenship on them after three years of service with the vigiles.

A bronze slab from Rome dated to 203 AD. It records the names of vigiles who were entitled to receive free grain. Above the text are busts of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, and their son and co-ruler Caracalla. A bust of their other son, Geta, was removed after he was killed by his brother and given a damnatio memoriae. Capitoline Museums (CIL VI, 220). Photo: Ohio State University.

Starting in the reign of Gordianus III (238-244 AD) additional, military roles could be assigned to the vigiles. The Praefectus Vigilum could fulfil tasks in the provinces as dux, the first example of which dates to 241-242 AD. In a letter from 248-249 AD, written by Philippus Arabs and his son and co-ruler of the same name, addressed to the Praefectus Vigilum, we learn about the remarkable, not to say mysterious, career of Marcus Aurelius Mucianus. On June 18 239 AD he joined the second cohort of the vigiles. On April 13 240 he was stationed in Ostia, and returned after four months, on August 13. He was sent to the Orient on August 23 241 AD and returned on December 23 244 AD. On May 28 245 AD he was sent to Sardinia, and returned in the same year on August 15. Finally he was sent to Luna and Pisa on April 13 246 AD, and returned on June 21 247 or 248 AD, in bad health. His registration for the frumentum publicum had taken place on March 1 243 AD.

Diocletianus seems to have reduced the number of vigiles (in armis vulgi numerus; Aurelius Victor, Liber de Caesaribus 89,47). We hear of the vigiles celebrating a feast as late as 362 AD, during the reign of Julianus: the Matronalia in honour of Juno Lucina. The feast took place on March 1, the start of the official year of the vigiles, together with a feast of Mars. During the festivities the vigiles paraded dressed as women. At the end of the fourth century the tasks of the vigiles seem to have been taken over by guilds, by order of Valentinianus I, between 364 and 375 AD.

DESCRIPTIO FER[iarum] QVAE IN COHORTE [---] CL(audio) MAMERTINO E[t Fl(avio) Nevitta] CONSS [---] MATRONAE CVM CARPENTIS [---] SIFON[arius ---] FALC[arius ---] VNC[inarius ---] B[---]

Top An inscription from Rome recording feriae of the vigiles. It mentions specialists using pumps, sickles and hooks. Date: 362 AD. CIL VI, 3744 = 31075. Right Bronze tablet with an extract of a letter by Philippus Arabs and his son. Meas.: w. 0.148, h. 0.166. Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz. From the art trade. Reputedly from the lower Danube region. Date: 248-249 AD. Photo: Pferdehirt 2003, Abb. 1.