Irrigation Communities in the Roman World through Epigraphic Sources and Justinian’s Digest

This survey deals with local irrigation systems organized by villages and communities existing in the Roman world (but also recently discovered in several parts of the world). This survey will examine both the most important epigraphic texts on this subject and the most relevant jurisprudential sources belonging to Justinian’s Digest and regarding the servitude of water. For their part the juridical texts can better explain the probable ‘legal status’ of these communities, namely how they were made and how internal relationships between rivales were considered. In all these cases, the need for joint water use led to the development of at least initial forms of “association” among rivales, intended for the regulation of: a) the distribution of water; b) the hydraulic work such as digging and maintenance; c) the arbitration of possible disputes between users.