The collegia centonariorum were often seen as the municipal fire-brigades or status groups of sorts in the Roman cities. Through a close investigation of the chronological development and geographical distribution of the collegia centonariorum, their legal privileges, and the prosopographical data of members and patrons, this volume reveals a much more complex picture of their origins, characters and compositions in various regions from the first century BC to the fourth century AD. Intricately connected with the textile economy, the collegia centonariorum illustrate how elements as diverse as material demand from the military and the city of Rome, legal infrastructure, urban development, and organizations of urban-based craftsmen and tradesmen may have interfaced with each other in the Roman world.

Jinyu Liu, Ph.D. (2004) in Ancient History, Columbia University, is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at DePauw University. She was awarded visiting fellowships at the Center for Epigraphical and Paleographical Studies (Ohio State University) in 2007 and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (New York University) in 2007-2008. Her research interests include social relations in Roman cities, the non-elite in the Roman Empire, Latin epigraphy, as well as the reception of Graeco-Roman classics in China. She has published several articles on Latin inscriptions and the ancient associations and has a chapter on professional associations forthcoming in the Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome (edited by Paul Erdkamp). She is currently completing a book-length project on the translation history of Graeco-Roman classics in China.