Saltus Burunitanus Estate
About
Coloni working this imperial olive and grain estate northeast of Bulla Regia later petitioned the emperor Commodus directly, complaining that the procurator's soldiers had flogged tenants who resisted demands beyond their legal quota. Their appeal, engraved on stone found near Souk el-Khmis, cites the same Mancian tenure system already in force decades earlier under Trajan. By 117 CE the estate's coloni were already farming under that established sharecropping arrangement.
What happened here
Land held in one ownership and worked as a unit, whether the owner is a senator, an emperor or a town. Day to day it is run by a manager who keeps the accounts, allots the tasks and answers for the shortfall. The workforce is mixed — slaves in gangs, tenant farmers on shares, and seasonal labour hired for the harvest and the vintage. Tenants owe a proportion of the crop and a fixed number of days' work, and the terms are posted publicly, which is how we know them. Buildings cluster: presses, granaries, a smithy, quarters, a shrine. Disputes over water and over how many days are owed go to the estate's own procurator first and to the emperor if that fails.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →