Imperial Power and Italian Cities under the Early Roman Empire

本研究透过分析罗马帝国早期负责饮食计划的官员与意大利城市之间的关系，重新思考罗马帝国早期的治理结构。营养计划是为儿童提供经济支持的捐赠计划。在意大利，市政自治权得到了充分的享受，因为到公元二世纪官僚机构还没有充分发展。但是，由于在公元一世纪末或公元二世纪初建立了饮食制度，praefecti alimentorum被派遣。看来，为了监督这些计划的管理，他们与执行这些计划的市政官员接触。由此可以看出，这一饮食制度的重要性在于，能够监督城市自治的朝廷官员开始派遣。

This research analyzes the relations between praefecti alimentorum (imperial officials in charge of the alimentary schemes) and Italian cities to reconsider the governance structure of the Early Roman Empire. The alimentary programs were endowment schemes to provide financial support for children. In Italy, the municipal autonomy were fully enjoyed, because bureaucracy had not sufficiently developed by the second century A.D. But, as alimentary schemes were established at the end of the first century A.D. or the beginning of the second century A.D., praefecti alimentorum were dispatched. It seems that, to supervise the management of the schemes, they came into contact with municipal magistrates who executed the programs. Thus it can be pointed out that the significance of the alimentary schemes lies in the fact that imperial officials, who could inspect the self-administration of the cities, were begun to dispatch.