House Insurance

[caldrail]

Did the romans buy house insurance? Not the common man certainly, but were such financial deals done with landlords? Some sources hint that they did, yet I read elsewhere that only goods shipped across the mediterranean were on a limited guarantee. During the Great Fire of Rome, servants were observed setting fire to buildings and promting the blaze to a conflagration. Was that opportunist profiteering?

 

Does anyone have a definitive answer?

[Aurelianus]

If you think about what Crassus did with his buying properties that were in flames at cut down prices, and then putting the fire out, then it would seem unlikely that house insurance was widespread. However it is difficult to conceive that no banking shark in Roman times thought up such a lucrative idea, is it mentioned anywhere?

[caldrail]

I've seen some authors hint at it, but not in any primary source. I'd love to know because it would make landlords motives much clearer.

[caldrail]

Aha! Here's something I turned up by the poet Martial...

 

Tongilianus, you paid 200,000 sesterces for your house. An accident, too common in this city, destroyed it. You collected 1,000,000 sesterces. Now I ask you, doesn't it seem possible that set fire to your own house, Tongilianus?

 

Hmmm.... At first this suggests that Mr T has had his house insured and was paid handsomely in compensation. However it seems more likely that he sold the land on which the property stood and made a killing. perhaps he bought a decrepit property at a knock-down price, rented it for a while, then burned it and sold the land for profit? After all, insurers are never going to be generous in our age or theirs. That amount of profit suggests it wasn't insurance, just another shadey deal.

Edited October 29, 2006 by caldrail