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In the history of the Roman empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, a vicus (pl. vici) was an ad hoc provincial civilian settlement that sprang up close to and because of a nearby official Roman site, usually a military garrison or state-owned mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 operation.

The vici differed from the planned civilian towns (civitates) that were laid out as official, local economic and administrative centres, the coloniæ
Colonia (Roman)

A Roman colonia was originally a Roman Empire outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city....
 which were settlements of retired troops, or the formal political entities created from existing settlements, the municipia
Municipium

A municipium belonged to the second highest Social class of Ancient Rome cities, being inferior in status to the colonia . The first municipium was Tusculum....
.

Unplanned, and originally lacking any public administrative buildings, they had no specific legal status (unlike other settlements) and developed in order to profit from Roman troops with little to distract them otherwise when off duty.






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In the history of the Roman empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, a vicus (pl. vici) was an ad hoc provincial civilian settlement that sprang up close to and because of a nearby official Roman site, usually a military garrison or state-owned mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 operation.

The vici differed from the planned civilian towns (civitates) that were laid out as official, local economic and administrative centres, the coloniæ
Colonia (Roman)

A Roman colonia was originally a Roman Empire outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city....
 which were settlements of retired troops, or the formal political entities created from existing settlements, the municipia
Municipium

A municipium belonged to the second highest Social class of Ancient Rome cities, being inferior in status to the colonia . The first municipium was Tusculum....
.

Unplanned, and originally lacking any public administrative buildings, they had no specific legal status (unlike other settlements) and developed in order to profit from Roman troops with little to distract them otherwise when off duty. As with most garrison
Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, of more than 50 men, but now often simply using it as a home base....
 towns they provided entertainment and supplies for the troops but many also developed significant industries, especially metal and glass working.

Initially quite ephemeral, many vici were transitory sites that followed a mobile unit; once a permanent garrison was established they grew into larger townships. Often the number of official civitates and coloniæ were not enough to settle everyone who wished to live in a town and so the vici also attracted a wider range of residents, with some becoming chartered towns where no other existed nearby. Some, such as that at Vercovicium (Housesteads
Housesteads

Vercovicium was an Auxiliaries castra on Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its ruins are located at Housesteads in the civil parish of Bardon Mill in the England county of Northumberland, somewhat to the south of Broomlee Lough....
) outgrew their forts altogether, especially in the third century once soldiers were permitted to marry.

Early vici had no civilian administration and were under the direct control of the Roman military commander. Those that attracted significant numbers of Roman citizens were later permitted to form local councils and some, such as the vicus at Eboracum
Eboracum

Eboracum was a castra and city in Roman Britain. Today it is known as York, located in North Yorkshire, England....
 (York
York

York is a walled city, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire and River Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city status in the United Kingdom is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence....
), grew into regional centres and even provincial capitals.

Vicus is also a word of disputed meaning in the first sentence from James Joyce
James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Ireland expatriate author of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ....
's Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake

Finnegans Wake is a work of Comic novel by Irish literature James Joyce, which is recognised for its difficulty for the reader and its experimental style....
.

See also