• @PugJesusOPM
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    1714 days ago

    At least partially! Requests for proposals (and often accepting lowest bidder contracts on less prestigious projects - some things never change), contracts with private entities for public undertakings (societas publicanorum), and corporations (often using a curious form of limited liability in which a slave was technically and legally owner of the firm) all existed by the Late Republic/Early Empire!

    • Tar_Alcaran
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      714 days ago

      But on the other side of the Contracting table, a lot of water pipes were privately owned in Rome. And stealing water was very popular, if a pipe happened to pass by your house, it saved you a trip to a public source.

      • @PugJesusOPM
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        514 days ago

        Or an expensive connection - farmers were always illegally tapping the pipes for agricultural purposes XD