1The Ancient Corporations:Colleges of Builders in RomeThe Religious Character of the
Ancient CorporationsThe corporative organization of labor goes back to distant
antiquity, and associations of builders are among the most ancient.
When humans abandoned the nomadic lifestyle, they formed builders
associations to erect durable shelters, protective ramparts, and temples
in which to worship their gods. Architecture became an art—a difficult
one demanding unique empirical knowledge prior to the development
of the exact sciences. In some ways builders created the first aristocracy
of jealous exclusivity whose services were indispensable to the gradu-
ally forming states. The association proved necessary because isolated
individuals were incapable of erecting large structures by themselves
and because this work required extensive general, technical, and artis-
tic knowledge. Here it is necessary to make an important, preliminary
observation if we truly wish to understand the history of labor and
trades: First and foremost, this association always had a religious basis.
For the people of antiquity, every action of life was commingled with
religion. Humans considered themselves the playthings of higher pow-
ers without whose help it was impossible to succeed at anything. Work
was notably invested with a sacred nature. Oswald Wirth, in Les Mysteres
de l'Art Royal, translated this religious sentiment with great skill: