People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC-AD 14Luuk de Ligt, Simon Northwood Recent research has called into question the orthodox view that the last two centuries of the Roman Republic witnessed a decline of the free rural population. Yet the implications of the alternative reconstructions of Italy's demographic history that have been proposed have never been explored systematically. This volume offers a series of in-depth discussions not only of the republican manpower and census figures but also of the abundant archaeological data. It also explores the growth of cities, especially Rome, and the changing distribution of the population over the Italian landscape. On the rural side it addresses the interplay between demographic, economic, and legal developments and the background to the Gracchan land reforms. Finally it examines the political implications of demographic growth and large-scale migration to the provinces. The volume as a whole demonstrates that demography is the key to many aspects of Italy's economic, social, military, and political history. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
I DEMOGRAPHY | 15 |
The Logic of the Debate Walter Scheidel | 17 |
The Much Maligned Peasant Comparative Perspectives on the Productivity of the Small Farmer in Classical Antiquity J Geoffrey Kron | 71 |
Urbanisation and Development in Italy in the Late Republic Neville Morley | 121 |
The Population of Cisalpine Gaul in the Time of Augustus Luuk de Ligt | 139 |
II CENSUS FIGURES AND POPULATION | 185 |
Counting Romans Saskia Hin | 187 |
Two Case Studies Maurizio Gualtieri | 387 |
IV ALLIED MANPOWER AND MIGRATION | 415 |
Mobility and Migration in Italy in the Second Century BC Paul Erdkamp | 417 |
Fixity and Mobility in SecondCentury Italy Will Broadhead | 451 |
The Gracchi the Latins and the Italian Allies Henrik Mouritsen | 471 |
V AGER PUBLICUS | 485 |
The Gracchan Reform and Appians Representation of an Agrarian Crisis Daniel J Gargola | 487 |
BG Niebuhr and the Limitation of Landholding in the Roman Republic John Rich | 519 |
Roman Census Figures in the Second Century BC and the Property Qualifi cation of the Fifth Class Elio Lo Cascio | 239 |
Census and Tributum Simon Northwood | 257 |
III SURVEY ARCHAEOLOGY AND DEMOGRAPHY | 271 |
Regional Field Survey and the Demography of Roman Italy Robert Witcher | 273 |
Poor Peasants and Silent Sherds Dominic Rathbone | 305 |
Settlement Organization and Land Distribution in Latin Colonies Before the Second Punic War Jeremia Pelgrom | 333 |
Polybius and the Field Survey Evidence from Apulia Douwe Yntema | 373 |
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Common terms and phrases
adult males ager publicus agrarian law agricultural allies ancient Appian archaeological argued Augustan Beloch black gloss Brunt Campania Cascio Cato censors census census figures centres Cisalpina Cisalpine Gaul colonists countryside demographic developments distribution early imperial early-modern economic elite estimates Etruria evidence excavated farmers farms farmsteads field survey Fregellae Gabba Gracchan Gracchus growth high count implied included increase inhabitants interpretation iugera iuris Kron labour late Republic late-republican Latin colonies Licinian law Ligt limit Livy low count Lucania Malanima manpower Messapians migration military million mobility Niebuhr Oxford peasant period Polybius population densities pre-Gracchan problems production proletarii public land Rathbone reconstruction references region republican Roman citizens Roman Italy Roman Republic Rome Rome’s Rosenstein rural Scheidel second century BC settlement slaves social sources suburbium suggests territory third century Tiberius Gracchus tion towns tributum urban population urbanization rates villa Witcher