Making the Middle Republic

Showcases new approaches that reveal the remarkable transformation of Roman and Italian societies during the Middle Republican period.

Shows the importance of the Middle Republic for the broader study of Roman and Mediterranean history, with the forging in Italy of new political relationships, new economic practices, and new sociocultural structures. Employs a range of approaches from numismatics to bioarchaeology, landscape archaeology, fiscal sociology, art history, and beyond.During the fourth and third centuries BCE, Roman expansion into Italy reshaped the peninsula's Archaic societies and prompted new political relationships, new economic practices, and new sociocultural structures. Rural landscapes and urban spaces throughout Latium saw intensified use amidst novel principles of land management, animal husbandry, and architectural design. This book offers fresh perspectives on these transformations by embracing a wide range of approaches to Middle Republican history. Chapters take up topics and methods ranging from fiscal sociology, bioarchaeology, comparative slaveries, field survey, art and architectural history, numismatics, elite mobility, and beyond. An emphasis is placed on how developments in this period reshaped not only Rome, but also other Latin and Italian societies in complex and often multilinear ways. The volume promotes the Middle Republic as a period whose full dynamism is best appreciated at the intersection of diverse lines of inquiry.