The Mediterranean and the Roman Revolution ..intothereignofAugustus,andthenseemtostop;^13 why,itisnotclear.
ButEgyptisoneareawherewemayonedaybeabletostudychange—social,
economic,religious—overtheperiodoftransition.
Elsewhereweareboundtoseethingsverymuchfromtheoutside.Gaul,
for instance, was another place where there was a sudden and irreversible
impositionofRomanrule.Butagain,haveweanyideaofwhatthismeant
for ordinary social and economic life? We can, of course, turn to classical
ethnographicorgeographicalsources—aboveall,tothedescriptivepartsof
Caesar’sDe bello GallicoandtoStrabo’sGeography.Theseareofgreatinterest,
foritisquiteclearthatpeopleinGraeco-Romansocietyinthefirstcentury
..wereconsciousoflivingsurroundedbybarbarianpeopleswithdifferent
customs,whowerenonethelessslowlycomingunderexternalinfluences.^14
Well-knownpassagesfromDiodorusandCaesar,forinstance,illustratethe
penetrationof ItaliantradeintoGaulbeforetheconquest.^15 Vitruviusalso
notesthecontinueduseofwoodenorthatchedroofsinSpainandGaul,and
ofstrawandearthonesevenatMarseilles.^16 Varro,inhisdialogueonagri-
culturesetinRome,makesoneofthespeakersreportthatwhenhehadbeen
incommandofanarmyneartheRhinehehadobservedanentirelynon-
Mediterraneantypeofagriculture:novines,olivesorfruittrees,chalkused
asfertilizer,andnosaltbutasortofcharcoalwhichwasusedinstead.^17 But
even if this is a genuine reminiscence (which is doubtful),^18 it points to a
fundamentaldifficulty.Themorespecificandconcrete,andthemorepre-
cisely located in space and time a description is, the less it will help us to
observechange—ortoseewhethertherewerebasicchangesornot;forthat
wewouldneedaseriesofprecisereports,descriptions,ordocuments,which
wealmostneverhave.Butthemoregeneralandsystematicsuchareportis,
thelessclearitwillbewhetheritisorcouldhavebeenbasedonrealobser-
. See D. J. Crawford, J. Quaegebeur, and W. Clarysse,Studies on Ptolemaic Memphis
().
. E.g.,ontheethnographyoftheCelts,seeJ.J.Tierney,‘‘TheCelticEthnographyof
Posidonius,’’Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.():–;A.D.Momigliano,AlienWisdom: The
Limitsof Hellenization(),chap.;D.Nash,‘‘ReconstructingPoseidonius’CelticEthnog-
raphy:SomeConsiderations,’’Britannia():–.
. Diodorus,,(Italiantradersexchangingwineforslaves);Caesar,BG,,,and,
,(lesserimpactoftradersonBelgicnorth).Forthebackground,see,e.g.,G.Clemente,I
Romani nella Gallia meridionale II–I sec. a.C.: politica ed economia nell’età dell’ imperialismo().
. Vitruvius,,.
. Varro,RR,,.
. Foracuteproblemsoverthis,seeP-W,s.v.‘‘Tremellius’’().