Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

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 The Roman Republic


ties(civitates),suchasArpinum;butitsprimaryimportancewasthatitspeople
(the adult males) belonged to Roman tribes,were enrolled by the censors,
hadtheright(inprinciple)tovoteinRome,and(aboveall)wererecruited
directlyintotheRomanlegions.Thisvastpolitico-socialstructure,already
anuneasycombinationofanuclearcity-stateandanextendednation-state,
doesneedtobeexplainedbeforeanythingatallisintelligibleinthehistoryof
thelaterRepublic.Soalsodotheothertwomajorelementsof‘‘Roman’’Italy.
FirstlytherewereplacesofLatinstatus,acombinationofancientcommu-
nitieslikeTiburandPraeneste,coloniescreatedbytheLatinLeaguebefore
itsdissolutionin..,andpost-coloniesestablishedbyRome,from
AquileiatoBrundisiumorViboValentia.ThefailuretofindaplaceforItaly
as such inCAH^2 IX, the only fundamental fault of thevolume, shows up
painfullyhere.For,totakeonlyoneexample,Praenestecanshowthesingle
mostspectacularmonumentoflatesecond-centuryItaly,thetempleofFor-
tunaPrimigenia.Equally,fouroftheLatincolonieshavebeenextensively
excavated:Cosa,AlbaFucens,Paestum(theformerGreekcityof Poseido-
nia),andFregellae.See,forgeneraldiscussions,F.E.Brown,Cosa:TheMaking
of a RomanTown();J.R.Mertens,Alba Fucens();J.R.Mertens,‘‘Alba
Fucens:àl’aubed’unecolonieromaine,’’Journal of Ancient Topography():
;J.G.Pedley,Paestum:GreeksandRomansinSouthernItaly();F.Coarelli,
ed.,Fregellae II: il santuario di Esculapio().
These Latin colonies shared with the other element, that is, the non-
citizen allies, the essential characteristics of self-government on the one
hand,andoftheobligationtoprovide,officer,andpaycontingentsforthe
Romanarmy;buttheydidnotpayanytributeinmoney.‘‘RomeandItaly
intheSecondCenturyB.C.’’hadbeenverywelldiscussedbyE.Gabbain
CAH^2 VIII,chapter,andthethemeistakenupagainbyhim,inIX,chap-
ter,‘‘RomeandItaly:TheSocialWar.’’Butsurelythepoliticalgeographyof
latesecond-centuryItalyneededtobere-surveyed,andamapindicatingthe
differentcommunalstatusesprovided?Equally,inpagesoftextonninety
years,publishedinthes,spaceshouldhavebeenfoundforasurveyof
thedifferentethnicgroups,cultures,languages,andsettlementpatternsof
ItalybeforetheSocialWar,fromLiguriatoEtruria,Umbria,theSamniteor
Oscanzone,andtheGreekcities,surveyednowbyKatherineLomas,Rome
and the Western Greeks().Thereisagrowingmassof localinscriptional
andarchaeologicalevidencewhichitwouldbefutiletotrytosurveyhere.
But,withoutsuchanattempt,wemissevenPompeii,whoseurbanevolution
from an Oscan town into its imperial form was analysed recently by Paul
Zanker,Pompeji.StadtbilderalsSpiegelvonGesellschaftundHerrschaftsform().
TherelevanceofallthistotheRomanstateis,ofcourse,thattheSocial

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