Peasants and Slaves The Rural Population of Roman Italy (200 BC to AD 100) [Hardcover]

A radical interdisciplinary reappraisal of the agrarian background to the political events which shaped Rome during the Late Republic.A radical interdisciplinary reappraisal of the agrarian background to the political events which shaped the destiny of Rome (from Republic to Empire). The book actively builds upon the textual and archaeological evidence to trace the fate of the Italian rural free population during a crucial period of its history.A radical interdisciplinary reappraisal of the agrarian background to the political events which shaped the destiny of Rome (from Republic to Empire). The book actively builds upon the textual and archaeological evidence to trace the fate of the Italian rural free population during a crucial period of its history.The crisis of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an Empire have fascinated generations of scholars. It has long been assumed that a dramatic demographic decline of the rural free peasantry (which was supplanted by slaves) triggered the series of social and economic developments which eventually led to Rome's political crisis during the first century BC. This book contributes to a lively debate by exploring both the textual and the archaeological evidence and by tracing and reassessing the actual fate of the Italian rural free population between the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Data derived from a comparative analysis of twenty-seven archaeological surveys  and about five thousand sites  allow Dr Launaro to outline a radically new picture according to which episodes of local decline are placed within a much more generalised pattern of demographic growth.Preface; Introduction; Part I. An Outline of the Historical Demography of Roman Italy: 1. The Italian population under Augustus; 2. Competing arguments and relevant implications; Part II. Demography and Landscape Archaeology: Towards an Integration: 3. Absolute figures and relative trends; 4. A comparison of relevant trends; Part III. Archaeologicalã(