In the first volume in this new series on Roman society and law, Saskia T. Roselaar traces the social and economic history of the ager publicus, or public land. As the Romans conquered Italy during the fourth to first centuries BC, they usually took land away from their defeated enemies and declared this to be the property of the Roman state. This land could be distributed to Roman citizens, but it could also remain in the hands of the state, in which case it was available for general public use. However, in the third and second centuries BC growth in the population of Italy led to an...

This volume is the result of a conference, held at Manchester in July 2010, on processes of integration and identity formation in the Roman Republic. This book focuses especially on day-to-day contexts in which Romans and Italians interacted, which are essential for understanding long-term developments. The book discusses settlement patterns (e.g. Roman colonies), the Roman army, and the administration of Italy, as well as the long-term consequences of contact, such as growing social and economic networks, linguistic, religious, and cultural changes, transformations of identity in Rome and...