Institute for History Annual Report 2010 - O - Universiteit Leiden

1992 the Oxford historian Lintott published an
entire book that turns out to be based on an
incorrect arrangement of the surviving pieces of
bronze. Four years later the puzzle was finally
solved by Crawford, the principal discovery being
that the two largest fragments are separated by a
lacuna of no more than ca. 35 characters. The
practical significance of this is that it now seems
possible to arrive at a completely new
interpretation of this crucially important text
which not only summarizes all measures taken
between 133 and 111 BC but also provides a
fascinating overview of the economic functions
and legal status of what remained of the former
ager publicus in 111 BC. Given the length of this
complicated text, to which Lintott devoted several
years of study, the task of elucidating its contents
is a mini-project of its own.
Romans, Latins and Allies: Demographic
and Military Aspects. (This post-doctoral
project was finalized in 2007).
Any inquiry into the changing size of the Roman
citizenry must pay special attention to the relationship
between Romans, Latins and allies. At
least originally, any Latin who migrated to Roman
territory (mostly the city of Rome) automatically
obtained Roman citizenship. Migrating Latins thus
contributed to the growth of the body of citizens.
On the other hand, between 200 and 170 BC large
numbers of Romans became Latins as they were
sent out to newly founded coloniae Latinae.
Although this two-way exchange of Romans and
Latins is of vital importance for our understanding
Institute for History
19
of the demographic make-up of 2nd-century BC
Italy, it is a topic to which very few studies have
been devoted. At the same time there is evidence
to suggest that the second century BC was a
period of rapid demographic growth for both
Roman and Latins, who seem to have expanded at
the expense of other Italian groups, such as the
Gauls of North Italy. The implications of this
development for the vexed issue of how Italy was
romanized (or latinized) have never been explored.
Finally, it would seem that as the second
century proceeded, the Latins and the other Italian
allies had to shoulder an increasing share of the
military burden of imperial expansion. If this shift
was out of line with the patterns of population
growth in various parts of Italy – as would seem to
have been the case – it becomes easier to
understand why the question of Roman
citizenship acquired a prominent place on the
political agenda from the mid-120s BC onwards.
Of course the same hypothesis helps to explain the
outbreak of the Social War (91-88 BC) as a result of
which Roman citizenship was extended to the
entire free population of Central and South Italy.
Moving Romans. Urbanisation, migration
and labour in the Roman Principate
Rens Tacoma
The aim of the Moving Romans project is to study
the relationship between urbanisation, migration
and labour opportunities in Roman Italy in the
first two centuries A.D. The central question is to
what extent labour-induced migration was