Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:32:45.502Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Fifth-Century Crisis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2017

Christopher Smith*
Affiliation:
British School at Rome [email protected]

Abstract

This essay seeks to establish the parameters of our uncertainty concerning one of the most difficult periods of Roman history, the period between the traditional end of the Roman monarchy and the passing of the Licinio-Sextian legislation. In addition to some methodological observations, the essay attempts to offer a model for understanding Roman choices and decisions in a period of change and transformation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Australasian Society for Classical Studies 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I am very grateful to Jeremy Armstrong and James Richardson for the invitation to a highly stimulating conference and to contribute to this volume, and I am grateful also for their comments on this essay.

References

AA. VV. (1990), Crise et transformation des sociétés archaïques de l’Italie antique au Ve siècle av. J.-C: Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’Ecole française de Rome et l’unité de recherches étrusco-italiques associée au CNRS (UA 1132), Rome 19-21 Novembre 1987. Rome.Google Scholar
Aberson, M.,Biella, M. C., Di Fazio, M. and Wullschleger, M. (2014), Entre archéologie et histoire: dialogues sur divers peuples de l’Italie préromaine. Bern.Google Scholar
Alföldi, A. (1965), Early Rome and the Latins. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Ampolo, C. (1988), ‘La citta riformata e l’organizzazione centuriata. Lo spazio, il tempo, il sacro nella nuova realta urbana’, in A. Momigliano and A. Schiavone (eds), Storia di Roma I: Roma in Italia. 203-239. Turin.Google Scholar
Armstrong, J. (2016), War and Society in Early Rome, from Warlords to Generals. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attema, P. A. J., Di Gennaro, F., Seubers, J. F., Belelli Marchesini, B. and Ullrich, B. (2014), ‘Early Urbanization at Crustumerium (9th-5th Century B.C.)’, in E. C. Robinson (ed.), Papers on Italian Urbanism in the First Millennium B.C. 175-195. Portsmouth, RI.Google Scholar
Badian, E. (1972), Publicans and Sinners. Oxford.Google Scholar
Badian, E. (1993), From Plataea to Potidaea: Studies in the History and Historiography of the Pentecontaetia. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Balot, R. (2004), ‘Courage in the Democratic polis ’, CQ 54, 406-423.Google Scholar
Barton, C. (2001), Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Bishop, M. C. and Coulston, J. C. N. (1993), Roman Military Equipment from the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome. London.Google Scholar
Bradley, G. (2015), ‘Investigating Aristocracy in Archaic Rome and Central Italy: Social Mobility, Ideology and Cultural Influences’, in N. Fisher and H. van Wees (eds), ‘Aristocracy’ in Antiquity. Redefining Greek and Roman Elites. 85-124. Swansea.Google Scholar
Bunse, R. (1998), Das Römische Oberamt in der frühen Republik und das Problem der “Konsulartribunen”. Trier.Google Scholar
Cairo, G. (2012), ‘Considerazioni sul dibattito storiografico relativo alla fanteria nell’esercito romano arcaico’, Revue des études militaires anciennes 5, 41-64.Google Scholar
Camporeale, G. (2004), Gli Etruschi: Storia e civiltà. Turin.Google Scholar
Capanna, M. C. and Carafa, P. (2009), ‘Il progetto “Archeologia del Suburbio di Roma” per la ricostruzione dei paesaggi agrari antichi’, in V. Jolivet, C. Pavolini, M. A. Tomei, and R. Volpe (eds), Suburbium II. Il Suburbio di Roma dalla fine dell’età monarchica alla nascita del sistema delle ville (V-II secolo a.C.). 27-39. Rome.Google Scholar
Cartledge, P. (2002), Sparta and Laconia: A Regional History, 1300 to 362 BC, 2nd edn. Oxford.Google Scholar
Cascino, R., Di Giuseppe, H. and Patterson, H.(2012), Veii: The Historical Topography of the Ancient City: A Restudy of John Ward-Perkins’s Survey. London.Google Scholar
Cascino, R., Fusco, U. and Smith, C. J. (eds) (2015), Novità nella ricerca archeologica a Veio: dagli studi di John Ward-Perkins alle ultime scoperte: atti della giornata di studi, British School at Rome, 18 gennaio 2013. Rome.Google Scholar
Cels-Saint-Hilaire, J. (1995), La République des tribus. Toulouse.Google Scholar
Chiabà, M. (2011), Roma e le priscae Latinae coloniae. Trieste.Google Scholar
Cifani, G. (2007), L’architettura romana arcaica: edilizia e società tra monarchia e repubblica. Rome.Google Scholar
Cifani, G. (2010), ‘I grandi cantieri della Roma arcaica: aspetti tecnici ed organizzativi’, in S. Camporeale, H. Dessales, and A. Pizzo (eds), Arqueologiá de la Construcción II. Los procesos constructivos en el mundo romano: Italia y provincias orientales. 35-49. Madrid.Google Scholar
Cifani, G. (ed.) (2013), Tra Roma e l’Etruria: cultura, identità e territorio dei Falisci. Rome.Google Scholar
Cifani, G. (2017), ‘Small, Medium or Extra-Long? Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics on the Reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus’, in P. Lulof and C. J. Smith (eds), The Age of Tarquinius Superbus: Central Italy in the Late Sixth Century BC. 113-122. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Colonna, G. (1981), ‘L’ideologia funeraria e il conflitto delle culture’, Archeologia Laziale 4, 229-232.Google Scholar
Cornell, T. J. (1991), ‘The Tyranny of the Evidence. A Discussion of the Possible Uses of Literacy in Etruria and Latium in the Archaic Age’, in J. H. Humphrey (ed.), Literacy in the Roman World. 7-33. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Cornell, T. J. (1995), The Beginnings of Rome. Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, c. 1000–264 BC. London.Google Scholar
Della Fina, G. (ed.) (2013), Mobilità geografica e mercenariato nell’Italia preromana. Annali della Fondazione per il museo ‘Claudio Faina’ XX. Orvieto.Google Scholar
Di Fazio, M. (2013), ‘Mercenari, tiranni, lupi. Appunti sparsi sulla mobilità di gruppi armati nell’Italia antica’, in G. Della Fina (ed.), Mobilità geografica e mercenariato nell’Italia preromana. Annali della Fondazione per il museo ‘Claudio Faina’ XX. 195-212. Orvieto.Google Scholar
Dillery, J. (2009), ‘Roman Historians and the Greeks: Audiences and Models’, in A. Feldherr (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians. 77-107. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Donnellan, L., Nizzo, V. and Burgers, G.-J. (eds) (2016a), Contexts of Early Colonization. Acts of the Conference Contextualizing Early Colonization. Archaeology, Sources, Chronology and Interpretative Models Between Italy and the Mediterranean, vol. 1. Rome.Google Scholar
Donnellan, L. Nizzo, V. and Burgers, G.-J.(2016b), Conceptualising Early Colonization. Acts of the Conference Contextualizing Early Colonization. Archaeology, Sources, Chronology and Interpretative Models Between Italy and the Mediterranean, vol. 2. Rome.Google Scholar
Drogula, F. K. (2015), Commanders and Command in the Roman Republic and Early Empire. Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
Dumézil, G. (1996), Archaic Roman Religion. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Etcheto, H. (2012), Les Scipions: Famille et pouvoir à Rome à l’époque républicaine. Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Feeney, D. (2016), Beyond Greek: The Beginnings of Latin Literature. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Finley, M. I. (1985), ‘The Ancient Historian and His Sources’, in M. I. Finley, Ancient History: Evidence and Models. 7-26. London.Google Scholar
Flower, H. I. (2010), Roman Republics. Princeton.Google Scholar
Forsythe, G. (2005), A Critical History of Early Rome, from Prehistory to the First Punic War. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Fromentin, V., Bertrand, E., Costelloni-Trannoy, M., Molin, M. and Urso, G. (eds) (2016), Cassius Dion: nouvelles lectures. Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Fulminante, F. (2013), The Urbanisation of Rome and Latium Vetus, from the Bronze Age to the Archaic Era. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Grieve, L. (1985), ‘The Reform of the Comitia Centuriata ’, Historia 34, 278-309.Google Scholar
Griffiths, A. (2013), ‘Where Did Early Roman History Come From?’, BICS 56, 79-87.Google Scholar
Hall, J. M. (2014), Artifact & Artifice: Classical Archaeology and the Ancient Historian. Chicago.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. H. (ed.) (2000), A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures: An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Hodkinson, S. (ed.) (2009), Sparta: Comparative Approaches. Swansea.Google Scholar
Hopkins, J. N. (2016), The Genesis of Roman Architecture. New Haven.Google Scholar
Horden, P. and N. PurcellPurcell, N. (2000), The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Oxford.Google Scholar
Howarth, R. S. (2006), The Origins of Roman Citizenship. Lewiston.Google Scholar
Humbert, M. (ed.) (2005), Le Dodici Tavole: dai decemviri agli umanisti. Pavia.Google Scholar
Humm, M. (2005), Appius Claudius Caecus: La République accomplie. Rome.Google Scholar
Kaster, R. A. (2005), Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome. Oxford.Google Scholar
Kennell, N. (2010), Spartans: A New History. Chichester.Google Scholar
Lanfranchi, T. (2015), Les Tribuns de la plèbe et la formation de la République romaine (494-287 avant J.-C.). Rome.Google Scholar
Lange, C. H. and Vervaet, F. (eds) (2014), The Roman Republican Triumph: Beyond the Spectacle. Rome.Google Scholar
Lulof, P. and C. Smith, C. J. (eds) (2017), The Age of Tarquinus Superbus: Central Italy in the Late Sixth Century BC. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Lupi, M. (2014), ‘Testo e Contesti. La Grande Rhetra e le procedure spartane di ammissione alla cittadinanza’, Incidenza dell’antico 12, 9-41.Google Scholar
McDonnell, M. (2006), Roman Manliness: Virtus and the Roman Republic. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Menichetti, M. (1995), ... Quoius forma virtutei parisuma fuit: Ciste prenestine e cultura di Roma medio-repubblicana. Rome.Google Scholar
Meunier, N. (2011), ‘Tribuni plebis ou tribuni militum? Le tribunat originel dans la Haute République de Rome (Ve-IVe s. av. J.-C.)’, LEC 79, 347-360.Google Scholar
Meunier, N. (2014), ‘The Tribunes and the Federal Army of the Latin League’, LEC 82, 271-288.Google Scholar
Minieri, L. (2016), ‘Esercito gentilizio aristocratico e fanteria cittadina democratica? A proposito di un recente volume di Filippo Andreatta’, Iura and legal systems 3, 128-139.Google Scholar
Momigliano, A. (1966), ‘Osservazioni sulla distinzione fra patrizi e plebei’, in Les Origines de la République Romaine. 199-221. Geneva. (= A. Momigliano [1969], Quarto contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico. 419-36. Rome.)Google Scholar
Momigliano, A. (1967), ‘L’ascesa della plebe nella storia arcaica di Roma’, RSI 79, 297-312. (= A. Momigliano [1969], Quarto contributo alla storia degli studi classici e del mondo antico. 437-54. Rome.)Google Scholar
Mora, F. (1999), Fasti e schemi cronologici: la riorganizzazione annalistica del passato remoto romano. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Nafissi, M. (2010), ‘The Great “Rhetra” (Plut. Lyc. 6): a Retrospective and Intentional Construct?’, in L. Foxhall, H.-J. Gehrke, and N. Luraghi (eds), Intentional History: Spinning Time in Ancient Greece. 89-119. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
North, J. A. (2000), ‘Prophet and Text in the Third Century BC’, in E. H. Bispham and C. Smith (eds), Religion in Archaic and Republican Rome and Italy: Evidence and Experience. 92-107. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
North, J. A. (2010), ‘The End of the Republic’, JRA 23, 469-472.Google Scholar
Oakley, S. P. (1997-2005), A Commentary on Livy, Books VI-X, 4 vols. Oxford.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, R. M. (1965), A Commentary on Livy, Books 1–5. Oxford.Google Scholar
Pais, E. (1906), Ancient Legends of Roman History, translated by M. E. Cosenza. London.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. E. A. (1970), The Archaic Community of the Romans. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. E. A. (1996), ‘The Deconstruction of Mommsen on Festus 462/464 L, or the Hazards of Restoration’, in J. Linderski (ed.), Imperium Sine Fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic. 75-101. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Palombi, D. (2010), ‘Alla frontiera meridionale del Latium vetus. Insediamento e identità’, in D. Palombi (ed.), Il tempio arcaico di Caprifico di Torrecchia (Cisterna di Latina). I materiali e il contest. 173-225. Rome.Google Scholar
Patterson, H., Di Giuseppe, H. and Witcher, R.(2004), ‘Three South Etrurian “Crises”: First Results of the Tiber Valley Project’, PBSR 72, 1-56.Google Scholar
Pelgrom, J. and Stek, T. D. (eds) (2014), Roman Republican Colonization: New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ancient History. Rome.Google Scholar
Pellam, G. (2015), ‘ Sacer, Sacrosanctus, and Leges Sacratae ’, CA 34, 322-334.Google Scholar
Potts, C. R. (2015), Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c. 900-500 BC. Oxford.Google Scholar
Powell, A. and Hodkinson, S. (eds) (2010), Sparta: The Body Politic. Swansea.Google Scholar
Purcell, N. (2003), ‘Becoming Historical: The Roman Case’, in D. C. Braund and C. Gill (eds), Myth, History and Culture in Republican Rome: Studies in Honour of T. P. Wiseman. 12-40. Exeter.Google Scholar
Raaflaub, K. A. (ed.) (2005), Social Struggles in Archaic Rome. New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders, 2nd edn. Malden, MA.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. and Cherry, J. F. (eds) (1986), Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-political Change. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rich, J. W. (2007), ‘Warfare and the Army in Early Rome’, in P. Erdkamp (ed.), A Companion to the Roman Army. 7-23. Malden, MA.Google Scholar
Rich, J. W. (2014), ‘The Triumph in the Roman Republic: Frequency, Fluctuation and Policy’, in C. H. Lange and F. Vervaet (eds), The Roman Republican Triumph: Beyond the Spectacle. 197-258. Rome.Google Scholar
Richard, J.-C. (1978), Les Origines de la plèbe romaine: Essai sur la formation du dualisme patricio-plébéien. Rome.Google Scholar
Richard, J.-C. (1989), ‘Licinius Macer (Hist. 17) et l’épisode du Crémère’, RPh 63, 75-84.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. H. (2012), The Fabii and the Gauls: Studies in Historical Thought and Historiography in Republican Rome. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Ridley, R. T. (1980), ‘Fastenkritik: a Stocktaking’, Athenaeum 58, 264-298.Google Scholar
Ridley, R. T. (2014), ‘Livy the Critical Historian’, Athenaeum 102.2, 444-474.Google Scholar
Rüpke, J. (2011), The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History and the Fasti. Malden, MA.Google Scholar
Rüpke, J. (2012), Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Rüpke, J. (2015), ‘Religious Agency, Identity, and Communication: Reflections on History and Theory of Religion’, Religion 45, 344-336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santalucia, B. (1981), ‘Osservazioni sulla repressione criminale romana in età regia’, in Le délit religieux dans la cité antique: Actes de la table ronde de Rome (6-7 avril 1978). 39-49. Rome.Google Scholar
Santi, C. (2017), Castor a Roma: un dio peregrinus nel foro . Lugano.Google Scholar
Saulnier, C. (1980), L’armée et la guerre dans le monde étrusco-romain, VIII-IV s. Paris.Google Scholar
Schmitz, T. A. and Wiater, N. (eds) (2011), The Struggle for Identity: Greeks and their Past in the First Century BCE. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Scullard, H. H. (1981), Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London.Google Scholar
Smith, C. J. (2006), The Roman Clan. The Gens from Ancient Ideology to Modern Anthropology . Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smith, C. J. (2011), ‘The Magistrates of the Early Roman Republic’, in H. Beck, A. Duplá, M. Jehne, and F. Pina Polo (eds), Consuls and Res Publica : Holding High Office in the Roman Republic . 19-40. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smith, C. J. (2016), ‘The Pyrgi Tablets: A Historical Perspective’, in V. Bellelli and P. Xella (eds), Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscrizioni in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta. 203-221. Rome.Google Scholar
Stadter, P. A. (ed.) (1992), Plutarch and the Historical Tradition. New York.Google Scholar
Stary, P. F. (1981), Zur eisenzeitlichen Bewaffnung und Kampfesweise in Mittelitalien (ca. 9. bis 6. Jh. v. Chr.). Mainz.Google Scholar
Stibbe, C. M. et al. (eds) (1980), Lapis Satricanus. Archaeological, Epigraphical, Linguistic and Historical Aspects of the New Inscription from Satricum. The Hague.Google Scholar
Taylor, L. R. (2013), The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic: The Thirty-five Urban and Rural Tribes, reprinted with updated material by J. Linderski. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Terrenato, N. (2011), ‘The Versatile Clans: Archaic Rome and the Nature of Early City-States in Central Italy’, in N. Terrenato and D. C. Haggis (eds), State Formation in Italy and Greece: Questioning the Neoevolutionist Paradigm. 231-244. Oxford.Google Scholar
Thomsen, R. (1980), King Servius Tullius: A Historical Synthesis. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Toher, M. (2005), ‘The Tenth Table and the Conflict of the Orders’, in K. A. Raaflaub (ed.), Social Struggles in Archaic Rome. New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders, 2nd edn. 268-292. Malden, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tol, G. (2012), A Fragmented History: a Methodological and Artefactual Approach to the Study of Ancient Settlement in the Territories of Satricum and Antium. Groningen.Google Scholar
Urso, G. (2005), Cassio Dione e i magistrati: le origini della repubblica nei frammenti della Storia romana. Milan.Google Scholar
Urso, G. (2016), ‘Cassius Dion temoin de traditions disparues: les premiers siècles de la République’, in V. Fromentin, E. Bertrand, M. Costelloni-Trannoy, M. Molin, and G. Urso (eds), Cassius Dion: nouvelles lectures. 143-158. Bordeaux.Google Scholar
van Wees, H. (2004), Greek Warfare. Myth and Realities. London.Google Scholar
Versnel, H. S. (1993), ‘Saturn and the Saturnalia: the Question of Origin’, in H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, R. J. Van der Spek, H. C. Teitler, and H. T. Wallinga (eds), De agricultura: in memoriam Pieter Willem De Neeve (1945-1990). 98-120. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Vervaet, F. (2014), The High Command in the Roman Republic: The Principle of the Summum Imperium Auspiciumque from 509 to 19 BCE. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Viglietti, C. (2011), Il limite del bisogno. Antropologia economica di Roma arcaica. Bologna.Google Scholar
Volpe, R. (2014), ‘Dalle cave della Via Tiberina alle mura repubblicane di Roma’, in J. Bonetto, S. Camporeale, and A. Pizzo (eds), Arqueologiá de la Construcción IV. Las canteras en el mundo antiguo: sistemas de explotación y procesos productivos. 59-71. Madrid.Google Scholar
Welwei, K.-W. (2003), ‘Kontinuität und Wandel im spätarchaischen Sparta’, Hermes 131, 142-157.Google Scholar
Wiater, N. (2011), The Ideology of Classicism: Language, History, and Identity in Dionysius of Halicarnassus. New York.Google Scholar
Willemsen, S. L. (2014), Into the Light. A Study of the Changing Burial Customs at Crustumerium in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Groningen.Google Scholar
Winter, N. A. (2009), Symbols of Wealth and Power: Architectural Terracotta Decoration in Etruria and Central Italy, 640-510 B.C. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Yarrow, L. M. (2006), Historiography at the End of the Republic: Provincial Perspectives on Roman Rule. Oxford.Google Scholar
Zevi, F. (1993), ‘La tomba del guerriero di Lanuvio’, in Spectacles sportifs et scéniques dans le monde étrusco-italique. Actes de la table ronde, Rome 3 - 4 mai 1991. 409-442. Rome.Google Scholar
Ziolkowski, A. (1992), The Temples of Mid-Republican Rome and their Historical and Topographical Context. Rome.Google Scholar