Italy and the West: Comparative Issues in Romanization

Nineteen papers examining varied responses to Romanization, and how this affects our view of the development of the Roman Empire. The traditional view of Romanization is as the triumph of a superior and more advanced culture over primitive communities, brought about by military expansion and resulting in the creation of a uniform political and cultural entity. It is only in the last twenty years that the variety of responses that Romanization elicited among the various ethnic groups, social classes, genders, spheres, and even within the same person in different conjunctures of his or her life, has begun to be appreciated. The aim of this collection of papers is to further understanding of Romanization at a formative stage; early Roman expansion in Italy. There is much evidence for bi-directional negotiation between Italian communities and Rome. Understanding the motivation of the Italian peoples to become part of a new political entity is crucial to knowing how Roman Italy was kept together for more than half a millennium. Seven papers also examine responses to Romanization in other parts of the Empire.

Table of Contents

Preface (Simon Keay and Nicola Terrenato)

Part 1: Italy
1. Introduction (Nicola Terrenato)
2. The Romanization of Italy through the epigraphic record (Enrico Benelli)
3. Toynbee's Legacy: discussing aspects of the Romanization of Italy (Emmanuele Curti)
4. Landscape changes: Romanization and new settlement patterns at Tiati (Elena Antonacci Sanpaolo)
5. Strategies and forms of political Romanization in central-southern Etruria (third century BC) (Massimiliano Munzi)
6. A tale of three cities: the Romanization of northern coastal Etruria (Nicola Terrenato)
7. Cultural imaginings. Punic tradition and local identity in Roman Republican Sardinia (Peter van Dommelen)
8. Transformations and continuities in a conquered territory: the case of the Ager Praetutianus (Maria Paola Guidobaldi)
9. Roman intentiosn and Romanization: Republican northern Italy, c. 200-100 BC (J.H.C. Williams)
10. The Romanization of Italy: Conclusions (Jean-Pierre Vallat)

Part 2: The Provinces
11. Introduction (Simon Keay)
12. Romanization and the Hispaniae (Simon Keay)
13. Conquest and Romanization of the upper Guadalquivir valley (Marcelo Castro Lopez and Luis Gutierrez Soler)
14. Leptis Magna. The Romanization of a major African city through burial evidence (Sergio Fontana)
15. The Roman Cultural Revolution in Gaul (Greg Woolf)
16. 'Romanization; and the peoples of Britain (Simon James)
17. The Romanization of diet in the Western Empire: comparative archaeological studies (Anthony King)

Part 3: Discussion
18. Vulgar Romanization and the domination of elites (Susan E. Alcock)
19. Reflections on a one day conference "Italy and the West: comparative issues in Romanization" (Jean Andreau)

edited by Simon Keay and Nicola Terrenato