The Origins of the Roman Economy From the Iron Age to the Early Republic in a Mediterranean Perspective

In this book, Gabriele Cifani reconstructs the early economic history of Rome, from the Iron Age to the early Republic. Bringing a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, he argues that the early Roman economy was more diversified than has been previously acknowledged, going well beyond agriculture and pastoralism. Cifani bases his argument on a systematic review of archaeological evidence for production, trade and consumption. He posits that the existence of a network system, based on cultural interaction, social mobility, and trade, connected Rome and central Tyrrhenian Italy to the Mediterranean Basin even in this early period of Rome's history. Moreover, these trade and cultural links existed in parallel to regional, diversified economies, and institutions. Cifani's book thus offers new insights into the economic basis for the rise of Rome, as well as the social structures of Mediterranean Iron Age societies.

1. Introduction; 2. Notes on the geographical context of early Rome; 3. The beginnings of a longue durée; 4. The Early Iron Age (Latial Phases II and III); 5. A settlement unlike others: the economic background to the rise of Rome; 6. Latial Phase IV; 7. Latial Phase IV A; 8. Latial Phase IV B; 9. The archaic phase (580–500 BC); 10. Modelling the demography and consumption; 11. People, places, times and institutions of roman archaic economy; 12. The economics of the early calendar; 13. The early Latins overseas; 14. The Fifth century BC; 15. Crisis and opportunities in the fifth century BC; 16. The archaeological evidence of the fourth century BC; 17. The fourth century transformations and the end of the roman archaic economy; 18. Epilogue; Appendices.

Gabriele Cifani is researcher of classical archaeology at the Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata and Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Ecole normale supérieure, Paris. He is the author of Storia di una frontiera (2003) and Architettura Romana Arcaica (2008).