State, Society and Popular Leaders in Mid-Republican Rome 241-167 B.C. by Rachel Feig Vishnia

Author:Rachel Feig Vishnia [Vishnia, Rachel Feig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Ancient, General
ISBN: 9781135093716
Google: n-TGXUFuE28C
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-11-12T01:17:11+00:00

COLONIZATION AND LAND DISTRIBUTIONS

Between 197 and 177 some twenty colonies were founded:68 Latin and maritime settlements as well as a new type, coloniae avium Romanorum, Latin-type citizen colonies. Although these colonies were Latin in character – i.e. they were situated inland and inhabited by a great number of settlers who received larger allotments than the two iugera traditionally assigned to those in maritime colonies – they resembled maritime colonies inasmuch as the settlers retained their Roman citizenship.69 Furthermore, two viritane distributions were made: the first, in 200 (Livy 31.4.1–2; 31.49.4–6), to the soldiers who had fought with Scipio in Spain and Africa on lands confiscated from rebellious allies in Samnium and Apulia; and the second in 173 (Livy 42.4.3–4), in order to settle parts of Gaul and Liguria, regions whose indigenous population had probably been expelled. In addition, settlers were sent to reinforce a number of colonies whose population had dwindled.70

The motives behind this mass colonizing movement were not new: the need to rehabilitate soldiers who had lost their farms through long years of service in the army combined with the need to settle confiscated lands in the newly conquered regions. Its magnitude, however, was unprecedented. This can be explained on the one hand by the great number of discharged soldiers in the aftermath of the Second Punic War and the subsequent wars in the east and Spain, and on the other hand, by the vast lands acquired in northern Italy after the subjugation of the Gauls and the Ligurians and the land confiscations from rebellious allies in the south. In particular, there are two important new features in this development: the foundation of citizen colonies in the heart of Italy, in regions where Latin colonies had customarily been established, and the distribution of viritane allotments in 173 to non-Roman citizens. These innovations indicate two closely related phenomena. On the one hand Roman citizens who received large land plots far away from Rome no longer agreed to waive their citizenship; on the other hand, since there were apparently not enough individuals who were willing to leave the city to receive plots of land in the far north, where most of the settlement was taking place during this period, land plots (although smaller in size) were offered to Latins as well (42.4.5). Finding Roman settlers for the less attractive maritime colonies also proved to be a difficult task and the number of Romans had to be supplemented by Latins who registered for membership in these colonies, thereby gaining Roman citizenship. There is no way to evaluate the numbers of Latins who joined maritime colonies. The only evidence we have is Livy’s testimony that people from Ferentinum had joined Puteoli, Salernum and Buxentum, founded in 197 (34.42.5–6).71

To the frustration of modern scholars, Livy, or more probably his sources, showed little interest in agrarian problems unless they aroused great conflict. Since such attested incidents were few in relation to the extent of Roman land assignations, we may plausibly assume that a general consensus on agrarian policy usually prevailed.

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