Dr Geza Alfoldy - The Social History of Rome (Routledge Revivals)

The Social History of Rome

This study, first published in German in 1975, addresses the need for a comprehensive account of Roman social history in a single volume. Specifically, Alfldy attempts to answer three questions: What is the meaning of Roman social history? What is entailed in Roman social history? How is it to be conceived as history?

Alfldys approach brings social structure much closer to political development, following the changes in social institutions in parallel with the broader political milieu. He deals with specific problems in seven periods: Archaic Rome, the Republic down to the Second Punic War, the structural change of the second century BC, the end of the Republic, the Early Empire, the crisis of the third century AD and the Late Empire.

Excellent bibliographical notes specify the most important works on each subject, making it useful to the graduate student and scholar as well as to the advanced and well-informed undergraduate.

The Social History of Rome

Gza Alfldy

First published in German in 1972

Title of original German edition:

Rmische Sozialgeschichte

By Geza Alfldy

3. Auflage 1984 Franz Steiner Verlag, Birkenwaldstrasse 44, 70191 Stggart, Germany

All rights reserved.

First published in English in 1985

By Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2014 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

1972; 1979; 1984 Gza Alfldy

Translation 1985 Croom Helm Ltd

Revised edition 1988 Routledge

The right of Gza Alfldy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 87036082

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-78245-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-76915-8 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-78250-1 (pbk)

THE SOCIAL

HISTORY OF

ROME

GZA ALFLDY

Translated by David Braund and Frank Pollock

Croom Helm Classical Studies

ROUTLEDGE

1975, 1979, 1984 G. Alfldy
Translation First published by Croom Helm in 1985
This revised edition Routledge 1988

Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Printed in Great Britain

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Alfldy, Gza

The social history of Roma.

1. Ancient Rome, Social life

I. Title II. Rmische Sozialgeschichte.

ISBN 0-415-00805-0

The English edition of this book is not a direct translation either of the original German edition published in 1975 or of the second German edition published in 1979. Whereas the second German edition differs from the original edition only through insignificant changes in the text and a number of bibliographical addenda, the present edition has been appreciably amended, improved and enlarged. Many changes have been made in the text: a few errors have been corrected, many over-broad generalisations have been re-stated more precisely and clearly and some particularly abbreviated passages have been re-written in expanded form. Terminology has been employed more strictly and with greater uniformity. As far as possible the results of new research have been taken into account, short of fundamental structural and conceptual revision. The bibliographical addenda which appeared in the second German edition have been incorporated into the notes, together with the most recent literature, chosen with an eye to its relevance to the purpose of this book.1

The purpose of this book remains the same: to inform those studying classics, history and social sciences on the most important problems of Roman social history. The not uncritical, but, on the whole, positive reception accorded to the German editions leads me to hope that this book will also achieve its purpose for an English-speaking readership. All the more so since, as I write these lines, a full and comprehensive account of Roman social history is as much a desideratum as it was a decade ago when this book was written.2

In the preparation of the text and notes for the English translation Johannes Hahn, Sigrid Mratschek and Barbara Maurer have rendered invaluable assistance. Moreover, I must also thank numerous reviewers and critics of the German editions who have drawn my attention to errors or led me to think again. From their number I name with particular gratitude M. T. W. Arnheim, H. Botermann, K. Christ, R. Frei, R. Gnther, W. V. Harris, H. P. Kohns, F. Kolb, F. Lasserre, L. Perelli, M.-Th. Raepsaet-Charlier, R. J. A.Talbert, F. Vittinghoff and I. Weiler. For the English translation of my certainly complicated German original I am very indebted to David Braund and Frank Pollock.

1. The text of this edition corresponds to that of the third German edition, published 1984.

2. For further reading I should like to recommend to the reader some comprehensive works, dealing with various problems of Roman social history, which have appeared in the last few years (some very recently). In what follows, their conclusions could be considered only briefly or hardly at all: M. I. Finley, The Ancient Economy(2nd edn, London, 1975), translated into German as Dieantike Wirtschaft (Mnchen, 1977) (on which book, cf. especially M.W. Frederiksen, JRS, 65 (1975), 164ff. and H.P. Kohns, Gtt. Gel.Anz., 230 (1978), 120ff.); P. Veyne, Le pain et le cirque. Sociologie historique dun pluralisme politique (Paris, 1976); H. Strasburger, Zum antiken Gesellschaftsideal, Abh.d.Heidelberger Akad. d. Wiss., Phil.-hist.Kl., Jg. 1976, 4. Abh., Heidelberg, 1976. Good bibliographies are to be found in the collected essays edited by H. Schneider under the titles Zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der spten rmischen Republik (Darmstadt, 1976) and Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der rmischen Kaiserzeit (Darmstadt, 1981). In addition, the respective introductions to these collections, written by H. Schneider, are instructive and informative on the differing approaches to Roman social history.