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Cover image of Community and Society in Roman Italy
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Community and Society in Roman Italy

Stephen L. Dyson

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Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

Stephen L. Dyson examines rural communities as functioning, largely autonomous societies. Dyson traces the major outlines of community development from the end of the war with Hannibal to the early Middle Ages. He shows how local communities responded to changes in the greater Roman society while still retaining their distinctive identity. He examines the "typical" Roman community during the High Empire and explores the life cycle of rural inhabitants, showing how individuals- the aristocrats, the free poor, and the slaves- developed...

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

Stephen L. Dyson examines rural communities as functioning, largely autonomous societies. Dyson traces the major outlines of community development from the end of the war with Hannibal to the early Middle Ages. He shows how local communities responded to changes in the greater Roman society while still retaining their distinctive identity. He examines the "typical" Roman community during the High Empire and explores the life cycle of rural inhabitants, showing how individuals- the aristocrats, the free poor, and the slaves- developed in relation to society as a whole.

Reviews

Reviews

Resourceful and imaginative, [Dyson] looks into the humdrum, sometimes quietly desperate lives of Italy's small towns and urban centers and brings them sharply to life.

A valuable example of how archaeological data can be used alongside conventional sources to produce compelling social and economic history.

An important addition to the literature on classical Rome... Highly recommended.

This work sets forth a challenging new model for understanding the communities of Roman Italy, their internal dynamics, and their relationships with their surrounding rural territories. Extensive notes, a substantial and up-to-date bibliography, and an adequate index complete this pivotal work. Essential for the study of ancient social conditions or private life.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
5.5
x
8.5
Pages
400
ISBN
9780801867606
Author Bio
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Stephen L. Dyson

Stephen L. Dyson is a professor of classics at the University at Buffalo and has spent his career writing about archaeology and Roman history. His numerous books include In Pursuit of Ancient Pasts: A History of Classical Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, The Roman Countryside, and Community and Society in Roman Italy, also published by Johns Hopkins.