Rome at War: Farms, Families, and Death in the Middle Republic (Studies in the History of Greece and Rome)

Historians have long asserted that during and after the Hannibalic War, the Roman Republic's need to conscript men for long-term military service helped bring about the demise of Italy's small farms and that the misery of impoverished citizens then became fuel for the social and political conflagrations of the late republic. Nathan Rosenstein challenges this claim, showing how Rome reconciled the needs of war and agriculture throughout the middle republic. The key, Rosenstein argues, lies in recognizing the critical role of family formation. By analyzing models of families' needs for agricultural labor over their life cycles, he shows that families often had a surplus of manpower to meet the demands of military conscription. Did, then, Roman imperialism play any role in the social crisis of the later second century B.C.? Rosenstein argues that Roman warfare had critical demographic consequences that have gone unrecognized by previous historians: heavy military mortality paradoxically helped sustain a dramatic increase in the birthrate, ultimately leading to overpopulation and landlessness. "Overturning long-held beliefs about war's impact on society in the middle Roman Republic, Nathan Rosenstein offers a new perspective on the relationship between warfare, agriculture, and families in Italy between 320 and 133 B.C." "Historians have long asserted that during and after the Hannibalic War, Rome's need to conscript men for long-term military service helped bring about the demise of Italy's small farms and that the misery of impoverished citizens then became fuel for the social and political conflagrations of the late republic. Nathan Rosenstein challenges this claim by examining the interplay of military expansion, subsistence agriculture, and family structure to show how Rome reconciled the needs of war and agriculture throughout the middle republic. The key, Rosenstein argues, lies in recognizing the critical role of family formation. By analyzing models of families' needs for agricultural labor over their life cycles, he shows that families often had surplus of manpower to meet the demands of military conscription. Did, then, Roman imperialism play any role in the social crisis of the later second century B.C.? Rosenstein argues that Roman warfare had critical demographic consequences that have gone unrecognized by previous historians: heavy military mortality paradoxically helped sustain a dramatic increase in the birthrate, ultimately leading to overpopulation and landlessness."--Jacket In 133 BC the tribune Tiberius Gracchus issued his lex agraria to redistribute land amongst veteran soldiers and the poor. In his interesting and perceptive study Nathan Rosenstein re-examines the reasons for this agrarian crisis that Gracchus, so unpopularly, responded to. Past studies have argued that an increase in large plantations manned by a rapidly growing population of slave labourers had damaged Rome's farmers and small holders. However, Rosenstein argues that there is little archaeological or documentary evidence for this and looks instead to the consequences of warfare, particularly the war against Hannibal. Rosenstein discusses in detail the nature of the Roman family, the amount of labour required to make a success of a farm and, set against this, the consequences of losing that labour (and the potential of fathering the next generation of farmers). Sections also examine methods for quantifying the numbers of men killed in battle or through disease following injury. The numbers are enormous and one can immediately see the difficulty facing the Roman senate of how to replenish the ranks. Introduction: Agriculture in Italy from Hannibal to Tiberius Gracchus War and agriculture: a critique of the conventional view War and the life cycles of families: three models Mortality in war Military mortality and agrarian crisis Appendix 1. The number of Roman slaves in 168 B.C. Appendix 2. The accuracy of the Roman calender before 218 B.C. Appendix 3. Tenancy Appendix 4. The minimum age for military service Appendix 5. The proportion of Assidui in the Roman population Appendix 6. The duration of military service in the second century B.C. Appendix 7. The number of citizen deaths as a result of military service between 203 and 168 B.C. In this work, Nathan Rosenstein challenges the claim that during and after the Hannibalic War, the Roman Republic's need to conscript men for military service helped bring about the demise of Italy's small farms and that the misery of impoverished citizens then became fuel for the social and political conflagrations of the late republic Limits on aristocratic competition for honor, glory, wealth, and power protected the corporate interests of Rome's governing class as well as the wellbeing of the people it ruled during most of the middle and late republic.