landscapes and cities rural settlement and civic transformation in early imperial italy dec 2006

[...]... at the same time, historians have pointed to declining numbers of rural farmsteads, a contraction in the production of wine for export, increased intervention by the imperial authorities in the aVairs of the cities of Italy, and a falling oV of public building and benefaction in the towns of Italy, as indicators of decline and even crisis The privileged status of Italy, too, tends to disappear, as the... interest Beginning with a series of case studies of urban decline and prosperity in Italy, Chapter 2 focuses on the changing appearance of the cities of Italy, examining patterns of public building in the Wrst and second centuries, the types of monument preferred by the cities of Italy and their benefactors in that period, and the extent to which declining overall levels of public building are compensated... archaeological and historical issues they raise How should these individual patterns of continuity, or of declining or increasing site numbers, be interpreted? How should we explain the range of patterns identiWed in diVerent regions of Italy, and, in particular, the predominant tendency towards a decline in the numbers of rural sites? Solely geographical explanations are unlikely to be convincing, given... distinct falling-oV in rural settlement from the Wrst century ad onwards From the second century, many more areas begin to be aVected The territories of Heba and Saturnia, inland from Cosa; the Sabina, around Reate and in the territory controlled by the mediaeval monastery of Farfa; the northern part of Bruttium, what is now Calabria; the land around Rural Landscapes of Imperial Italy 7 Oria, inland... 2000; and Potter and Stoddart 2001: 6–9 5 Ashby 1902; 1906; 1907; 1910, summarized in Ashby 1927 See also Martinelli and Scott 1986 6 Frederiksen and Ward-Perkins 1957; Ward-Perkins, J B 1962 7 Ward-Perkins, J B 1955: 44 with Potter 1991b: 173–4; Potter 1992: 637–8; Rendeli 1993: 27; Cambi and Terrenato 1994: 33–6 Rural Landscapes of Imperial Italy 11 project for our understanding of the Italian landscapes. .. Mediterranean Landscape : ´ BintliV and Sbonias 1999; Gillings, Mattingly, and van Dalen 1999; Leveau, Trement, Walsh, and Barker 1999; Francovitch, Patterson, and Barker 2000; Pasquinucci and ´ Trement 2000; Attema et al 2002; and (most recently) Alcock and Cherry 2004 12 Rural Landscapes of Imperial Italy 1926.11 The aim was to provide a detailed compendium of archaeological sites in Italy as a contribution... for rural change in this period These focus on four areas of particular interest: coastal Etruria and northern Campania, which are characterized by the most acute pattern of declining site numbers; southern Etruria, in the hinterland of Rome, with its pattern of continuity and (in some areas) increasing site numbers; and the mountains of Samnium and Lucania, which reveal rather diVerent settlement histories... Latium) where all three patterns— decline, continuity, and increase in site numbers—have been noted within a small geographical area This schematic outline hardly does justice to the complexity of the data—set out in more detail in the Appendix to this chapter and the sophistication with which those responsible present the 8 Rural Landscapes of Imperial Italy arguments and interpretations which are summarized... inland from Brundisium, and the mountains of Samnium: all display an increasingly pronounced pattern of decline in this period A less dramatic, but essentially similar, pattern emerges in some parts of southern Etruria (around Caere and Tuscania), in the territory of Venusia in northern Apulia, and in nearby Daunia; this pattern of decline can be seen to continue into the third century and beyond A wide... working hypotheses which can then be tested by new Weldwork or by careful analysis of the epigraphic texts 1 The Rural Landscapes of Imperial Italy INTRODUCTION: THE DIVERSITY OF THE ITALIAN LANDSCAPE One of the most important recent developments in our understanding of the history of Italy in the imperial period has been a greater knowledge of patterns of settlement in the Italian countryside, and . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h1" alt="" LANDSCAPES AND CITIES This page intentionally left blank Landscapes and Cities Rural Settlement and Civic Transformation in Early Imperial Italy JOHN R. PATTERSON 1 3 Great. pointed to declining numbers of rural farmsteads, a contraction in the produc- tion of wine for export, increased intervention by the imperial authorities in the aVairs of the cities of Italy, and a. Heap, for thinking up the title, and for so much else besides. To these, and to all the other friends and colleagues in Britain and Italy who have helped with information, advice and support,