Born of a 2019 conference, this thought-provoking volume states from the beginning its intention to establish a dialogue with the periodisation of Republican history suggested by H.I. Flower's Roman Republics (2010). It does so by isolating the titular period as a ‘distinctive and self-contained unit’ and by attempting to explore and analyse it in all its facets, from the conflicts surrounding agrarian policy to the evolution of the capital's urban landscape, from religion to the interactions between tribunes and senate, even looking into the potential effects of climate issues on the Republic at this time. Some of these aspects are better supported by the existing evidence, literary and archaeological alike, and make therefore for more compelling arguments; some are less so, and while some intriguing starting points for reflection are offered, it is in places hard to contend with the evident gaps which remain in our knowledge.
Firmly in the first camp lie most of the chapters addressing the socio-political developments of what is very much, in this field perhaps more than any other, not only a period of transition, but also of resistance to transition. Nowhere does this theme shine through as strongly as in the chapters addressing some of the conflicts that characterise, and indeed almost define, this period. Balbo explores the root issues behind the agrarian inequalities underpinning the Gracchan crisis; he does so by looking at competition for land and the policy reactions to it, and provides one of the most comprehensive and compelling views offered thus far on this rather complex matter. Also closely connected to the Gracchan crisis, A. Gallo considers the often fraught relationship between the senate and the tribunes: an analysis that is significant for its nuanced approach, showcasing examples of cooperation that are often lost in what can easily become a narrative of conflict. The Hannibalic wars, she notes, were a period of relative harmony between tribunes and senate, and the goodwill accumulated in that period took some time to dissipate. The analysis of known instances of plebiscita and use of veto on the part of the tribunes is a valuable tool for those who should wish to investigate those interactions further. T. Lanfranchi also looks at the interplay between legislation and social change, in many ways establishing themes that would become pivotal in later periods of Republican history, none perhaps more so than the shift in the interactions between lex and mos: an element, it is worth noting, that will remain productive well into the late Republic and early Empire, showing the potential importance of a volume such as this also for those whose interests lie primarily in later periods.
Chapters addressing the administrative challenges of this period of rapid change are also among the soundest portions of the volume. M.J. Taylor identifies the switch in military perspectives at the end of an era of intense conflict as a fundamental aspect of the period, and explores the way in which the transition between citizen militia and professional army was gradual and eventually cemented by the Social War; in so doing, this chapter illuminates elements of continuity, and not just breaking points, from the Hannibalic Wars through to the early stages of the Late Republic. Hand in hand with this military development goes M. Bellomo's investigation of the administration of the broader Empire, and the changes required by the acquisition of new territory and the role played by prominent military leaders in this acquisition. The way in which individual chapters can easily be placed in conversation with each other, well exemplified by these two cases, is one of the strongest features of the volume: there is a successful effort to explore the various layers of an objectively complex period without losing sight of the fact that they are ultimately parts of a whole, in continuous interaction with each other.
Also compelling are some of the chapters addressing social and cultural change in a section of Republican history where such change happens at times with considerable speed. Oratory is closely intertwined with politics, and it arguably comes into its own in this period, when the ‘classical’ figure of the Roman orator as defined in later works first emerges. C. Steel looks at this emergence with a wider lens, placing it within the framework of the political transitions of this period and using what is left of speeches from this period to somewhat rethink the second-century orator as conceptualised by Cicero. It is an excellent example of how overreliance on late Republican and early Imperial sources can be challenged, a theme continued in Santangelo's chapter on religion. Here the view to be questioned is one of overwhelming conservatism in public religion, and the picture presented by Santangelo draws from the evidence concerning divinatory practices and the building of religious fixtures within the broader urban fabric of Rome. The latter can be read in direct conversation with F. de Caprariis's chapter on the evolving urban landscape, especially dissecting archaeological findings concerning the riverfront portion of the capital and using them as a springboard to address the development of Rome's role within the broader Mediterranean landscape. Cultural aspects such as these are both highly instrumental to our understanding of the period and frequently interacting with its political developments; they have too often been neglected in discussions of this section of Republican history, and these chapters will no doubt provide good starting points for further investigation of such themes, which could each be the subject of a whole monograph in their own right.
Not all chapters are so watertight: some present intriguing ideas, but are less compelling in their overall argument. As interesting as J. Tan's suggestion that the development of particularly favourable climate conditions right at the beginning of this period might have had a direct impact on its political development certainly is, the evidence on which it rests is less firm than one might wish it to be. Where Tan's discussion truly stands out, however, is in its discussion of methodological issues; especially considering the inevitable prominence of conversations about climate in our present days, there needs to be a framework developed for interactions between such conversations and discussions of antiquity, and Tan offers compelling observations for the development of such a framework. Equally, in a chapter looking at the introduction of the denarius system, M. Termeer attempts a new approach by focusing on the role played by private coinage: no doubt an important piece of the puzzle, which has not always received the attention it deserves, but also a topic on which greater evidence-gathering is still required. Here too there is a sense that this chapter is laying sound foundations for what needs to be a much bigger conversation, led by Termeer's own observation that the variety observed in Roman coinage at this time has very few parallels, if any, in the Mediterranean continuum. Conversely, C. Landrea's work on aristocratic competition and the role of patrician families in this period is interesting in its ability to show that new perspectives can still be explored even on matters that have been frequently revisited in the past.
This ability both to open the path for new conversations and show new avenues for the continuation of old ones is arguably the greatest strength of what is overall a compelling volume. Of those conversations, the one concerning periodisation of the Roman Republic and the way in which it is approached lies not only at the core of the impetus behind the volume, but at the forefront of all its discussions. The volume ultimately argues for the usefulness of a greater fragmentation of periodisation, and in its exploration of detail and nuance it makes a fairly strong case for it. A lingering suggestion can certainly be felt that a similar approach could prove valuable if applied to other periods of Republican history. Much as the authors identify this period as a transitional one, it may well be that each period within Republican history is transitional in its own right, and that only a full understanding of all such transitions, placed in a continuous sequence, might bring to full fruition the approach Flower suggested in her 2010 work. In this sense, the volume ultimately feels like a confident first step towards a greater whole; it is to be hoped that its perspective will be adopted by works addressing other sections of this sequence and ultimately lead to a better appreciation of the many complexities of the earlier periods within the Roman Republic.
