Colonial landscapes : demography, settlement organization and impact of colonies founded by Rome (4th-2nd centuries BC)

Abstract

In conventional models, the Roman colonial countryside has been

characterized as consisting of rigid systems of land division and a

dense network of isolated, mono-nuclear peasant farms which were

situated at regular intervals from each other. Yet, the evidence on which the conventional model of colonial settlement organization is based is very fragile. This book, therefore, critically re-examines the traditional understanding of colonial rural organization, focusing especially on issues of population density, land division, settlement organization and geo-political arrangements.