La Première Année de Rome : Un Essai Historiographique

Abstract

: The emergence of the state is a turning point in many ways in the history of Central Italy. Only in recent years it has become possible, thanks to the increasing availability of archaeological data on Latium Vetus in combination with the incorporation of new methods of research, to expand our knowledge of early Rome. The purpose of this paper is to review recent studies on the beginining of Roman state and to present a reinterpretation of the transition from the stateless society to the Roman citizen-state. The results of this research support the idea that the Romans adopted the Greek model of citizen-state (polis) at the end of the first half of the 7th century BC. However, on the basis of recent archaeological discoveries one can argue that the very beginnings of Roman state dated back to around 750 BC. An implication of this is the possibility that Rome was non-polis state in the first century of its history.