Quod omnium nationum exterarum princeps Sicilia: A reappraisal of the socio-economic history of Sicily under the Roman Republic, 241-44 B.C.

Abstract

This thesis presents a narrative of the socio-economic development of Sicily under the dominion of the Roman Republic (241-44 B.C.). This subject has been understudied due to a paucity of evidence and source material. Previous studies that do exist drew almost exclusively on the literary sources (here: Livy, Diodorus and Cicero) which present a distorted image and thus require extensive critical scrutiny. But more recent trends of scholarship on the Ancient Economy present interpretative methods and models that I also deem unsuited, as these are based on modern economic theory designed strictly for the investigation of capitalist economies. I deem this new trend the neoliberal paradigm in Ancient Economic studies, which gives too much primacy to the material dimension (archaeology) and disregards the mental-ideological dimension (literature). The aim of this thesis was to rewrite the narrative on the socio-economic development of Republican Sicily in a way that avoids both these problems. The solution I present is twofold: 1. stay close to the sources and abstain from economic theory based on capitalism and 2. carefully balance the literary and archaeological sources. Chapter 1 presents an overview of historiography on Republican Sicily and Ancient Economies and builds a satisfactory methodological and interpretative framework. Chapter 2 provides an extensive overview of archaeological sources to draw upon in the succeeding chapters. Primacy here is given to survey archaeology, as ancient economies were predominantly agricultural economies and economic growth quickly translated itself into demographic growth. Chapters 3-5 present an historical overview of three distinct periods in Republican Sicily's socio-economic development. The aims of these chapters is to refute or nuance the traditional (literary-based) accounts with new findings based on the archaeological overview of chapter 2. These three periods are: initial conquest (241-210 B.C.), establishment of a Roman province (210-100 B.C.) and intensifying ties between Rome and Sicily (100-44 B.C.).