FINES. Bordering practices and natural features in Livy Antonio Montesanti, University of Exeter PhD in Classics and Ancient History May 2014 The fullest and most comprehensive unpacking of the term finis has yet to be achieved. Studies have narrowly focussed on the idea of border, boundary or frontier, without even entertaining the prospect of interpreting the study from the ancient point of view. This investigation considers the use of the word finis in Livy and attempts to recreate a conception of finis which mirrors as closely as possible that of a Roman of the Republic up to the very Early Empire. Besides the remarkably high usage of the term by Livy, the author’s work is also useful due to its chronological nature, which allows for broad investigation throughout the Republican Period, as well as shedding light on the Early Imperial concept of finis. The main aim of this dissertation is to provide a collective analysis of diverse cases, which together can help build a complete picture of the detectable features related to the term finis. As well as this, the analysis of the contexts – in which the term finis is used has also cast light on those features of finis – that have remained fixed despite the different historical contexts in which they appear. For example, throughout my study, two fundamental concepts will continue to pop up in front of the reader’s eyes: a) the inapplicability of modern conceptual categories to the idea of finis and b) finis – if translated as border, boundary or frontier – as a concept applicable not to a line, but to a spatial element. On the basis of Livy’s evidence – drawn from his work Ab Urbe Condita – this study attempts to present a reconstruction of the term through the identification of an entirely new concept. This study is conceived in terms of a crescendo, which begins with the basic definitions attached to finis and evolves, adding an increasing number of evidences until it reaches a climax, whereby the reader can see both those invariable features of finis in Livy’s account and the 4 Introduction: Research guidelines evolution of the term as fines are applied within different political contexts. Rome – a city that rose on a finis, the Tiber River – reinvented or remodelled the concept of finis, demonstrating behaviour antithetical to the notion of confining herself behind a ‘single line’. Once identified as a finis, the natural features helped the Romans to exert their imperium, which was itself an embodiment of the features contained within the concept of finis. The establishment of the fines provided an ‘imaginary’ subdivision of the territory subjected to the Roman imperium in a series of land strips. This is documented by Livy through Rome’s expansionist ‘finis-system’, from a single occupation of the Janiculum Hill to the scientific approach and setting of the treaty of Apamea. Although the lacunae in Ab Urbe Condita – from 168 B.C. onwards – do not permit a direct connection between the Late Republic and the Early Empire, some elements can be used to evidence an intimate relationship between Livy’s and Augustus’ thinking and terminology. To some extent, this common intent has made possible this attempted reconstruction of the ‘bordering practices’ used in the last 150 years of the Republic, as well as the possible evolution of such practices in the first 150 about years of the Empire.

Hannibal's legacy : the Hannibalic war's effects on Roman life

FINES Bordering Practices and Natural Features in Livy

As the nascent power of Rome grew to dominance over the Mediterranean world in the Middle Republic, they carried out mass killing, mass enslavement, and urban annihilation. In doing so, they showed an intention to destroy other groups, therefore committing genocide.
This study looks at the kinds of destruction enacted by Romans between 343 BCE and 146 BCE, using a novel application of definitions and frameworks of analysis from the field of Genocide Studies. It proposes typologies through which the genocidal behaviours of the Romans can be explored and described.
Mass killing, enslavement, and urban annihilation normally occurred in the context of siege warfare, when the entire population became legitimate targets. Initial indiscriminate killing could be followed by the enslavement of the survivors and burning of their settlement. While genocide is a valid historiographical tool of analysis, Roman behaviours were distinct from modern patterns of mass killing in lacking a substantial component of racial or ethnic motivation. These phenomena were complex and varied, and the utter destruction of groups not regularly intended. Roman genocidal violence was a normative, but not typical, adaptation of the Romans of the Middle Republic to the ancient anarchic interstate system.
In antiquity, there was no international law to govern conflict and international relations, only customs. This study posits that the Roman moral-based custom of fides as an internal preventative regime that inhibited genocide through rituals of submission to Roman hegemony. This process was flawed, and cultural miscommunication risked causing mass violence. Furthermore, the wide discretion of Roman commanders accepting submission could result in them flouting the moral obligation to protect
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surrendered groups. In such cases, attempts at punishment and restitution from other members of the elite were only partially effective.

‘Genocide’ and Rome, 343-146 BCE: state expansion and the social dynamics of annihilation

This thesis analyses the potential agricultural production of the regions of South Etruria and Sabina, north of Rome in the Middle Tiber Valley, Central Italy. Historical evidence from Roman authors is combined with archaeological evidence from field survey and geographical resource data, and modelled within a Geographical Information System. Farm size and location are investigated in order to determine any correlation with contemporary Roman recommendations. Multi-criteria evaluation is then used to create suitability maps, showing those regions within the study area best suited to different types of crops. A number of different models for agricultural production within the study area are presented. Many variables are utilised, each presenting a range of possibilities for the carrying capacity of the area, complementing previous studies of demography. Research into workload, nutrition and crop yields provides a basis for determining the supported population of the area. Urban provisioning is investigated also, showing how high yielding models could have supported a large urban population within the studied region, as well as its potential contribution to the food supply of Rome. This analysis showed which agricultural systems could adequately supply urban centres, and highlighted those models that would have led either to an urban dependency on larger scale trade networks or to decline.

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Modelling Roman agricultural production in the Middle Tiber Valley, Central Italy

This article is intended to provide a first report on some of the core results of the British School at Rome's Tiber Valley Project. We focus upon the results of the restudy of the South Etruria Survey material and explore how this allows us to re-evaluate earlier interpretations. To illustrate some of the results, three case-studies are presented to demonstrate how the project is allowing us to reassess the changing landscapes of the middle valley, and in particular place them in the context of the ever-shifting relationship with Rome, during periods of supposed historical 'crisis': the fifth and fourth centuries BC, the second century BC, and the late antique and early medieval periods. Each period demonstrates different degrees of continuity and change. We would therefore adopt a more neutral term, such as 'transformation', and situate each of these shifts within a longer perspective and broader interpretative framework.

Three South Etrurian crises : first results of the Tiber Valley Project.

Cette these porte sur les suites de la paix d’Apamee sur le plan des relations politiques entre les Etats d’Anatolie et sur l’evolution de la place tenue par cette peninsule dans l’ordre geopolitique mediterraneen. Le traite d’Apamee, conclu en 188 avant notre ere entre la puissance romaine et le royaume seleucide, fut un acte diplomatique majeur pour l’Asie Mineure et l’ensemble de la region anatolienne, liberes de la domination des Seleucides. Jusqu’ici l’historiographie traditionnelle a aborde ce sujet selon deux perspectives, a savoir l’apparition de l’imperialisme romain en Orient et la vie politique et administrative des cites egeennes. A l’inverse, cette etude se concentre sur les principales puissances politiques de la region anatolienne : les royaumes. Dans le cadre de cet espace fragmente et diversifie, des modifications de l’equilibre geopolitique regional peuvent etre mises en relation avec le bouleversement de l’ordre mediterraneen, par le croisement de sources grecques, latines et orientales, ainsi qu’en faisant usage de procedes developpes par le courant de la World History. L’evolution ulterieure de la situation mise en place a Apamee est suivie jusqu’a la disparition d’une Anatolie dirigee par des souverains non incorpores dans l’horizon imperial des grandes puissances etrangeres, situation a laquelle les ultimes defaites de Mithridate VI du Pont et de Tigrane d’Armenie face a Rome mirent un terme definitif.

https://corpus.ulaval.ca/jspui/bitstream/20.500.11794/27044/1/32644.pdf

Hannibal's legacy : the Hannibalic war's effects on Roman life

Citations

FINES Bordering Practices and Natural Features in Livy

‘Genocide’ and Rome, 343-146 BCE: state expansion and the social dynamics of annihilation

Modelling Roman agricultural production in the Middle Tiber Valley, Central Italy

Three South Etrurian crises : first results of the Tiber Valley Project.

Les conséquences géopolitiques du traité d'Apamée en Asie Mineure