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The People's Rôle in Allocating Provincial Commands in the Middle Roman Republic*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 July 2017
Abstract
Mommsen — followed more recently by Brennan and Ferrary — proposed that laws were passed in around 228 and in 198 that constitutionally ‘fixed’ Sicily and Sardinia, and later Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, as praetorian prouinciae. This paper challenges that theory. It first examines the ancient evidence, comprising two ambiguous passages from Livy's Ab Vrbe Condita. It then offers a counter-hypothesis that elucidates the people's rôle in forestalling and/or resolving political disputes over the allocation of provincial commands. It will show that this rôle was crucial for mitigating the harmful effects of élite competition and, in turn, maintaining political stability in Rome.
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- Copyright © The Author(s) 2017. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Footnotes
*
The dates used throughout this paper are b.c.e. unless otherwise indicated. I wish to thank John Rich for challenging me to think further about the notion of constitutionally ‘fixed’ prouinciae several years ago and for his valuable feedback on an earlier draft of this article. I am also very grateful to Christopher Mallan, Jonathan Prag and the Journal's Editor and anonymous reviewers for their advice and comments on various drafts of this article.
References
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