This important new volume examines archaeological evidence of Roman colonization of the Middle Republican period.  Themes of land use, ethnic accommodation and displacement, colonial identity, and administrative schemes are also highlighted. In delving deeply into the uniqueness of select colonial contexts, these essays invite a novel discussion on the phenomenon of colonialism in the political landscape of Rome’s early expansion. Roman urbanism of the Middle Republican period brought to the Italian peninsula fundamental changes, an important example of which, highlighted by a wealth of studies, is the ebullience of a dense network of colonies, as well as a mix of senatorial tactics and individual initiatives that underpinned their foundation.  Whether Latin, Roman, or Maritimae, colonies created a new mesh of communities and imposed a new topography; more subtly, they signified the mechanisms of the rising hegemony. This book brings to the fore the diversity, agendas, and overall impact of a “settlement device” that changed the Italian landscape and introduced a new idea of Roman town.
 

Andrea U. De Giorgi is Associate Professor of Classics, Florida State University.

“The volume uses Cosa as a prism through which to view the wider colonial landscape of central and southern Italy.  It questions the boundaries of colonization by exploring where the line should be drawn between colonies and other types of settlement, and why colonies were founded in some places but not founded others. It will be of use to scholars and students alike, across discipline."
—Edward Bispham, Brasenose College, University of Oxford

"The overall impression of the volume is positive. It not only presents new research on Cosa, but also contains very useful overviews in English of recent fieldwork projects in Italy... The volume is certainly a worthy monument to the former American excavations at Cosa as well as their new beginnings."
—Bryn Mawr Classical Review