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Republican Capua: A Social and Economic Study

1959; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 27; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0068246200007145

2045-239X

M. W. Frederiksen,

Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

It is the aim of the following pages to study the evidence for the condition and economy of Capua in the period of the Roman Republic, and to suggest some fresh conclusions on its role in the more general evolution of Roman commerce and influence. For two centuries or more after the Second Punic War, until other more favoured and more extensive regions of the empire began to compete with Italian agriculture and industry, the cities of Campania maintained a certain degree of primacy over others in the peninsula. Among these, Capua had for long held the chief political power, and even after its defeat by the Romans in 211 B.C., retained some degree of prestige throughout antiquity. Before her defection to Hannibal, Capua might be ranked with Carthage or Corinth in wealth and power; and even at the other end of antiquity, in the fourth century A.D., Capua was the third city of Italy, next only to Rome and Aquileia, a position substantially retained in the Dark Ages and in later history.