Ancient Umbria: State, Culture, and Identity in Central Italy from the Iron Age to the Augustan Era

How should we understand the ways in which the regions of Italy were affected by Roman imperialism? This work takes a balanced view of the region's history in the first millennium BC, focusing on local actions and motivations as much as the effect of outside influences and Roman policies. Through a careful reading of all the types of evidence it provides an important challenge to traditional treatments emphasizing the Romanization of the region, arguing that this is a poor explanation for the complexity of local societies in the late Republican period. Instead it proposes that other trends, particularly the organization of states, help to explain the fascinating plurality of identities that are evident in the imperial period and allow us to appreciate the diversity of local societies that emerged in both mountain and lowland areas of Umbria.

Review:

This monograph should take its place on our bookshelves as the standard work in English on this region A. Cooley, Classical Review Umbria can act as a case-study for other areas of the Roman world, suggesting useful ways of approaching Romanization A. Cooley, Classical Review Ancient Umbria 'will take an honourable place' alongside W. V. Harris' Rome in Etruria and Umbira B. Levick, Greece and Rome) Ancient Umbria is a very significant contribution to the regional history of ancient Italy ...The result is a richly documented monograph which nevertheless remains highly readable F. Cairns, Atti Accademia Properziana del Subasio