As Leis Agrárias do início da República romana (486-442 a.C.): Conflito pela terra e pelo poder na construção da República romana

Abstract

Ancient texts list several proposals for agrarian laws throughout Roman Republic history. The gracchan crisis and the Conflict of Orders between Patricians and Plebeians are the frames used by these texts to explain those proposals. Thus, the information about the pre-gracchan agrarian laws is heavily polluted by the writers' assumptions about the gracchan episode. Tackling this methodological issue, this article presents a reinterpretation of the oldest agrarian law proposals that we know (from 486 to 442 BC). Those laws are explained in the context of the agrarian change in Mediterranean agriculture and the political power of the peasantry in the emergence of Mediterranean city-states.