Republican Sicily at the start of the 21st Century: the rise of the optimists?

Abstract

This study considers trends in the historical study of Republican Sicily in the twentieth century. It outlines the existence of optimistic and pessimistic interpretations of the period, and examines some of the underlying reasons (principally the surviving evidence) for these views. In undertaking a review of current work on the island, this survey offers a note of cautious optimism about the current and future state of scholarship on Roman Republican Sicily, consequent upon the broadening range of approaches adopted, and the widening body of published material evidence.

Keywords

• Roman Sicily
• provincia
• historiography
• archaeology
• epigraphy
• numismatics