As the title states, this ambitious book aims to cover migration and mobility in ancient Italy. It is Isayev's explicit aim to show that the extent of human mobility in antiquity was much greater than is usually suggested, in scholarship as well as among the general public. As she explains, it is usually assumed that people in the past mostly lived and died in the same place throughout their lives, as there were no economic or social reasons to move. Furthermore, views on mobility in modern society are often negative: migration, especially permanent, is seen as detrimental to the receiving nation and should be contained. However, migration has been an essential part of life throughout human history, as I. argues. Although she wisely does not make any direct comparisons between ancient Rome and the modern world, her message is clear enough.
In order to support her hypothesis, I. examines three main issues. Firstly, the Roman state hardly ever imposed limits on the number or type of migrants that could move into Roman territory. As I. rightly emphasises, many episodes in the ancient sources indicate that the Roman state was often struggling with containing high volumes of mobility, rather than too little, e.g. making sure that colonists remained in their assigned locations. This shows that mobility was indeed very common. Furthermore, the approach to strangers in antiquity suggested that there was little prejudice against them; status and profession were more important than background when it came to integration into a new home.
Secondly, the political systems of the Roman state themselves created a certain level of mobility, in particular state-sponsored colonisation and other types of settlement schemes. Other socio-economic systems, such as the army, trade, labour and cultural development, also presupposed the existence of high levels of mobility. This mobility was to a certain degree institutionalised by instruments such as tesserae hospitales, and was managed by means of informal networks, which provided information about the trustworthiness of individuals.
Finally, a high level of mobility is confirmed by the literary and epigraphic evidence, which show that migration and mobility, both temporary and permanent, were extremely common. In this regard, I. provides a detailed analysis of the works of Polybius and Plautus. Polybius’ works show that official business created high levels of mobility of various kinds, e.g. military service, enslaved prisoners-of-war, embassies, exile, hostage-taking and settlement of veterans. At the same time, Plautus shows that mobility was also common in the private sphere, especially for trade, as well as marriage and leisure.
Although the title mentions ancient Italy, in practice I. focuses mostly on the last two centuries b.c.; this is inevitable, as most of the available evidence comes from this period. Despite the focus on the late Republic, the book also gives valuable insights from earlier periods, especially Etruscan mobility within the Italian peninsula and abroad, as well as Greek colonisation and its effects on southern Italy. Thus, I. shows that mobility was already very common in the archaic period. Indeed, the varied movements of Italian businessmen and others throughout the Mediterranean in the later Republic should be seen as a continuation of these earlier patterns of movement. Importantly, I. shows that many developments in the Italian economy are closely related to mobility and migration. For example, two transformations that occurred throughout the peninsula, namely settlement centralisation in the early first millennium b.c. and the filling in of the countryside from the early Hellenistic period, have often been seen as singular phenomena. However, these should be seen in connection with mobility, and especially the wider developments within and outside the peninsula which motivated people to abandon some sites and move to others. Similarly, I. shows that mobility also played a role in the Social War; specifically, she displays the difficulties of reuniting the multipolar Italian peninsula, with the emergence of a single focus point in Rome after the war.
I. shows a masterful command of a great variety of evidence, from literary to epigraphic and archaeological, spanning five centuries. She argues convincingly that migration and mobility were indeed large in the period of the Roman Republic; this will perhaps not come as a surprise for most readers, as recent scholarship on this period has already suggested as much. Nevertheless, I. is the first to set out the argument in such a comprehensive and therefore compelling way. In this regard, Cambridge University Press is to be commended for taking on the publication of a volume of this length; although it is understandable that many publishers impose strict word limits due to market considerations, such a complex subject benefits from fuller treatment.
Despite the size of the book, a more detailed discussion of some issues would have been welcome. For example, I. touches upon many relevant theoretical concepts, such as connectivity, network theory, hybridity, co-presence and cosmopolitanism. In some cases, it is not quite clear how these concepts are defined in social studies, so that their relevance for the ancient period does not always become fully clear in the book. A closer integration of such concepts with the ancient evidence would have been welcome. In other cases, it is simply impossible to discuss all details, so that some complicated issues are passed over too quickly, e.g. the laws by which the Roman state tried to impose fixity on Latin colonists.
All in all, however, this is a masterful volume, which again clearly emphasises the importance of mobility and migration in the ancient world. It shows that mobility was at the heart of society, politics and the economy in the Roman Republic, and should therefore be required reading for anyone studying this period.
