This second edition examines all aspects of Roman history, and contains a new introduction, three new chapters and updated bibliographies.

This book presents the legislation that formed the basis of Roman law - The Laws of the Twelve Tables. These laws, formally promulgated in 449 BC, consolidated earlier traditions and established enduring rights and duties of Roman citizens. The Tables were created in response to agitation by the plebeian class, who had previously been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic. Despite previously being unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper-class priests, the Tables became highly regarded and formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years. This comprehensive sequence of definitions of private rights and procedures, although highly specific and diverse, provided a foundation for the enduring legal system of the Roman Empire.

In the wider context of the border conflicts that involve Rome as a third authority super partes, for which there is evidence already in the second century BC, two epigraphic documents stand out for the peculiarities distinguishing them from all others: the so-called Polcevera Tablet (concerning a dispute between Genuates and Viturii Langenses) and the Cippus Abellanus (related to a border dispute between Nolani and Abellani and written in Oscan). They make us aware of the political and municipal dynamics underlying the complex principle of Roman arbitration, often required to resolve territorial disputes, which were gradually evolving as Rome opened up to the East. What role did the Roman Senate play in such disputes? What exactly was the function of the referees sent by the City to settle the disputes with a super partes judgment? What was the importance of the agrarian reform of the Gracchi and the realisation of road axes in the acuity of such antagonisms? These are the questions to which this study tries to provide an answer.

Greek slavery from Homer to the Persian wars -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave supply and slave numbers -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : slave employment and legal aspects of slavery -- From the Persian wars to Alexander : the social setting of polis slavery -- The eastern Mediterranean lands from Alexander to Augustus : the Delphic manumissions : slave origins, economic and legal approaches -- The eastern area from Alexander to Augustus : basic differences between pre-Greek and Greek slavery -- Slavery in Hellenistic Egypt : pharaonic tradition and Greek intrusions -- War and slavery in the West to 146 B.C. -- The Roman republic : praedial slavery, piracy, and slave revolts -- The later republic : the slave and the Roman familia -- The later republic : social and legal position of slaves -- Slavery under the Roman empire to Constantine the Great : sources and numbers of slaves -- The Roman Empire in the West : economic aspects of slavery -- Slavery under the Roman Empire : the provenance of slaves, how sold and prices paid -- The Roman Empire : living conditions and social life of slaves -- Imperial slaves and freedmen of the emperors : amelioration of slavery -- The moral implications of imperial slavery and the "decline" of ancient culture -- In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire -- From Diocletian to Justinian : problems os slavery -- From Diocletian to Justinian : the eastern and the western developments -- From Diocletian to Justinian : leveling of position between free workers and slaves -- Upon slavery and Christianity -- Conclusion.