It is widely accepted that the Social War was a brief yet devastating conflict, possibly killing as many as 300,000 people (Vell. Pat. 2.15), with significant implications for the subsequent history of Rome and the social and political evolution of ancient Italy. Despite a large, and continually growing, body of scholarly works since the early nineteenth century, debates persist over fundamental aspects of how the Social War should be approached and interpreted. Key questions such as the causes of the war, the motivations of the Italian communities that rose up in late 91 b.c.e., their goals in fighting into the early part of 88, the intent and long-term implementation of the Roman laws that extended Roman citizenship to the Italian communities, to name but a few, continue to be handled in radically different ways.

This volume contains the proceedings of a conference held in Paris in October 2016, with contributions in English, French, Italian and German. Editors Loredana Cappelletti and Sylvie Pittia rightly note in their introduction that ‘la guerre sociale, même si en apparence le période est courte, apparait comme un moment privilégié pour observer l’évolution de plusieurs dossiers complexes et imbriqués’ (18). Indeed, across its eighteen chapters the book explores many overlapping topics, frequently focusing on the historiography of the war and its immediate effects on Roman Italy. The fragmentary and disparate sources of evidence for the Social War have always been fuel to the argumentative fire. For instance, alongside visceral primary materials such as sling bullets or Italian coins there is a dependence on brief accounts in literary sources, sometimes written centuries later and, importantly, after profound socio-political changes had taken place in the Roman world. The invaluable references in Cicero, an eyewitness while in Pompeius Strabo’s army, must be read in the post-war political context in which he was writing. In turn, any analysis of this body of evidence is tied up with how the modern observer sees the war located within their own grander scheme of the history of both late republican Rome and Italy. Its surrounding events become significant factors in the variant ways evidence is reconstructed, an account is formed and an interpretative conclusion reached.

It is not surprising that this volume showcases a spectrum of approaches and interpretations, highlighting different ways in which the Social War can be studied, from the wide-ranging discussion of economic causes presented by Roselaar to analysis of specific sources of evidence by Briquel, Heftner or Somma. The chapters do not champion an overarching coherent interpretation; instead, a variety of ideas and approaches is presented, contributing to ongoing debates. This is indeed in evidence across the first three chapters of part 1, which champion divergent interpretations of underlying causes of the war. Bispham argues for a shift from agitating for citizenship to seeking independence; Roselaar suggests that Italians had been progressively denied alternatives to citizenship by Romans having no resort but war; while Dubouloz seeks to mount a case against Livius Drusus having had a coherent legislative programme. In contrast, it could be argued that Drusus’ failure to see his measures passed and some aristocrats’ dogged instance on punishing his supporters even after the war began are not compelling evidence of a lack of vision. The remaining chapters in this part shift focus to the careers of two key Roman generals in the Social War, men who would play significant roles in the subsequent civil war: Russo on the historical origins of the negative tradition surrounding Pompeius Strabo, and Santangelo on the political dynamics of Sulla’s engagement across Italy during, and immediately after, the Social War, including the fraught debate concerning enrolment of the new citizens.

Part 2 provides case studies on specific sources of evidence for the war. Poccetti points to the multilingual rebels and highlights the impact of the war on Italian languages and cultures. Briquel analyses the Italian-issued coins, arguing they were ‘une expression directe’ of the new Italian state’s intention to be independent. Heftner reinterprets Diodorus Siculus’ account through the lens of Diodorus’ moralistic outlook; Engerbeaud points to how the unusual conclusion of the war (via the Romans making significant concessions) shaped the ‘enjeux de mémoires’ of the many defeats the Romans suffered at the hands of the rebel allies; Landréa discusses the evocative use of language in the literary sources to suggest the tone of memorialisation of the war.

Parts 3 and 4 shift focus to the repercussions of the war. Part 3 presents a trio of chapters investigating the citizenship laws and their implications. Cappelletti mounts a provocative argument that the lex Iulia granted Roman citizenship not only to the Latins and socii who had remained loyal (as commonly accepted by modern scholarship) but also to those who had rebelled or were still rebelling. But the lex was not passed from a position of strength: by the later part of 90, one consul had died in battle and the heaviest fighting in Italy since Hannibal’s invasion was ongoing within large parts of a 200 km radius around Rome, while epigraphic evidence explicitly attests to Pompeius Strabo’s enfranchisement as a reward to allies for faithful service. Berrendonner discusses the enrolment of the newly enfranchised Italians into the tribes, a process not clearly explained in ancient sources and yet critically important, given the mass influx of people into the Roman citizenry. A tussle over how the new citizens should be enrolled can, however, be taken as evidence for the scope of the multiple laws by which they had been enfranchised and concern over how their hard-won rights might be exercised. This is followed by Letta on municipalisation in some insurgent areas. Part 4 provides three studies on the archaeology of rebel areas: Somma discussing urban development at the important site of Corfinium; Stek focusing on Samnite settlement patterns; and Bourdin surveying the Vestini and Paeligni. Studies over the past few decades have greatly fleshed out the detail with which we can view the process of post-war municipalisation.

In a notable departure from the other chapters, in the fifth and final part, Smith draws comparisons with the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916, aiming less at treating the two events as comparable historical phenomena than at thinking differently about the Social War (414–15). Pittia then studies the wide variety of names used for the Social War, and from this its reception in later Greek sources. The conclusion by La Regina is itself a detailed further discussion of the challenges for understanding the war.

Across this volume there is recurrent discussion of the causes and consequences of the conflict, with many emphasising a complex interplay of factors. Unavoidably this comes with variation in the depth of detail, the scope of existing literature that is discussed and the novelty of argumentation. Multiple chapters display the emphasis on historiography that has characterised a number of previous works and many of the issues treated have been covered at length before. Ultimately, the importance of the topic warrants not only this worthwhile volume, but also continued work.