Workshop Assessing the Impact of Roman Imperialism on Social, Political, and Economic Landscapes

Date: 10 April 2026

Location: University of Groningen, Harmony Building, room 1314.0014 (Oude Kijk in Het Jatstraat 26, 9712 EK Groningen)

Credits: 1 EC

The study of Roman expansion has in the last decades benefitted from a diversity of perspectives from disciplines such as archaeology, classics, history, and epigraphy. However, in order to combine various source types and methodologies, it is important to work with a clear conceptual framework. This workshop therefore aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines and using different theoretical frameworks that together may shed new light on the theme of Roman expansion and its impact on provincial landscapes and societies that were absorbed by Rome.

How can theoretical frameworks foster a multidisciplinary approach to Roman expansion? How compatible are different theoretical perspectives? How do we understand the impact of Rome’s imperialist wars over the indigenous communities? How do we frame the effect that the influxes of settlers, the foundation of new settlements, or the introduction of land division schemes have over pre-existing social and political orders? How do we interpret the integration (if it occurred) of provincial economies into the Roman imperial system and, by extension, social structures and mobility?

These are some of the questions the workshop may touch on. The workshop aims to help us move beyond single-method studies, foster collaboration, and bring together insights emerging from different source categories.

Program:

10:00 – Registration with coffee and tea

Session 1 (chair: Jitse Daniels)
10:20 – Welcome
10:30 – Janis Oomen (UG): Anchored in Stone: Identity in the epitaphs of Messana (Sicily) under Roman Hegemony
11:00 – Fernando Menéndez-Marsh (UG): Shepherds, farmers, hillforts and ‘villae’. Addressing theories of economic change in central-western Iberia

11:30 – Coffee break

Session 2 (chair: Marleen Termeer)
12:00 – Maarten Schmaal (UG): Lands of milk and honey? Rural land exploitation and economic development in the Hiberus and Baetis Valleys, 1st-2nd c. CE
12:30 – Jitse Daniels (UG): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Dynamics of conflict between native communities, colonists and Roman entrepreneurs in the Roman provinces

13:00 – Lunch break

Session 3 (chair: Maarten Schmaal)
14:30 – Philip Verhagen (VU): Reassessing Roman Impact: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Long-Term Changes in Settlement and Connectivity in the Kromme Rijn Region
15:00 – Marleen Termeer (RU): A new economic order? The introduction of coinage in Central Italy

15:30 – Coffee break

Keynote (chair: Fernando Menéndez-Marsh)
16:00 – Manuel Fernandez-Götz (University of Oxford): Vectors of predation in the Roman expansion: From military conquest to exploitation

17:30 – Drinks*
18:30 – Dinner**

*The first round is free.
**Dinner is covered for speakers; others are welcome to join at their own cost.

Credits: ARCHON members can earn 1 EC for attending and handing in a standard report. Please send the report to the ARCHON coordinator within a month of the workshop.

Contact: For questions regarding the workshop, please contact Fernando Menéndez-Marsh, Jitse Daniels, or Maarten Schmaal. For questions regarding credits, please contact the ARCHON coordinator.

Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSer_CnVNSF7KHyEZCWTERcaDCCPxu2XAqtJ2mXTfus8w8Pigg/viewform