CAESAR'S AIMS IN NORTHEAST ITALY

Abstract

This paper provides a new assessment of Caesar's activity in northeast Italy, both in the 50sbcand in the aftermath of the Civil War, and discusses it against the background of the earlier Roman presence in the region and of the developments that intervened in the following generation. Its main contention is that Caesar carried out a number of important political and administrative interventions, both in Histria (chiefly through the foundation of the colony of Pola) and in the Alpine and pre-Alpine regions, marking a fundamental shift in the quality of the Roman presence in the area. The discussion follows five lines of enquiry: the value of the evidence of Caesar'sCommentariifor his activity in northeast Italy; an overview of the problems for which inadequate documentation survives (such as the early history and legal status of Tergeste); the date and background of the colonization of Pola; the changes in the administrative and agrarian set-up of Histria and northeast Italy in the late Republican period; and the resulting economic and social developments in the region. The conclusions summarize the main insights emerging from a very fragmentary body of evidence, and seek to explain the inclusion of Histria in the Augustandiscriptioof Italy with the exceptional prosperity of the region, which Caesar's interest had made possible to chart and exploit more effectively.