Roman Sicily

Sicily was Rome’s first overseas province, and its early and long incorporation into the Roman empire had a profound impact on its communities. The island was a main theatre of the first two wars between Rome and Carthage, and then famously served as Rome’s primary ‘breadbasket’ for the remainder of the Republican period. Until recently, Sicily’s near absence from the historical record after the reign of Augustus was interpreted as evidence of its decline and obsolescence, and it was largely overlooked by historians and archaeologists in favour of provinces that furnished clearer evidence of economic growth, urban prosperity, and political and cultural ‘Romanisation.’ However, the historical, cultural, and ecological diversity of Sicily’s communities meant that there was no single trajectory for their development under Roman rule. Although some communities underwent physical and demographic decline, there is a growing body of material-cultural evidence for the continued vitality of many others, and for their integration into broader Mediterranean economic, political, religious, and cultural networks (including, but not limited to, those centred on the city of Rome).