Larinum, a pre-Roman town in the modern region of Molise, underwent a unique transition from independence to municipal status when it received Roman citizenship in the 80s BCE shortly after the Social War. Its trajectory during this period illuminates complex processes of cultural, social, and political change associated with the Roman conquest throughout the Italian peninsula in the first millennium BCE. This book uses all the available evidence to create a site biography of Larinum from 400 BCE to 100 CE, with a focus on the urban transformation that occurred there during the Roman conquest. This study is distinctive in utilizing many different types of evidence: literary sources (including the pro Cluentio), settlement patterns, inscriptions, monuments and artifacts. It highlights the importance of local isolated variability in studies of Roman conquest, and provides a narrative that supplements larger works on this theme.

This book uses the available evidence to create a site biography of Larinum from 400 BCE to 100 CE, concentrating on its urban transformation during the Roman conquest. By focusing on local-level agency, it demonstrates strong local continuity in Larinum and its territory. This work highlights the importance of local isolated variability in studies of the Roman conquest, and provides a narrative that supplements larger works on this theme.

Robinson's detailed discussion of the different classes of evidence builds up to an insightful and rewarding narrative of Larinum's transition from independent to Roman community.... There is certainly a lot to be said for Robinson's systematic approach that combines different types of evidence to address a bigger historical question. Her book will contribute to the development of a new historical model for the Roman expansion in Italy, which is its primary aim. The accessible language and ample illustrations make the study approachable also to nonspecialists.