Les confiscations, le pouvoir et Rome de la fin de la République à la mort de Néron

Ancient authors usually portrayed expropriations and confiscations as direct attacks against the civic society: by attacking the quiritary property, they upset the hierarchy based on the census. That question remains central from the civil wars of the late Republic to the death of Nero. Indeed, the “Roman revolution” was followed by significant property transfers that shaped the new face of the ruling elite. The new born Principate also used this medium to strengthen its economic and financial power against a nobility whose wealth and networks stretched over the whole empire. Finally, from Caesar’s plans to the Nova Urbs of Nero, without forgetting the marble city of Augustus, Rome centre witnessed sweeping changes that favoured public buildings with collective use. Behind these major projects and financial and social changes, rises a complex legal reality that was paid relatively little attention. That is the question this symposium, organised by Yann Rivière in November 2010, focused on. This meeting is part of the project initiated by another conference on the same topic in Late Antiquity, already published by Pierfrancesco Porena and Yann Rivière in 2012 as: Expropriations et confiscations dans les royaumes barbares : une approche régionale.