The Commune And Slavery Of Ancient Rome Polis

The history of ancient Rome polis is a period of transition from small-peasant society to slave society.Its historical development trend is that the commune and the small land ownership system,although dominant,continue to decline.Slavery,though not dominant,thrives.Therefore,the decline of communal ownership and the rise of slavery were simultaneous.It has important academic value to investigating this historical development process for understanding the complexity of the typical slave society of ancient Rome.The Populus Romanus developed from clan alliance,it developed into a city state or polis after Servian reforms.The history of ancient Rome polis was not only the course of the republic came into being,developed and perfected,then replaced by empire,but also a process of the large land ownership took place of the small land as well as the slavery economy replaced the small-peasant economy.In this process,although the small-peasant economy received temporary protection by Lex Poetelia,but with the rapid expansion of ancient Rome and the rise of slavery,the citizens started bankruptcy as well as civic community began to disintegrate.As a result,the slavery replaced the Civil Ownership and occupied the dominant position of Rome society.This historical process shows that Max's statement in line with the actual history which the economic base of the period of ancient Rome polis was small-peasant economy,the methodology based on small land ownership of commune they used to study ancient slave societies has guiding significance.