Chapter 13 Rome and the Roman Duchy
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Thanks in grand part to advanced archaeological research, Rome and Latium have come to occupy a central place in the reflections of historians and archaeologists attempting to understand the end of the ancient world and its transition to the Middle Ages. However, scholarship is divided into two opposing camps, with some holding the view that an unmistakable regression took place in those centuries, while others lay more emphasis on aspects of continuity. Even in the case of Rome itself, some historians place emphasis on aspects of its decline, while others focus more on conscious transformations the continuity of some sectors of the economy and overall urban structure. By analyzing Rome and the territory of Latium from the available archaeological sources, we can now distinguish pretty clearly the 6th–7th centuries from the 8th century. While the first two centuries appear to display more continuity with earlier epochs, elements of discontinuity are much more evident in the 8th century.