Word: latifundia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Gracchi, well-to-do representatives of a great family tradition, allied themselves with the plebs, or common people. Yet the Gracchan attempt to solve the land crisis that had been caused by the growth of the monopolistic latifundia, or great estates, was beaten back by the republican Senate...
...Growth of the State. In attempting to account for the long decline and fall of Rome, Durant adopts a "multiple causation" theory. The metals in the Roman State-owned mines ran out. As the old freehold farming class lost its lands to the big owners of the latifundia, the productivity of the soil decreased. The State dole of grain brought men into the cities to join the workless proletariat, and the spoil of Spain, Gaul, Syria and Egypt made Romans think less and less about making fortunes through honest labor...