Abstract: Roman society was dominated by the wealthy in all historical periods and also deeply geared to imperial expansion and rule. But how imperialism enriched the élite is less clear. In fact, there was huge variation in how this happened between the middle republic and the late empire. This variation has been obscured by each generation’s success in representing themselves as the heirs of earlier élites. The real continuities are to be found in the means by which they retained their wealth and passed it on to those they chose to continue their traditions.
Greg Woolf (Sun,) studied this question.