This project aims to generate new knowledge of institutional reform in the late Roman republic and the relevance of reform as a concept in ancient Rome. By analysing how Romans spoke and wrote about what we call reform and examining a variety of particular reform efforts, the project seeks evidence of a Roman reform discourse and reform processes capable of producing structural change. Expected outcomes include fresh understanding of republican governance and an alternative to the conventional view that the republic fell because of its inability to reform itself. This should benefit the study of Roman history at all levels and foster dialogue with interdisciplinary scholarship which has questioned the reformability of ancient societies.
