Distribution and organization system of Roman public land (Ager publicus) in the Mediterranean

Ager publicus, which is used as abbreviated form of Ager Publicus Populi Romani (Public Land of the Roman People), expresses the place seized in the name of the state in the places occupied by Rome, has been evaluated by the Romans as a highly functional property. Ager publicus clearly demonstrates the importance of these lands for the use of Rome citizens in different forms for different purposes. The implementation has been subject to strategic objectives such as the establishment of Roman colonies in enemy territory seized, the establishment of a safe zone between hostile nations, or the mandatory enforcement of peoples who must be controlled, as well as social and economic objectives such as the distribution of state property to the poor. Public lands have also been used to alleviate the burden of increased debt due to wars, to provide a permanent and income-generating reward for troops who have retired after the war in the Roman legions for many years. In some periods, these lands were used as a propaganda means of gaining political support by some statesmen and commanders. The work began with the examination of ager publicus implementation in the Rome law. In this context, following the presentation of the basic concepts and processes of the Roman law, 'the agricultural laws' leges agrariae including ager publicus regulation in Rome were examined by theoretically. The ancient texts referred to by ager publicus have chronologically been evaluated so that the authors and statesmen tried to present the perspectives on state property in their respective periods. In the study, the types of state lands were also mentioned which have a very wide application area. On the other hand, large farms emerging under the influence of ager publicus regulations were referred to latifundia, agriculture techniques and equipment applied on the farms were evaluated in the olive oil and wine production, which is a significant commercial product of the Mediterranean Region. In the last part of the study, Phaselis city, which is now within the Antalya Province Kemer District Tekirova Town administrative borders and whose territory was declared ager publicus by Publius Servilius Vatia in 78 BC, has been examined as an practically application example. Within the scope of a scientific research project, an experimental landscape archeology study was conducted on a selected farm complex and terraces area in Lycian Olympos (Tahtalı Dağı) and a photogrammetric map produced in order to examine the agricultural land of the city more closely and to reveal the commercial capacity of the region. Thus, the city of Phaselis, which is the subject of ager publicus implementation in Anatolia, was tried to clarify the agricultural land, terraces and the two main products of olive oil and wine trade produced in these lands with experimental archeology methods. In other words, the economic expression of the land seized in the name of Rome in the year of 78 BC was tried to be determined about how many years it has lasted by chronologically and to be analyzed the versatile results by obtained scientifically according to inductive methods.