Géza Alföldy is a professor of ancient history at the University of Heidelberg.

"Excellent discussions of the plebians and their struggle for political recoginiton, the nature of the aristrocracy, the nobles, the economy, the senatorial and equestrian orders with their ladders of promotion, the municipal aristocracy... [An] excellent introduction to the subject by a historian of international reputation. Classical World

• Preface to the English EditionPreface to the First German Edition (1975)Chapter 1. Early Roman SocietyChapetr 2. Roman Society from the Beginning of Expansion to the Second Punic WarChapter 3. The Structural Change of the Second Century BCChapter 4. The Crisis of the Republic and Roman SocietyChapter 5. The Social System of the Early EmpireChapter 6. The Crsis of the Roman Empire and Structural Change in SocietyChapter 7. Late ROman SocietyNotexIndex