Wang Zhongxiao, A Survey of the Scholarship on the Political Studies of the Early Roman Empire

　　Political history is one of the most time honoured research fields in studies of the Roman history. In the second half of the 19th century, the interests of historians on the Roman history mainly remained in the facets of the Roman constitution and the Roman law, which was represented by the works of famous German historian, Theodor Mommsen. By the late 20th century, the legal and constitutional interpretive model was outdated, while the cultural studies of the Roman political history were flourishing. A systematic overview of some of the most influential and representative works from the era of Mommsen to the present day explores three major turns in the political studies of the early Roman Empire and the corresponding causes. Meanwhile, this survey heralds the latest research trends in the field of the political studies of the early Roman Empire.