Abstract
The aim of this paper is to check the applicability of social sciences models of rural rebellions to understand late roman rural rebellions. To achieve such goal I first describe and present some of the key models of rural rebellions and their original historical or anthropological contexts of research. In this sense, I propose that some of the models discussed indeed contribute to the comprehension of the ancient accounts about the ac- tions of the bagaudae in late Roman Gaul and of the circumcellions in late Roman Africa, since they articulate both the bagaudae and the circumcellions with the living and labor conditions of the rural communities from which they sprung.
Keywords:
rural rebellions; Agrarian History; bagaudae; circumcellions; Later Roman Empire