Fundus

...The reasons for the transition from slavery to tenant farming include the end of wars of conquest during the imperial period, which meant that it was no longer possible to obtain prisoners, which had been a major source of slaves; the economic development of provinces, which began to produce olive oil and wine themselves, narrowing the market for commodity production, which was one of the important conditions for Italian slave farming; the further expansion of large landholdings, which meant that large estates exceeded the size suitable for slavery; and the change in the management spirit of landowners, who began to seek the small but stable income that tenant farming brought. It should be noted here that even though they were large estates, they were an accumulation of several pieces of land (fundus), and from the perspective of management, they were, so to speak, a complex of small and medium-sized businesses. The transition from slavery to tenant farming did not occur all at once, but should be considered to have progressed gradually as the center of gravity shifted within this complex. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "fundus" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…奴隷制から小作制への移行の原因としては，帝政期に入って征服戦争がやみ，大きな奴隷源であった捕虜が得られなくなったこと，属州が経済的に発展し，オリーブ油やブドウ酒を自給し始めたために，イタリアの奴隷制農業の重要な条件の一つであった商品生産の市場が狭まったこと，大土地所有のいっそうの拡大により，大所領が奴隷制に適合する規模を超えてしまったこと，所領主の経営精神が変化して，小作制のもたらす小さくとも安定した収入を求めるようになったこと，などが挙げられている。ここで注意しなければならないのは，大所領といっても，いくつもの土地片(フンドゥスfundus)を集積したものであって，経営の面からみても，いわば中小の経営の複合体であったことである。奴隷制から小作制への移行は，一挙に起こったものではなく，この複合体のなかでの重心の移動という形で徐々に進んだと考えるべきである。…

※「fundus」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報