A synthesis of recent work in archaeology and social history, drawing on physical, literary, and documentary sources.

Roman Cities combines G. Michael Woloch's translation of Les villes romaines, Pierre Grimal's noted French work on Roman city planning, archeology, and urban history, with Woloch's additional notes and descriptions of the cities mentioned by Grimal, as well as other important Roman cities. The book provides a brief history and description of more than a hundred Roman cities, an extensive master bibliography, and a comprehensive glossary. Roman Cities will interest both scholars and students of Roman history and archeology, city planning, urban geography, and the social sciences. The glossary and bibliography make the book of value to specialists pursuing a particular topic and to students, history buffs, and amateur archaeologists seeking to broaden their understanding of the Roman city planning methods that are such an integral part of our modern urban heritage. Roman Cities provides the first comprehensive study in English of major Roman cities, including an excellent coverage of the Roman legacy which was transmitted to medieval and modern trends in architecture and urban planning..

Despite the fact that the majority of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire lived an agricultural existence and thus resided outside of urban centers, there is no denying the fact that the core of Roman civilization—its essential culture and politics—was based in cities. Even at the furthest boundaries of the Empire, Roman cities shared a remarkable and consistent similarity in terms of architecture, art, infrastructure, and organization which was modeled after the greatest city of all, Rome itself. In Gregory Aldrete's exhaustive account, readers will have the opportunity to peer into the inner workings of daily life in ancient Rome, to witness the full range of glory, cruelty, sophistication, and deprivation that characterized Roman cities, and will perhaps even gain new insight into the nature and history of urban existence in America today. Included are accounts of Rome's history, infrastructure, government, and inhabitants, as well as chapters on life and death, the dangers and pleasures of urban living, entertainment, religion, the emperors, and the economy. Additional sections explore two other important Roman cities: Ostia, an industrial port town, and Pompeii, the doomed playground of the rich. This volume is ideal for high school and college students, as well as for anyone interested in examining the realities of life in ancient Rome. A chronology of the time period, maps, illustrations, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

This book collects and analyzes the evidence for eastern, Hellenized cities of the first through third centuries C.E. that became the sites of their provinces' temples to the cult of Roman emperors, and thus received the title 'neokoroi' (temple-wardens).

This book traces the diffusion of the Greek city as a political institution throughout the lands of the Roman Empire bordering the Eastern Mediterranean over a period extending from Alexander's conquest of the East to the sixth century. Arranged in order of annexation, the regions are dealt with individually. The study examines to what extent native institutions were capable of being adapted to the Greek conception of the city, the activities of Hellenistic kings in founding cities, and the spontaneous diffusion of Greek political institutions in the Hellenization of the East. Professor Jones describes the restrictive effect of centralized administrative policy on some dynasties and the growth of cities in their dominions, and various aspects of the relations between cities and central government, including the cities' role in the economic life of the Empire. Other topics discussed include the local responsibilities of cities, administrative duties such as collecting taxes and levying recruits, the internal and political life of the cities, and their economic effect on the surrounding countryside.

Brings to life a group of Greco-Roman cities long lost under the desert sands of North Africa. The discoveries of these sites offer a unique view of both Africa and the Greco-Roman world.

In this comprehensive investigation into the vibrant urban life that existed under Hadrian's rule, the author focuses on the emperor's direct interactions with Rome's cities, exploring the many benefactions for which he was celebrated on coins and in literary works and inscriptions.

This groundbreaking history of Spain in late antiquity sheds new light on the fall of the western Roman empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. Historian Michael Kulikowski draws on the most recent archeological and literary evidence in this fresh an enlightening account of the Iberian Peninsula from A.D. 300 to 600. In so doing, he provides a definitive narrative that integrates late antique Spain into the broader history of the Roman empire. Kulikowski begins with a concise introduction to the early history of Roman Spain, and then turns to the Diocletianic reforms of 293 and their long-term implications for Roman administration and the political ambitions of post-Roman contenders. He goes on to examine the settlement of barbarian peoples in Spain, the end of Roman rule, and the imposition of Gothic power in the fifth and sixth centuries. In parallel to this narrative account, Kulikowski offers a wide-ranging thematic history, focusing on political power, Christianity, and urbanism. Kulikowski’s portrait of late Roman Spain offers some surprising conclusions, finding that the physical and social world of the Roman city continued well into the sixth century despite the decline of Roman power. Winner of an Honorable Mention in the Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Awards in Classics and Archeology

This book offers a new perspective on the evolution of cities across the Roman Empire in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

The ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia have excited the imagination of scholars and tourists alike since early modern times. The removal of volcanic debris at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the clearance of centuries of accumulated soil and vegetation from the ancient port city of Rome at Ostia, have provided us with the most important evidence for Roman urban life. Work goes on at all three sites to this day, and they continue to produce new surprises. Pompeii is the subject of numerous books, but the other two cities are nothing like as well-served. This book, written by an archaeologist, historian and teacher with a lifelong interest in the Roman world, is designed for students of A-level and university courses on Classical Civilization who need a one-stop introduction to all three sites. Its principal focus is status and identity in Roman cities, and how they were expressed through institutions, public buildings and facilities, private houses and funerary monuments, against a backdrop of the history of the cities, their rise, their destruction, preservation and excavation. The reader is also guided towards other reading material and Internet sites that now offer unprecedented access to the cities.