Looking for an Identity. The Patria and the Greek Cities in Late Antique Roman Empire

Abstract

From the second century AD onwards, many patria were written in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Although none of these works have survived, the mentions of them in the later tradition demonstrate the importance they had in the Greek provinces. The aim of this paper is to analyse the link between the political evolution of the late Empire and the production of patria. I argue that these literary products testify to the changes of the cities within the urban hierarchy of the eastern Empire. In particular, they show the development of the centres linked to the three capitals of the Roman east : Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople. Indeed, the presence of the imperial court (and the resulting flow of taxes and supplies) put these cities at the centre of extended urban networks. These urbanized areas connecting the three capitals and their hinterland have been defined by Peter Brown “ corridors of Empire”. The centres entering these large-scale corridors had to justify their new position in the imperial network, and the best way to achieve the goal was linking themselves to the mythical and historical circuits of the Greek world. The patria served this purpose. While modelling the collective memory of myths, histories, and traditions of these cities, they canonized the acquired status.