The Roman City in the Roman Period

Abstract

The history of the Greek city in the Roman period or, perhaps, certain constituents of that history, make upafffield that Fergus Millar has made his own. This essay reflects broadly upon two features of that history, particularly in light of Millar's challenging observation that the history of the Principate outside Rome itself-and often within-is very largely that given to us by Greek sources. First, it argues that some of the distinctive features of the Roman city lay nearly beyond the percipience of contemporary Greeks and so receive at best partial and ill-formulated articulation in early- and high-imperial Greek sources. Second, it suggests that the history of the Greek city in the Roman period is very much a tale of how it became Roman. Keywords:Fergus Millar; Greek city; Roman City; Roman Period