Integration is a buzzword in the 21st century. However, academics still do not agree on its meaning and, above all, on its consequences. This book offers numerous examples showing that the inhabitants of the Roman Mediterranean were “integrated”, i.e. were aware of the existence of a common framework of coexistence, without this necessarily resulting in a process of cultural convergence. For instance, the Spanish poet Martial explicitly refused to be considered the brother of the Greek Charmenion (10.65): paradoxically, while reaffirming their differences, his satirical epigram confirms the existence of a common frame of reference that encompassed them both. Understanding integration in the Roman world requires paying attention to the complex and varied responses to diversity in Roman times.

Processes of Cultural Change and Integration in the Roman World is a collection of studies on the interaction between Rome and the peoples that became part of its Empire between c. 300 BC and AD 300. The book focuses on the mechanisms by which interaction between Rome and its subjects occurred, e.g. the settlements of colonies by the Romans, army service, economic and cultural interaction. In many cases Rome exploited the economic resources of the conquered territories without allowing the local inhabitants any legal autonomy. However, they usually maintained a great deal of cultural freedom of expression. Those local inhabitants who chose to engage with Rome, its economy and culture, could rise to great heights in the administration of the Empire.

This volume focuses on the interface between tradition and the shifting configuration of power structures in the Roman Empire. By examining various time periods and locales, its contributions show the Empire as a world filed with a wide variety of cultural, political, social, and religious traditions. These traditions were constantly played upon in the processes of negotiation and (re)definition that made the empire into a superstructure whose coherence was embedded in its diversity.

Materialising the Roman Empire defines an innovative research agenda for Roman archaeology, highlighting the diverse ways in which the Empire was made materially tangible in the lives of its inhabitants. The volume explores how material culture was integral to the processes of imperialism, both as the Empire grew, and as it fragmented, and in doing so provide up-to-date overviews of major topics in Roman archaeology. Each chapter offers a critical overview of a major field within the archaeology of the Roman Empire. The book’s authors explore the distinctive contribution that archaeology and the study of material culture can make to our understanding of the key institutions and fields of activity in the Roman Empire. The initial chapters address major technologies which, at first glance, appear to be mechanisms of integration across the Roman Empire: roads, writing and coinage. The focus then shifts to analysis of key social structures oriented around material forms and activities found all over the Roman world, such as trade, urbanism, slavery, craft production and frontiers. Finally, the book extends to more abstract dimensions of the Roman world: art, empire, religion and ideology, in which the significant themes remain the dynamics of power and influence. The whole builds towards a broad exploration of the nature of imperial power and the inter-connections that stimulated new community identities and created new social divisions.

Integration in the empire under the political control of the city of Rome, her princeps, and the different authorities in the provinces includes processes of inclusion and exclusion. They are explored from juridical, political, social and religious points of view.

Over the past decades, archaeological field surveys and excavations have greatly enriched our knowledge of the Roman countryside Drawing on such new data, the volume The Economic Integration of Roman Italy, edited by Tymon de Haas and Gijs Tol, presents a series of papers that explore the changes Rome’s territorial and economic expansion brought about in the countryside of the Italian peninsula. By drawing on a variety of source materials (e.g. pottery, settlement patterns, environmental data), they shed light on the complexity of rural settlement and economies on the local, regional and supra-regional scales. As such, the volume contributes to a re-assessment of Roman economic history in light of concepts such as globalisation, integration, economic performance and growth.

This volume elucidates how processions, from antiquity to the present, contribute to creating consensus with regards to both political power and communitarian experiences. Many classical sources often only tangentially allude to processions, focusing instead on other ritual moments, such as sacrifice. This book adopts a comparative approach, bringing together historians of antiquity and later periods as well as social anthropologists working on contemporary societies, analysing both ancient and modern examples of how rituals, symbols, actors, and spectators interact in the construction of communities. The different examples explored in this study illustrate the performative capacity of processions to construct reality: the protagonism of image and movement, the design of cultic itineraries, and the active participation of members of the public. In studying these examples, readers develop an understanding of how power is exercised and perceived, the extent of its legitimacy, and the limits of community in a variety of case studies. Processions and the Construction of Communities in Antiquity is of interest to students and scholars of the classical and early Christian worlds, especially those working on cult, religion, and community formation. The volume also appeals to social anthropologists interested in these issues across a broader chronology.

At the outset of the period covered by this book, Rome was the greatest power in the world. By its end, it had fallen conclusively from this dominant position. David Potter's comprehensive survey of two critical and eventful centuries traces the course of imperial decline.

This book collects essays by international scholars who engage with Roman-period architecture outside Rome and the Italian Peninsula, looking at the regions that formed part of the Roman Empire over a broad time frame: from the second century BCE to the third century CE. Moving beyond traditional views of ‘Roman provincial architecture’, the aim is to highlight the multi-faceted features of these architectures, their function, impact and significance within the local cultures, and the dynamic discourse between periphery and center. Architecture is intended in the broad sense of the term, encompassing the buildings’ technological components as well as their ornamental and epigraphic apparatuses. The geographic framework under examination is a broad one: along with well-documented areas of the ancient Mediterranean, attention is also paid to the territories of north-west Europe. The discussion throughout the volume focuses on three interrelated themes – models, agency, and reception. The broader scope of these essays is to give a reinvigorated impetus to the scholarly debate on the role and influence of ancient architectures beyond the center of Empire. The book has a strong interdisciplinary character, which reflects the authors’ diverse expertise in the fields of archaeology, architecture, ancient history, art and architectural history.

Even though relations between the Jewish people and the Roman state were sometimes strained to the point of warfare and bloodshed, Jewish military service between the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE is attested by multiple sources.