The City in Roman and Byzantine Egypt

by Alston,Richard

• ISBN13: 9780415237017
• ISBN10: 0415237017
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The archaeological record of the Roman city in Egypt is poorer than that of many other provinces. Conversely, the large number of surviving texts allows us to reconstruct the social lives of Egyptians to an extent impossible elsewhere. We are not, therefore, limited to a history of the public faces of cities, their inscriptions and the writings of their elites, but can begin to understand what the transformations of the city meant for ordinary people, and to uncover the forces that shaped the everyday lives of city dwellers. After Egypt became part of the Roman Empire in 30 BC, Classical and Christian influences both made their mark on the urban environment. This book examines the impact of these new cultures at every level of Egyptian society resulting in a new and fascinating insight into the creation of a specific urban society in the Roman Empire.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vi
List of tables	ix
Preface	xi
Map 1: The Delta	xiv
Map 2: The Fayum and Middle Egypt	xv
Map 3: Upper Egypt	xvi
Map 4: Southern Upper Egypt	xvi
Introduction	1	(3)
Cities and space	4	(40)
Houses	44	(84)
Streets, districts and neighbourhoods	128	(57)
The city	185	(138)
The city, region and world	323	(45)
Notes	368	(46)
Bibliography	414	(47)
Index locorum	461	(11)
Index	472