The City in the Roman West, c.250 BC–c.AD 250

by Ray Laurence , Simon Esmonde Cleary , Gareth Sears

• ISBN13: 9780521877503
• ISBN10: 0521877504
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-08-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The city is widely regarded as the most characteristic expression of the social, cultural and economic formations of the Roman Empire. This was especially true in the Latin-speaking West, where urbanism was much less deeply ingrained than in the Greek-speaking East but where networks of cities grew up during the centuries following conquest and occupation. This up-to-date and well illustrated synthesis provides students and non-specialists with an overview of the development of the city in Italy, Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain and North Africa, whether their interests lie in ancient history, Roman archaeology or the wider history of urbanism. It not only accounts for its geographical and temporal spread and its associated monuments (such as amphitheatres and baths), but also seeks to account for its importance to the rulers of the Empire as well as the provincials and locals.

Author Biography

Simon Esmonde Cleary is Reader in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. His previous books include The Ending of Roman Britain (1989) and Rome in the Pyrenees: Lngdunum and the Convenae from the First Century BC to the Seventh Century AD (2007). Gareth Sears is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Late Roman African Urbanism (2007).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. vi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The creation of an urban culture	p. 12
Colonisation and the development of Roman urbanism	p. 37
City foundation, government and urbanism	p. 64
The reception of Roman urbanism in the West	p. 91
Town planning, competition and the aesthetics of urbanism	p. 115
Defining a new town: walls, streets and temples	p. 135
Assembling the city 1: forum and basilica	p. 170
Assembling the city 2: baths and urban life	p. 203
Assembling the city 3: theatres and sacred space	p. 231
Assembling the city 4: amphitheatres	p. 259
The Roman city in c. AD 250: an urban legacy of empire?	p. 285
Bibliography	p. 320
Index	p. 349
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