[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The Greek city-state, or polis, was a self-governing community of citizens, forming the fundamental unit of political and social organization in the Greek world. This did not change even when Hellenistic monarchs and, later, the Roman Empire dominated the diverse world of competing poleis as hegemonic powers. Research on the polis in the Hellenistic and Roman periods since the eighteenth century has therefore focused on how much ‘freedom’ the cities had as political and warring actors under monarchical or imperial rule, and how much ‘autonomy’ they had to independently shape their internal order. Based on the idealized model of a democratic Athens in classical times, the polis appeared to be in political decline during the Hellenistic period, and especially under the Roman Empire. Culturally, however, since the work of Johann Gustav Droysen, the poleis have been seen as the embodiment of Greek culture. This culture was considered superior and, since the time of Alexander the Great, it has been seen as radiating outwards from the poleis like islands of civilization in a sea of ‘barbarian’ peoples.
This perspective is also evident in A. H. M. Jones’s pioneering research on the Greek city,[1] which, despite having been published in 1937 and 1940, continues to serve as a reference point for critical analysis, as evidenced in the handbook under consideration here (Dench, pp. 97–99). The authors repeatedly reject the idea of a decline of the poleis under Roman rule, traditionally based on an orientation towards the polis in classical times, and emphasize instead their ‘vitality’ (p. 1). Contrasting with Jones’ conception of natives as barbarians and his essentializing concepts of ethnicity (Greekness and Romanness), they emphasize the fluidity and hybridity of the cultural exchange processes. However, they also acknowledge the tendencies towards the construction of secondary, ethnically defined cultural identities (Panhellenion, p. 495; kinship diplomacy, pp. 286–287, 639).
This handbook focuses on the Greek and Roman concept of the polis as an institutional, political, and social order.[2] This legal status was particularly evident in the founding of cities, the elevation of cities to city status, and the revocation of city rights by Roman emperors. Large city-like settlements, such as the Syrian mētrokōmiai (p. 673), are mentioned only briefly, while the Egyptian mētropoleis, which were granted polis status around 200 CE with council assemblies, are discussed separately (pp. 737-744). However, the definition of polis does not appear until the end of the book (Heller, p. 751). Nevertheless, Zuiderhoek provides an insightful analysis of the resilience of the poleis, offering an explanation as to why this type of political community remained unchallenged for so long (pp. 267–270).
The timeframe covered by the individual studies extends from Rome’s intervention in the Hellenistic world to the mid-third century CE. Unlike Jones, whose history of the Greek city spans 900 years and demonstrates how ‘independent states’ became ‘organs of local administration’ (p. 155), these essays offer only sporadic glimpses of the late antique city. In an epilogue, Pont addresses this, asking about the end of the polis and rightly distinguishing this question from the observable vitality of many late antique cities (p. 751).[3] Ideally, the institutional and urban changes of the poleis in late antiquity would have been covered under the ‘Roman Empire’, alongside the Republican period and the Principate.
The forty-nine contributions to this handbook are almost all of a high standard and cannot be discussed individually here. They were written by researchers who have already published relevant monographs on the subject. It is evident that French scholars have dominated research on the institutional order of the polis. Almost all of the essays provide a comprehensive picture of their subject, drawing on the latest research and featuring numerous illustrations and maps. Having read the entire work, one feels comprehensively informed about life in the polis and the poleis in their regional, provincial, and imperial contexts.
Following the editors’ introduction, which provides an overview of the subsequent contributions and mentions relevant research discussions (Hallmannsecker and Heller), the volume is divided into three sections: Sources and Methods (Section I), a systematic treatment of the political and social order of the poleis (Sections II–V), and a presentation of the poleis from a regional perspective (Section VI). Of the source genres presented and characterized in terms of their informative value, epigraphy (Chaniotis) is of the greatest importance for the topic since many poleis can only be understood historically through their inscriptions. Greek provincial coinage is discussed less in an economic context and more as an expression of city-state identity in the contributions, while papyrology as a source genre is not considered here, although van Minnen’s essay on Egyptian cities is based on a large number of cited papyri. Archaeological findings, such as artefacts, buildings, and spatial planning, also play a central role (Quatember). This distinguishes the handbook from older presentations of the topic, since it takes into account the ‘material turn’ in historiography. The polis is thus recognizable not only as a political and social organism, but also as an urban living space.[4] On the other hand, literary tradition (Bowie) proves meaningful only for a few aspects of polis culture and even less so for the history of individual poleis, since it is limited to geographical and historical overviews (e.g. Strabo and Pausanias) and writings by intellectuals from the urban and provincial elite (e.g. the Second Sophistic) and Pliny’s letters. Imperial historiography also contributes little, since, within the framework of the Pax Romana, political and military events are presented in relation to Rome as the decisive actor. As a central method, Blanco-Pérez devotes a chapter to onomastics and prosopography. This takes into account the growing body of research devoted to reconstructing aristocratic families or dynasties and networks in the poleis and provincial regions (pp. 518–519, 547–548, 643, 730–731). However, the onomastic findings regarding the ethnic identification of individuals are difficult to interpret (pp. 577, 647). The second chapter on methodology (Dench), which addresses questions of the identity of the polis and its social groups, essentially serves as a second introduction. It contains important remarks on the history of research and methodologically reflects on the central theme of all the contributions.
The systematic section on the polis as a political and social organism and an urban living space covers four aspects of polis culture: civic institutions (including legal status, citizenship, age groups and civic subdivisions, council committees, citizens’ assemblies, magistracies, and liturgies); local politics (including euergetism and civic honors, public space, the urban economy, internal security, crises and conflicts, diplomacy, and koina); civic societies (including social hierarchies, rural communities, women, associations, gymnasia and baths, funerary culture, and slavery); and religion and culture (including civic cults, oracles, the imperial cult, urban festivals, and intellectual elite culture). Overall, the selection of these twenty-five topics is convincing, even if one or two aspects are missing, such as the role of the cult communities that were widespread throughout the empire, such as those devoted to Isis, Mithras, Judaism, and Christianity, or some aspects in the chapter on culture. Unfortunately, this handbook completely omits one aspect of central importance: the polis as a legal community, including the urban court system, the mutual influence of local and Roman law, and the relationship between urban and provincial or imperial jurisdiction.[5]
Both the systematic essays and the contributions on individual poleis adhere to key themes and methods. Above all, the aim is to challenge the widespread view in older research that the polis declined, by demonstrating the vitality of polis culture in the imperial period, as well as in the Hellenistic period as has long been established in more recent research. This vitality is evident not only in cultural terms, as evidenced by the impressive archaeological remains, but also in political and social terms.
In political terms, the authors demonstrate that the fundamental institutions of the council (boulē), the citizens’ assembly (dēmos, ekklēsia), and the annually elected officials (archontes) continued to interact, with the dēmos in particular retaining the ability to act by discussing council proposals and passing resolutions. However, since the end of the second century, voting had gradually been replaced by acclamation (pp. 166, 193). A change that cannot be attributed to imperial influence, but rather to internal dynamics that emerged in the late Hellenistic period, is the oligarchization or aristocratization of the polis regime (pp. 539–45, 576). This was characterised by leading noble families monopolizing the offices, and access to the council becoming more restrictive. Councilors now sat in the assembly for life. This is linked to a tendency towards internal hierarchization in the council assemblies, in which a leadership group (prōtoi) increasingly took over the council’s business (pp. 161, 322). The liturgization of certain official functions also dissolved the accountability of magistrates (p. 179).
From a social perspective, the inclusion of civic groups in the community of the polis through agency and visibility in public spaces, as evidenced by monuments and inscriptions, can be observed in some regions of the Greek world since at least the late Hellenistic period (pp. 316–18): women (pp. 343–49, 550–51) and the sons of notables took on offices and liturgies, for which they were honored with titles that, in some cases, were new to the imperial period and related to the polis community (pp. 207, 210, 351, 569). Age groups, such as the neoi and the gerontes, organised themselves into associations based on the institutional model of the polis (pp. 151–53). These groups appeared in public spaces as benefactors and honorees and were given reserved seats in processions, theatres, and other venues (pp. 318–21, 363). This made the civic hierarchy of social classes visible to an unprecedented extent, while also granting the lower classes an important place in the urban fabric through these associations (p. 579). Even marginalized groups, such as foreigners, inhabitants without citizenship, freedmen, and slaves, were integrated into the increasingly familial community of the polis through euergetic practices, such as the distribution of money and public meals (pp. 195, 207).
Instead of the traditional view of the gradual decline of the polis in Roman times, all the authors consider the question of ‘continuity and change’, as well as the ‘impact of Roman rule’. Examples of slow change include the oligarchization of the regime of the poleis, the establishment of gerousiai (pp. 152, 567, 707), the creation of new offices such as logistēs, timētēs and eirēnarchēs (pp. 181, 575, 250–254), the implementation of raised platforms (bēmata) in the agora (pp. 223–26), the emergence of colonnaded streets, and the gradual conversion of gymnasia into baths (pp. 271–75). There was also the expansion of the urban water supply through aqueducts and nymphaea, as well as a significant increase in urban festivals and associated games, largely through aristocratic patrons (pp. 464–65). Deliberate reorganizations include the Pompeian legislation for the Pontic poleis (p. 575), the regulation of the provincial imperial cult (pp. 450–51, 591), and the reorganization of many provincial assemblies under Augustus (p. 295).
Many of these changes, or ‘innovations’, raise questions about the relationship between Roman and provincial agency. The authors reject the concept of ‘Romanization’ in favor of ‘localization’, which they define as the productive local appropriation of empire-wide Roman trends (pp. 63–64, 101–102, 221, 504). However, the central concept of almost all contributions is that of cultural identity. Concerning the poleis as a whole, they reoriented themselves within the provincial framework by competing with each other for privileged legal status. Examples of this include the seat of the governor (caput provinciae); the seat of the provincial assembly (koinon); the status of the mētropolis, of the first city of the province, and of the capital of a judicial district (conventus); and even the privilege of a civitas libera. This also enabled the development of a provincial identity (pp. 301, 712), as evidenced by the priestly titles in the provincial imperial cult (Lykiarch, Bithyniarch and Asiarch). Conversely, the poleis referred to their own traditions, which were often invented, such as founding heroes, myths, and cults, and integrated regional cultures that were declared to be ethnic, such as language and customs, into their self-representation on city coins, on monuments, and in the ritual performance of festivals (‘Carian’, ‘Lydian’, ‘Ionian’, ‘Dorian’, pp. 615, 711, 728).[6]
For the citizens of the polis, the relationship between urban and Roman citizenship was a central issue. In line with the latest research, the authors demonstrate that Roman citizenship did not spread uniformly; in many poleis, it was not sought after by the aristocracy, who viewed it at best as a local status symbol. In some poleis, however, such as Ephesus, Roman citizenship was a prerequisite not only for a provincial career (pp. 531, 546, 601), but also for advancement in urban careers. Another new phenomenon in the imperial period was the acquisition of citizenship rights in various cities within a province, and even beyond (pp. 135–38, 576). Apart from citizenship, the question of Roman-Italian immigrants in the poleis and their mutual assimilation also plays an important role (‘mixed societies’, pp. 529–32).
It should also be emphasized that the authors repeatedly reflect on and define important concepts and terminology, such as ‘euergetism’ (pp. 190–92), the ‘public sphere’ (pp. 218–19), the ‘new institutional economics’ (pp. 243–45), ‘resilience’ (pp. 267–68), ‘democracy’ (pp. 268–70), ‘civic vs. political’ (pp. 311–12), ‘polis religion’ (pp. 420, 430–31), and ‘insularity’ (pp. 551–52).
Finally, the last part of the handbook, ‘Cities and Regions’, is more heterogeneous in its structure and its individual portraits of the poleis. While the provinces formed the overarching ruling structure above the poleis from a Roman perspective, the editors opt to treat the cities individually (e.g. Athens, Ephesus, and Thasos) or within a regional context. The cities are only discussed in a provincial context if the province or sub-province was superimposed on an ethnic association (e.g. Lycia), a Hellenistic monarchy (e.g. Bithynia or Aegyptus), or a Hellenistic strategy (e.g. Syria or Cyrenaica). Several chapters are devoted to larger provinces: Achaea is represented by Athens, Sparta, and the Peloponnese, as well as Boeotia; Asia is represented by Ephesus, the Cyclades, Caria, Lydia, and the Lycus Valley; and the cities of the Black Sea region are treated on a cross-provincial basis. While the editors speak of a ‘representative selection’ (p. 4), some readers may regret the absence of a few provinces which – with the exception of Macedonia – are not covered in the systematic articles either, particularly Thrace, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Cyprus, Crete, and Pamphylia.
With regard to the sixteen city portraits, most of the essays only partially address the four dimensions outlined in the systematic overview — urban institutions, urban politics, social groups and conditions, and cultural life — in the context of historical urban development. This is sometimes a result of a lack of historical records and other times a result of the authors’ choice of focus. The most comprehensive in this regard is Sartre’s contribution on Syrian cities. This selection of cities and regions clearly demonstrates the different ways in which poleis developed in terms of space and time, not only under Roman rule, and shows that the general trends noted above were not effective everywhere or at the same time.
Overall, this handbook provides the most comprehensive treatment of the history and culture of the polis in Roman times based on the latest research, and it offers many unusual and surprising insights into the cities and regions that are not usually the focus of attention in this field.
Authors and Titles
Introduction (Martin Hallmannsecker, Anna Heller)
1. Sources and Methods
1.1 The Epigraphic Culture of the Greek Cities in the Roman East (Angelos Chaniotis)
1.2 Civic Coinage (Antony Hostein)
1.3 Literary Sources for Greek Cities of the Roman Empire (Ewen Bowie)
1.4 Archaeological Sources and Civic Life (Ursula Quatember)
1.5 Onomastics and Prosopography (Aitor Blanco-Pérez)
1.6 The Greek City of the Roman Empire: Questions of Identity (Emma Dench)
2. Civic Institutions
2.1 The Legal Status of the Greek Poleis in the Roman Empire (Giovanna D. Merola)
2.2 Greek and Roman Citizenships (Lina Girdvainyte)
2.3 Age Groups and Civic Subdivisions (Nigel Kennell)
2.4 The Deliberative Institutions: The Council and Assembly (Christina T. Kuhn)
2.5 Magistracies and Liturgies (Nikos Giannakopoulos)
3. Local Politics
3.1 Euergetism (Marcus Chin)
3.2 Civic Honours under Roman Rule (Anna Heller)
3.3 Constructing Public Space: Political and Pragmatic Considerations (Christopher Dickenson)
3.4 The Urban Economy (Paul Erdkamp)
3.5 Security, Military Culture, and Public Order (Christopher J. Fuhrmann)
3.6 Crises and Conflicts (Arjan Zuiderhoek)
3.7 Diplomacy and External Relations (Martin Hallmannsecker)
3.8 Cities and Koina (Babett Edelmann-Singer)
4. Civic Societies
4.1 Civic Hierarchies (Sophia Zoumbaki)
4.2 Civic Countryside and Rural Life (Stephen Mitchell)
4.3 Women in Civic Societies (Eftychia Stavrianopoulou)
4.4 Clubs and Associations (Benedikt Eckhardt)
4.5 Gymnasia and Baths (Julie Bernini)
4.6 Necropoleis and Civic Funerary Culture (Karin Wiedergut)
4.7 Slavery and the Polis (Alberto Dalla Rosa)
5. Religion and Culture
5.1 The ‘Religious Realm’ (ta theia) in the Eastern Mediterranean Cities (Nicole Belayche)
5.2 Oracles and the City (Manfred Lesgourgues)
5.3 The Imperial Cults in the Greek Provinces (Gabrielle Frija)
5.4 Festivals and Civic Culture (Naomi Carless Unwin)
5.5 Intellectual Education and the City (Krystyna Stebnicka)
6. Cities and Regions
6.1 Athens (Elena Muniz- Grijalvo)
6.2 Sparta and the Peloponnese (Jean-Sebastien Balzat)
6.3 The Cities of Boeotia (Christel Muller)
6.4 The Cyclades (Enora Le Quere)
6.5 Thasos (Julien Fournier)
6.6 The Cities of Bithynia (Henri Fernoux)
6.7 Ephesos (Francois Kirbihler)
6.8 The Cities of Caria (Fabrice Delrieux)
6.9 The Cities of Lycia (Oliver Hulden)
6.10 The Cities of Lydia (Sencan Altınoluk)
6.11 The Cities of the Lykos Valley (Alister Filippini)
6.12 The Greek Cities in Roman Syria (Maurice Sartre)
6.13 The Greek Cities of Sicily (Lorenzo Campagna)
6.14 The Greek Cities of the Black Sea (Madalina Dana)
6.15 Cyrene and the Cities of Cyrenaica (Francois Chevrollier)
6.16 The Cities of Egypt (Peter van Minnen)
Epilogue: The End of Polis Culture? (Anne-Valerie Pont)
Notes
[1] A. H. M. Jones, The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (Oxford, 1937; second edition, 1971), significantly supplemented by The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian (Oxford, 1940).
[2] This is also the precise title of John Ma’s account, published at almost the same time: Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity (Princeton, 2025).
[3] For a more comprehensive discussion of the research, see Arjan Zuiderhoek, The Ancient City (Cambridge, 2017), ch. 10: ‘The End of the Ancient City?’
[4] This also applies to the recently published Companion to Cities in the Greco-Roman World, edited by Miko Flohr and Arjan Zuiderhoek (Hoboken, New Jersey, 2025), which covers the entire ancient world.
[5] For a fundamental discussion of this topic, see Julien Fournier, Entre tutelle romaine et autonomie civique. L’administration judiciaire dans les provinces hellénophones de l’Empire romain (Athens, 2010).
[6] See Martin Hallmannsecker, Roman Ionia. Constructions of Cultural Identity in Western Asia Minor (Cambridge, 2022).