Landscapes and Cities
Rural Settlement and Civic Transformation in Early Imperial Italy
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:19th Oct '06
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The first two centuries AD are conventionally thought of as the 'golden age' of the Roman Empire, yet Italy in this period has often been seen as being in a state of decline and even crisis. This book investigates the relationships between city and countryside in Italy in the early Empire, using evidence from literary texts and inscriptions, and the wealth of data derived from archaeological field surveys over recent years. Looking at individual towns and regions as well as at the broader picture, and stressing the diversity of situations across Italy, John R. Patterson examines how changing patterns of building and benefaction in the cities were related to developments in the country, and underlines the resourcefulness of the cities, both large and small, in seeking to maintain and develop their civic traditions.
Patterson presents a social and economic history of Italy during the first and second centures AD, focusing upon central and southern Italy. He offers a nuanced view of Italy's transformation, emphasising and analysing local diversity...Given that a large proportion of this has been published in Italian and almost all of it in comparatively obscure or expensive scholarly publications, his book makes accessible recent work on the peninsula's towns and landscape. * Alison E. Cooley, The Journal of Classics Teaching *
An important contribution to the historiography of the Italian peninsula in antiquity... [it] will take a central position in the scholarly debate during the upcoming years and hence deserves a place in any decent university library. * Miko Flohr, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
...[an] ambitious and stimulating book...a wide-ranging and persuasive contribution of importance for all those working on imperial Italy * Robert Witcher, Journal of Roman Studies *
ISBN: 9780198140887
Dimensions: 223mm x 145mm x 25mm
Weight: 609g
368 pages