De verbondenheid tussen de steden van Romeins Klein-Azië

Abstract

This paper describes the urban patterns of Asia Minor in the Roman Imperial period, which saw marked regional variation. The west and southwest were densely occupied with cities, but the centre and northern parts of the region were relatively empty. Furthermore, the urban hierarchies of these regions show distinctiveness, with the largest cities situated in the west and a few in the centre and east, while Lycia and Pamphylia are densely settled with cities, which are more egalitarian in size. Although some scholars claim that the urban hierarchy is a product of the economic integration of the cities, this is not undisputed. Nevertheless, the connection between cities can be a valuable object of study and here the example of tableware is used to attest the complexity of these connections over time and space. Despite the fact that economic connectivity, as partially reflected by the small finds, is important, it must be remembered that other forms of official and less official links between the cities existed, such as the assizes. Furthermore, this does not negate the fact that most cities were at their core autarkic in character, but that the interaction between connectivity, political and socio-economic changes and structural factors of climate and landscape, caused the diversity and complexity in the pattern of urbanization.