Orner la cité : enjeux culturels et politiques du paysage urbain dans l'Asie gréco-romaine

In the Roman province of Asia, which became a beacon of Hellenism thanks to its cultural vitality, a coherent public discourse was built on the “city decoration”, especially from the end of the 1st century. It was deployed as much in the ceremonial speeches and the political eloquence as in the official documents issued by the city; its form was renewed until the end of the 4th century, thanks to the epigrams. It is thus possible to survey local aspirations and to list the undertakings carried out as well as their source of financing – it is possible to question the traditional analysis which sees in this historical phenomenon the success of a central model, proposed and even implemented, in part, by Roman power. 

In the eyes of Asian Greek cities’ inhabitants, the urban landscape thus turns out to be the place where common values are invested in – in which Rome has not much part. Contributing to the “city decoration” was for a long time a valued mode of participation in the civic ideal. The institutional process analysis at work in the building of public monuments confirms this assessment – against the great powers of the Roman administration, the city and its elites do not seem helpless. This investigation also tries to define the politic followed by Emperors in this field. The study of this historical material thus leads, after others, to highlight the richness of cultural and political life in the Greco-Roman Eastern cities.

This book is the result of a thesis that received the Marie-Louise Arconati-Visconti prize in 2006 and the AIEGL prize for Greek epigraphy in 2007.