La cité interconnectée dans le monde gréco-romain (IVe siècle a.C.-IVe siècle p.C.)

The present volume, from a team of international experts, examines the pivotal role of the city in the social, cultural, religious and diplomatic fabric which shaped the Greco-Roman oikoumene since the advent of Alexander the Great. In clarifying the interplay between mobility and networks, the contributors examined in particular the frameworks, mechanisms and consequences of connectivity. Most typical agents or promoters of such connectivity were sailors, traders, craftsmen, soldiers, men of letters, athletes and pilgrims, but also proxenoi, ambassadors, judges and arbitrators, officers and dignitaries serving dynasts and kings. Mobility, both spontaneous and/or institutionalised, yielded immense effects on the Greek cities as well as on their non-Greek partners, whether these lived in cities themselves or other communal structures. Traditionally, relationships between cities had been either hierarchical or symmetrical. But, over time, the exchanges promoted within the framework of individual cities led to a diversification of relations. At the same time, a political-cultural model emerged which served as a blueprint throughout the Mediterranean and Pontic world(s). One ramification of this trend was the construction or reconfiguration of memories into a set of local identities.