Table of Contents

Prologue - in search of the Orient. Part 1 Empire: the bridgehead and the dependent kingdoms, 31 BC-AD 74; imperialism and expansion, AD 74-195; Rome and Mesopotamia - from Parthia to Persia; the tetrarchy and Constantine. Part 2 Regions and communities: communal and cultural identities; the tetrapolis and Northern Syria; the Phoenician coast and its hinterland; eastern Syria Phoenice - mountains, oasis, and steppe; from Judaea to Syria Palaestina; Arabia; the Euphrates and Mesopotamia; epilogue - East and West. Appendices: the inscriptions of the tetrarchic land-surveyors; documents from the Bar Kochba War; materials for the history of Roman Edessa and Osrhoene, AD 163-337.

Reviews

for the Roman era in English for both scholars and students of the Near East.

modern world...developed in a context that was neither Eastern nor Western.

East" will be for a long time to come the standard work on the subject.

Greco-Roman. The results are surprising...The book is full of original interpretations... [Readers] will be richly rewarded.

ÝAn¨ extraordinary book...Millar's book provides above all the essential political, religious, and cultural framework for understanding how the three most enduring religious legacies of the ancient world for the modern world...developed in a context that was neither Eastern nor Western. -- Guy MacLean Rogers "American Historical Review"

A grand book on a grand topic...To do justice to such a topic, one needs not only a complete understanding of how the Roman Empire functioned, but also mastery of the extensive, complex, scattered, and difficult evidence for the local cultures...Very few ancient historians possess such mastery...This is a book that only Fergus Millar could have written. The breadth of expertise displayed, and the willingness to view the history of a major region of the Roman Empire from the perspective of the provinces rather than the imperial center, are hallmarks of Millar's work, and are impossible to overpraise. There can be no question that "The Roman Near East" will be for a long time to come the standard work on the subject. -- Seth Schwartz "Times Literary Supplement"

Destined to become a classic. -- Howard P. Krug "Seminary Studies"

This learned, honest, and carefully constructed work studies the various regions of the Ýeastern¨ empire and their inhabitants. It asks who they actually were...and how far they had a local culture distinct from the Greco-Roman. The results are surprising...The book is full of original interpretations... ÝReaders¨ will be richly rewarded. -- Clive Foss "Manchester Guardian"

This pioneering volume follows a steady stream of other important contributions by the noted Camden Professor of Ancient History at Oxford, but its unique character and subject may make it his most durable and popular work. It transcends a mere political history of the region by exploring in depth the cultural and linguistic diversity of the population that inhabited the Near East...This is indisputably now the standard and essential guide for the Roman era in English for both scholars and students of the Near East. -- David E. Graf "Religious Studies Review"