The Lives of Ancient Villages: Rural Society in Roman Anatolia

This book is the first extended historical ethnography of an ancient village society, based on a rich body of funerary and propitiatory inscriptions from a remote upland region of Roman Asia Minor. It provides a detailed analysis of rural kinship structures, household forms, demography, religious life, gender relations, class structure, normative standards, and values. Roman north-east Lydia is a unique non-urban society with tight-knit families, egalitarian values, hard agricultural labor, village solidarity, honor, piety, and love.

Format: Hardback
Length: 396 pages
Publication date: 17 November 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Our understanding of the culture and values of the ancient Greco-Roman world is largely shaped by the texts and material remnants left behind by a limited and peculiar segment of urban inhabitants. The inhabitants of the vast Mediterranean countryside rarely feature in historical records from antiquity, and their role as historical actors is exceedingly rare. This book represents the first comprehensive historical ethnography of an ancient village society, drawing upon an extensive collection of funerary and propitiatory inscriptions from a remote upland region of Roman Asia Minor. Extensive analysis is conducted to examine rural kinship structures, household arrangements, demographic characteristics, religious practices, gender relations, class dynamics, normative standards, and values. Roman northeast Lydia stands as a unique non-urban society within the Greco-Roman world, offering a remarkable level of detail regarding its culture. This world is characterized by close-knit families, egalitarian principles, arduous agricultural labor, village unity, honor, piety, and love.

Weight: 894g
Dimension: 251 x 177 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781009123211