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The civic community (ciuitas, polis) was the primary building block of Roman administration and is key to understanding Roman society. However, this 30-credit Thematic (Group 2) seminar-based module, principally designed for second- and final-year students in History, Ancient History, Classics, Ancient World, and Archaeology, does not take the City of Rome as its central point of reference. Rather, the primary focus is the changing social nature and political function of the generality of communities identified as ‘cities’ (poleis, ciuitates) throughout the geographical diversity of the Roman World from the late republic to late antiquity. At the beginning of this period the city was still unquestionably considered the locus of ‘civilisation’ and civilised virtues; by the end of this period this assumption was no longer the unchallenged consensus.

The module takes as its subject not just the model of the city propagated by imperial Rome in previously un-urbanised areas but also the development of the post-classical Greek city-state in that part of the Hellenistic world that came under Roman sway. Amongst the aspects considered, some of which are explored through case studies of particular cities, are: the social ideals embodied in civic structure (and their variation between ‘Greek’ East and 'Latin' West); ‘organic’ compared with planned/planted cities; the city and the economy; the nature of Rome as a super-city; the city as a religious community (and the problem posed by groups such as Jews and, later, Christians); the effect of Christianisation on the topography, function, and social structure of the Roman city; the extent to which the eclipse of the ancient city marks the end of the ancient world.