Abstract: The first two centuries AD are conventionally thought of as the ‘golden age’ of the Roman Empire, yet Italy in this period has often been seen as being in a state of decline and even crisis. This book investigates the relationships between city and countryside in Italy in the early Empire, using evidence from archaeology, literary texts, and inscriptions; it stresses the diversity of situations across Italy, with a focus on individual towns and regions as well as on the broader picture. Reviewing the wealth of data derived from archaeological field survey over recent years, it highlights the changing patterns of rural settlement in different regions of Italy, and in particular the growth of large estates. These are then related to contemporary developments in the cities, where the patterns of public building and benefaction revealed by urban excavation and by honorific inscriptions were influenced by changing conceptions of urban life at the local level as well as by the influence of contemporary building in Rome itself. The advancement of the Italian elites into the equestrian and senatorial orders under the early Empire brought challenges as well as benefits to the communities from which they came; the book underlines the resourcefulness of the cities, both large and small, in seeking to maintain and develop their civic traditions by drawing on new sources of support.

Keywords: archaeological field survey, benefaction, civic traditions, crisis, elites, Italy, public building