viii Preface
notionsaboutthesupposedoligarchicpoliticalcharacteroftheRomanRe-
public.InthefutureMillarintendstoreturntotheRomanNearEastfora
studytobeentitledSocietyandReligionintheRomanNearEastfromConstantine
toMahomet.InthisstudyMillarwillbringthestoryofGreco-Romanculture
intheNearEastfromtheearlyfourthcenturyuptotheIslamicinvasionsof
theseventhcenturya.d.
During the same period when he has produced these ground-breaking
books, Millar also has published over seventy essays on aspects of Greco-
Romanhistory,fromtheHellenisticperioduntilthemiddleofthefifthcen-
turya.d.Theseessayshavelaidthefoundationsfororsupplementedtheideas
andargumentspresentedinMillar’sverywellknownbooks.Someofthese
essays,suchas‘‘TheEmperor,theSenateandtheProvinces’’(JournalofRoman
Studies56 [1966]: 156–66), or ‘‘Emperors, Frontiers and Foreign Relations,
31 b.c.–a.d.378’’(Britannia13[1982]:1–23),haveappearedinhithertoacces-
siblejournalsandarewidelyregardedasclassicsofscholarship.Butotherout-
standingessays,suchasMillar’sstudy,‘‘PolybiusbetweenGreeceandRome’’
(published inGreek Connections: Essays on Culture and Diplomacy[1987], 1–
18),havebeenmoredifficulttolocate,evenforprofessionalhistoriansdoing
researchinthefield.
Therefore,theprimarygoalofourcollection,Rome, the Greek World, and
the East,istobringtogetherintothreevolumesthemostsignificantofMil-
lar’sessayspublishedsince1961forthewidestaudiencepossible.Thecollec-
tionincludesmanyarticlesthatclearlywillbeofgreatintellectualinterest
andpedagogicalusetoscholarsdoingresearchandteachinginthedifferent
fieldsofthevolumeheadings:Volume1,The Roman Republic and the Augustan
Revolution;Volume2,Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire;
andVolume3,The Greek World, the Jews, and the East.
Atthesametime,wehaveconceivedandorganizedthethreevolumesof
Rome, the Greek World, and the EastespeciallyinordertomakeMillar’smost
significantarticlesreadilyavailabletoanewgenerationofstudents,whoin-
creasinglymaynothaveaccesstothespecialtyjournalsoreditedvolumesin
whichmanyofMillar’smorerecentarticleshaveappeared.
Theprincipleofarrangementoftheessaysineachofthethreevolumes
isbroadlychronologicalbysubjectmattertreatedwithintheancientworld.
Webelievethatthischronologicalarrangementofessays(ratherthanbypub-
licationdateoftheessays)givesintellectualcoherencetoeachvolumeonits
ownandtothecollectionasawhole.Overall,asMillarhimselfhasdefined
it,thesubjectofthiscollectionis‘‘thecommunalcultureandcivilgovern-
ment of the Graeco-Roman world, essentially from the Hellenistic period
tothefifthcenturya.d.’’(‘‘Author’sPrologue,’’volume1,p.11).