xvi Introduction
two ways. First, we follow the possibility of the existence of long-distance
overland trade with central Asia, with its necessary corollary, caravan cities
in the sense used by Millar’s favorite historian, M. I. Rostovtzeff, and with
consequences for our understanding of ‘‘the ancient economy’’ (chapter :
‘‘Caravan Cities: The Roman Near East and Long-Distance Trade by Land,’’
; cf.RNE, ). And, second, we are taken on a kaleidoscopic journey
through the six centuries following Alexander’s conquests, tracing the im-
pact of Greco-Roman culture in the Asian land-mass (chapter : ‘‘Looking
East from the Classical World: Colonialism, Culture, and Trade from Alex-
ander the Great to Shapur I,’’ ).
The third part, ‘‘Jews and Others,’’ revolves around ethnicity and self-
definition of various groups. Chapter (‘‘Porphyry: Ethnicity, Language,
and Alien Wisdom,’’ ) has already been mentioned, and we may pass on
to chapter , dedicated to the memory of Menahem Stern, author of the
invaluableGreekandLatinAuthorsonJewsandJudaism( vols., Jerusalem, –
),^9 whose life and work reaffirm Millar’s profound belief in the lasting
strength of the ‘‘national, or ethnic, historical and cultural traditions’’ of the
Jewish people. ‘‘TheArabesorArabioiof antiquity have so far not had a Mena-
hem Stern to collect and analyse all the classical references to them, which
begin in the fifth century with Aeschylus and Herodotus’’ (chapter , text to
n. ). Their legendary common genealogy, however, was not supplied within
Greco-Roman mythology but, ironically, within Jewish biblical history, by
none other than the Jewish Josephus who saw in them the descendants of
Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, thereby making them legitimate heirs
to Jewish monotheism, with mighty consequences for the history of Islam
(‘‘Hagar, Ishmael, Josephus, and the Origins of Islam,’’ ; cf.RNE,).
Chapter (‘‘Ethnic Identity in the Roman Near East,..–: Lan-
guage, Religion, and Culture,’’ ) encapsulates succinctly the first part of
the planned sequel toRNE, taking the story of ethnicity, religion, and lan-
guage down to the middle of the fifth century. The continuing predomi-
nance of Greek in this network of Greek cities and in their territories, de-
spite the gradual emergence of Syriac within the Christian church, leaves the
complex and fascinating issues of ethnicity, communal identity, and religious
belief outside the lines of linguistic demarcation.
It is to be hoped that the challenge thrown down by Millar in chap-
ter , ‘‘Dura-Europos under Parthian Rule’’ (), will be picked up and
the rich epigraphic, papyrological, and architectural evidence will be used to
write the history of Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman Dura. At the very least,
. Volume was reviewed by Millar inSCI (): –.