GOVERNMENT WITHOUT BUREAUCRACY 45Self- governing cities were also slow in coming in the heartland of Africa
Proconsularis, the other great grain surplus producing area of the empire,
before the Severan period.^30 The primary explanation is the scale of imperial
interest and presence in the area, which included the Medjerda valley behind
Carthage, the location of extensive imperial properties. Administration and
control, traditional functions of such communities, were in large part
accounted for in this area by the imperial authorities in Carthage and on the
domains. When eventually civic status was granted, the size of the imperial
estates, the number of communities and their proximity to one another
ensured that the newly chartered cities would have exiguous territories and
therefore little opportunity for growth.
Other factors, and especially the infl uence in Rome of powerful expatriates
of senatorial or equestrian status, may have played a part in postponing the
fragmentation of the huge territory of Carthage, or for that matter, that of
its counterpart in Numidia, Cirta. The operation of patronage could,
however, work against the interests of the large cities. Four communities
within Carthage’s vast territory, Avitta Bibba, Bisica, Thuburbo Maius and
Abthugni, became municipia in the reign of Hadrian, thus outpacing
numerous others of equal insignifi cance that in most cases had to wait for
the Severan period or later for promotion. We may suppose that Hadrian
was infl uenced by the pleas of patrons of the communities or of other
important individuals, as Pius certainly was when he granted the status of
city to Gigthis in southern Tunisia. But emperors did not always need
prompting. Byzantium, Antioch and Neapolis in Palestine happened to
support the wrong side in the civil war that led to the elevation of Septimius
Severus and lost their civic rights in consequence. At the same time other
cities, such as Tyre and Laodicea, neighbour and rival of Antioch, received
‘Italian rights’ and therefore tax exemption. The village in Syrian Auranitis
that produced the emperor Philip was renamed Philippopolis in AD 244
when it achieved the status of a colony. In short, the initiative of individuals,
imperial whim or other chance factors rather than a deliberate policy
originating in Rome might determine on which side of the line a community
fell, or for that matter, and even more so, the special status and privileges, if
any, that it held.^31
To sum up, the distinction between city and communities of lower status
in the Roman context is at base one of political constitution and relationship
to the surrounding territory. In the Greek East where the political landscape
was already fully formed in the islands, coasts and river valleys Roman
intervention took the form of minor adjustment to existing settlement
hierarchies, and the promotion of new foundations in the underurbanized
hinterland. In contrast the West (especially in North Africa and the Iberian
peninsula), and to a much lesser extent the North, witnessed the remarkable
spread of Roman cities. Here decisions had to be made with some frequency
as to the status of individual communities and the shape and extent of their
rural territories. Intense diplomatic activity involving the local elites formed