• As some cities grew in size (as centers of trade) or prestige (as
religious sites), they became symbolically—and sometimes
administratively—the “first city” of a province.
o Thus, Ephesus (keeper of the cult of Artemis and the cult of the
imperial family) was the first city of the province of Asia.
o Lugdanum (Lyons), because of its safety and trade, became the
first city of the province of Gaul.o Such “first cities,” in turn, exercised influence over other cities
of a region.• Truly large metropolises exercised cultural and political influence
over larger areas of the empire.
o Rome was always “first city” because it was the capital, but
Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria grew to considerable
prominence in their respective territories.
o Under the administrative reforms of Diocletian, the empire
was divided into dioceses, each with its chief city; under
Constantine, dioceses were gathered into praefecturae, each
with a chief city.o Antioch was the praefectural city for the Orient, giving it great
political authority. In Italy, Milan was made the praefectural
city, while Rome remained merely the head of a diocese.• In the 4th and 5th centuries, certain cities, as seats of bishops (who
were called “patriarchs”), also exercised ecclesiastical authority
over the ecclesial dioceses within their territory and entered
into sustained rivalry for primacy within the imperial religion as
a whole.
o The relations among these cities would be of considerable
importance for the next several centuries; the doctrinal
disputes that raged across imperial Christianity were intimately
connected with their political rivalry.