Asia · Imperium Romanum

The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri… — The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri, Thessaly, Macedonia, Achaia, and the Thracian districts illustrate the replacement of large commands by smaller jurisdictions. The river network helps relate frontier districts to the Adriatic, Aegean, and imperial straits.

The smaller province inherited only part of the earlier Asia’s territory, but retained strong cities, agriculture, trade, and religious institutions. Ephesus’s administrative, commercial, and Christian importance connected it to empire-wide affairs. Provincial subdivision did not eliminate regional urban rivalry or the dependence of cities on rural production.

Its proconsular standing created a relationship to higher authority different from that of an ordinary subordinate governor. The later city’s ecclesiastical prominence was another institution again. Seventh-century warfare and reorganization changed the provincial framework, while western Anatolia remained part of the eastern empire rather than following the conquest chronology of Syria or Egypt.

LE-19 Asia