Revaluing Roman Cyprus : local identity on an island in antiquity

In Revaluing Roman Cyprus , Ersin Hussein provides a study of local identity formation in Roman Cyprus addresses its traditional characterisation as a weary, uneventful, and insignificant province and champions it as a rich case study for investigations of the Roman Empire. Hussein collates well-known, overlooked, and newly uncovered evidence to revaluate local responses to, and experiences of, Roman rule. The investigation opens with a look at the island as a real and imagined space to explore its marginalisation in ancient and modern scholarly narratives. Hussein revisits the events surrounding the annexation of the island by Rome from Ptolemaic Egypt and its subsequent administration to establish the dynamics between the inhabitants of the island and their rulers. The spread and impact of Roman citizenship across the island is assessed through an exploration of the strategies employed by individuals to distinguish themselves in local and regional contexts. Hussein examines the poleis of Roman Cyprus, notably the preservation of their myths in literary records and the production of these in the material record, are examined to explore collective identity formation. Roman Cyprus is revealed as an active and dynamic participant in negotiating its identity and status in the Roman Empire. An island was poised between multiple landscapes, Hussein shows how Cyprus maintained deep-rooted connections between mainland Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Near East. This study addresses the traditional characterization of Roman Cyprus’s history as a Roman province as uneventful, insignificant, and ‘weary’. It brings fresh insight to the study of its culture and society by taking an integrated approach and bringing together well-known, less familiar, and new evidence to reassess cultural change, local responses to Roman rule, and the articulation of local identity in the Cypriot context. While it focuses primarily on material from the annexation of the island in 58 BC until the mid fourth century AD, or more specifically the refoundation of Salamis by Constantius II between AD 332 and 342, where relevant space will be given to discussion of evidence from across all periods of the island’s ancient history to facilitate a meaningful investigation of the key themes of this work. Ultimately, this study aims to reinsert Roman Cyprus into academic narratives about culture and society of the Roman provinces. Furthermore, it has been put together with the undergraduate student in mind to encourage and promote the study of Roman Cyprus—and, of course, ancient Cyprus—by collating key studies, evidence, and material, and thus making them accessible to new audiences Revaluing Roman Cyprus Provides An Examination Of The History Of Roman Cyprus And Its Place In The Roman Empire. Hussein Shows That Cyprus Was An Active Site Of Roman Political Culture And An Important Crossroads In The Eastern Mediterranean.