The Kingdom of Priam: Lesbos and the Troad between Anatolia and the Aegean (Oxford Classical Monographs)

How do regions form and evolve? What are the human and geographical factors which help to unify a region, and what are the political considerations which limit integration and curtail co-operation between a region's communities? Through a diverse series of case studies focusing on the regional history of Lesbos and the Troad from the seventh century BC down to the first century AD, The Kingdom of Priam offers a detailed exploration of questions about regional integration in the ancient world. Drawing on a wide range of evidence - from the geography of Strabo and the botany of Theophrastos, to the accounts of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century travellers and the epigraphy, numismatics, and archaeology of the region - these case studies analyse the politics of processes of regional integration in the Troad and examine the insular identity of Lesbos, the extent to which the island was integrated into the mainland, and the consequences of this relationship for its internal dynamic. Throughout it is argued that although Lesbos and the Troad became ever more economically well-integrated over the course of this period, they nevertheless remained politically fragmented and were only capable of unified action at moments of severe crisis. These regional0dynamics intersected in complex and often unexpected ways with the various imperial systems (Persian, Athenian, Macedonian, Attalid, Roman) which ruled over the region and shaped its internal dynamics, both through direct interventions in regional politics and through the pressures and incentives which these imperial systems created for local communities. How do regions form and evolve? What are the human and geographical factors which help to unify a region, and what are the political considerations which limit integration and curtail co-operation between a region's communities? Through a diverse series of case studies focusing on the regional history of Lesbos and the Troad from the seventh century BC down to the first century AD, The Kingdom of Priam offers a detailed exploration of questions about regional integration in the ancient world. Drawing on a wide range of evidence - from the geography of Strabo and the botany of Theophrastos, to the accounts of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century travellers and the epigraphy, numismatics, and archaeology of the region - these case studies analyse the politics of processes of regional integration in the Troad and examine the insular identity of Lesbos, the extent to which the island was integrated into the mainland, and the consequences of this relationship for its internal dynamic. Throughout it is argued that although Lesbos and the Troad became ever more economically well-integrated over the course of this period, they nevertheless remained politically fragmented and were only capable of unified action at moments of severe crisis. These regional dynamics intersected in complex and often unexpected ways with the various imperial systems (Persian, Athenian, Macedonian, Attalid, Roman) which ruled over the region and shaped its internal dynamics, both through direct interventions in regional politics and through the pressures and incentives which these imperial systems created for local communities. This book is a regional history of Lesbos and the Troad from the seventh century BC to the first century AD which examines the extent to which this geographical region became politically, economically, and culturally integrated over this extended timeframe. The case studies in each chapter examine the various human and geographical factors which promoted regional integration, but also consider the political and identity-based considerations which limited integration and curtailed co-operation in particular areas. It is argued that this produced a situation in which an economically well-integrated region nevertheless remained politically fragmented and was only capable of unified action at moments of crisis. The book is split into two halves, with the first examining both the human and geographical factors which contributed to regional integration in the Troad and the politics of this process and the second examining the insular identity of Lesbos, the extent to which it was integrated into the mainland, and the consequences of this integration for the internal dynamic of the island. Cross-cutting these regional dynamics are the various imperial systems (Persian, Athenian, Macedonian, Attalid, Roman) which ruled this region and shaped its internal dynamics both through direct interventions in regional politics and through the pressures and incentives which these imperial systems created for local communities. 'The Kingdom of Priam' offers a detailed exploration of questions about regional integration in the ancient world through a diverse series of case studies focusing on the regional history of Lesbos and the Troad from the seventh century BC down to the first century AD