Economy, Geography, and Provincial History in Later Roman Palestine

Hayim Lapin examines the economic geography of fourth-century Roman Galilee. Drawing on literary and archaeological material for the distribution of cities, villages, roads and other features of trade and marketing, and making use of the central-place theory, the author attempts to reconstruct models of the regional economy of northern Palestine, and to examine the degree of economic integration in the region. As a contribution to the historiography of Jews and Palestine in antiquity, Hayim Lapin argues that the economic, social and cultural landscape inhabited by residents of fourth-century Palestine was in many ways shaped by its Roman provincial administrative setting and political economy. Thus key aspects of the history of later Roman Palestine, and particularly of Jews, need to be reexamined.Central Places in Theory and Practice: Description of Central-Place Models - Some Implications of Theoretical Landscapes - Markets and Hierarchy in Later Roman Palestine. Landscape, Archaeology, and Settlement Pattern: Describing the Data - Five Archaeological Survey of Israel Regions - The Data as a Whole - Regional Integration? Reconstructions of an Economic Landscape in Northern Palestine: Large Settlements and the Roman Road System - Proposed Reconstruction of an Upper Tier - Settlement Distribution and Rural Marketing - Models of a Lower Tier - From Theoretical Landscape to Historical Region. Aspects of the Geography of Marketing in Palestinian Literature: Aspects of a Geography of Marketing - Aspects of a Marketing System - Conclusions. Toward a Regional History of Northern Palestine in Late Antiquity: Political and Administrative - Economic - Cultural - Toward a Regional History. Bibliography. Index of Sources: Rabbinic Texts, Hebrew Bible, New Testament - Classical and Patristic Texts - Papyri and Inscriptions. Index of Authors. Index of Subjects