The author: David Noy is author of Jewish Inscriptions of
Western Europe vols. 1-2, and co-author with William Horbury of
Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt.
'The Tiber has been joined by the Orontes'. So wrote the Roman
satirist Juvenal, in a complaint about immigration to the Empire's
capital. Rome was constantly sustained by immigrants. Some were
voluntary - craftworkers, soldiers, teachers and intellectuals.
Countless others came as slaves. What happened to them after arrival?
Did they try to keep contact with their homelands? Did they form
distinctive communities within Rome? This book is the first comprehensive
study of Rome's foreign-born element. The author uses inscriptions
and literature to explore the experiences of newcomers to the capital.
The results are compared with the colourful Roman stereotypes of
different immigrant groups.
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