The Global, the Local and the Glocal: Recent Approaches in Roman Archaeology

This volume explores the impact of Rome’s globalizing empire upon identity and visual culture in its western and eastern provinces. It focuses particularly on the realities of glocal identities, the interconnectivity between people, ideas and technology, and the diverse and uniting nature of the empire. The issue of how identities are shaped and remoulded by Roman conquest, and by the aftermath of empire, are central to contemporary debates across the disciplines of classical archaeology and ancient history. The theoretical framework of glocalization offers a starting point for nuanced discussion through its exploration of the adaptation of a global phenomenon to local realities. Informed by this innovative paradigm and drawing on a wide array of sources, the chapters in this volume range across iconography, religion, settlements, imperial power and identities. Together they investigate the ways in which local actors engaged with imperial structures, and how this phenomenon varied across the different provinces.