Aphrodisias, presque une île: la cité et ses réseaux d’Auguste à 249/250

Abstract

The privileges Aphrodisias enjoyed since the period of the triumvirate contributed to the isolation of the city in Asia. However, probably in the middle of the 3rd c. or at the latest under Diocletian, it became a provincial capital. Our aim is to show that this decision was a result of moves already taken by Aphrodisias: from the 2nd c., we can observe what seems to have been an original, independent policy of the city aimed at the domination of eastern Caria. Its major strategy consisted in the creation and maintenance of asymmetric relationships with many Carian cities, in areas (i.e. regional economy, cultural life, creation of mythical kinship ties) in which Rome did not usually intervene, by contrast with the rivalries between large cities of Asia. Thus, the questions of status decided by Rome can also be illuminated by studying the networks created and maintained by Aphrodisias.