ABSTRACT
The term 'Romanisation' conventionally describes this phenomenon of intensive sociocultural change across the Roman empire. This statement obviously mirrors the notion of a protectorate in nineteenth-century British colonialism. The Romanisation critique has consequently been mounting for a long time, for example in Broughton's 1929 study on the Romanisation of Africa Proconsularis. Augustus might have redefined what it meant to have been Roman' by reviving ancient cults and moral values, providing exempla for lite lifestyle and conduct, and distinguishing Rome's culture from Hellenism, but at the same time the material culture in Rome and Italy was becoming even more global' with people being able to tap into an empire-wide Mediterranean network. In this attempt for a better understanding of sociocultural change under Roman rule, we therefore need to take into account comparative studies from other historic periods as well as from sociology and anthropology.
