ABSTRACT
In much of the Roman world, the most striking change produced by the imperial peace was the spread of towns. Cities and towns were the centres of administration in the eyes of the Roman state. In the eastern Mediterranean, where cities had been long established before Roman rule, civic status was granted to many village communities, which vied for the privilege. In the western and northern parts of the empire, numerous new towns were founded, often located on level sites replacing hill-top fortified settlements. The process was not universal, and in some remote regions village life remained normal even at the height of the Empire (see below, Part IV, for examples), but the main paradigms of a Roman cultured lifestyle were urban, and many provincials adopted urbanization with enthusiasm.
