ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents an overview of the state of research in the field of migration in the Classical World, with extensive bibliography. It discusses the major shifts in the historiography of the ancient Mediterranean that have arisen due to the focus on mobility and introduces modern historical, sociological and anthropological concepts in order to enhance our understanding of the issues at play. The book assesses the use of language and the construction of identity in diaspora communities, as well as how both are affected by the specific historical and social conditions in which they emerge. It explains different patterns of mobility in places as diverse as Rome and Bostra – the capital of the Roman Provincia Arabia, in southern Syria – and to identify the problematic nature of epigraphy for analysing ancient mobility.
