ABSTRACT
Byzantium inherited a rich literary tradition on cities from the Roman Empire. For centuries, cities were praised in orations on various civic events as marvellous, adorned with spectacular buildings and centres of civic, cultural, economic and religious life. By the end of the early Byzantine period, the ancient city underwent profound change in terms of planning, public buildings, civic administration and culture, economic stagnation being evident in the last quarter of the century. Cities, previously responsible for local administration and collecting taxes, had lost revenues to the state and to the provincial administration, the urban landscape had been Christianised, and public space had to a great degree been demonumentalised. From the 7th century onwards, the terms kastron and polisma are widely used in texts and indicate radical urban change. Only Constantinople and Thessaloniki continued to be designated ‘cities’.
