ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the public places of western Asia Minor's assize cities in terms of props or cues, frame elements or inanimate actors. The choice of vocabulary matters less than the basic point: these were cityscapes produced by, and largely for, the collective political agendas of civic elites. Local notables could, however, exercise a considerable degree of control over how a governor was perceived by their fellow citizens. The civic elite's idea of the Empire consisted, diffuse but ubiquitous, in inscribed decrees, in shrines of the imperial cult, in statues of the emperors. Governors were conditioned to pay close attention to the settings in which they presented themselves, and the leading citizens of conventus cities had a practiced understanding of how to impress them. A governor's presence briefly unsettled the usual order of things, and those who came before his tribunal felt the fleeting touch of Roman justice.
