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216 8. administration and politics in the cities
3. Greater prominence of villages and the ascetic movement
In many areas of the Greek provinces of the empire, there are remains of
solid stone-built villages dating from late antiquity. They are found in
Galatia, Cappadocia, Pisidia and Isauria in Asia Minor, 65 east of the
Orontes in Syria, in the Hauran, in Galilee, Judaea and the Negev in
Palestine, 66 and around Bostra and Amman in Arabia. 67 They have also
been found in Libya and Tripolitania. 68 Most of the remains are in areas
that have been scantily inhabited in later times. It remains an open question
whether similar villages once existed in areas like western Syria or the
coastal territories of Asia Minor, which have continued to be densely
inhabited. Naturally, no such villages have left remains in Egypt, but
papyrus documents show that large villages with village councils and elders,
craftsmen and prosperous peasants did exist there. 69 Aphrodito in the territory
of Antaiopolis was probably larger than its city, and it certainly had
many characteristics of a city, including some highly literate inhabitants. 70
So large and, in many areas, stone-built villages, with considerable churches
with mosaic pavements and cemeteries with inscribed tombstones, are a
feature of late antiquity. It needs to be explained.
The high empire, which saw monumental classical building in so many
cities, did not as a rule produce buildings of this kind in villages. The late
empire saw much less activity in cities, and it is therefore tempting to
suggest that the late Roman villages grew at the expense of the city in
whose territory they lay. This might well have been the case in central and
northern Asia Minor where, as we have seen, city sites show few signs of
activity in this period. But it cannot be the whole explanation, since in
Arabia and eastern Syria villages and the cities in whose admittedly large
territory they were situated seem to have prospered together.
A development which must have strengthened the village vis-à-vis the city
was the ascetic movement. Monasteries were established largely in the
countryside and around villages, 71 and in some areas – for instance, the villages
of northern Syria – they were very numerous indeed. At and around
Aphrodito in Egypt there were no fewer than forty monasteries. 72 These
institutions benefited from donations and legacies, 73 and could afford
buildings of a quality not previously seen in villages. Their existence must
have diverted resources from towns. Heads of monasteries, particularly if
they acquired a reputation for holiness, were men of influence and power
65 Mitchell, Anatolia ii.100–8. 66 See above, n. 51; also Tate and Sodini (1980).
67 Donceel-Voûte (1988); building goes on longer than in cities: Sartre (1985) 136–8.
68 Sjöström (1993); Barker (1985). 69 Bagnall, Egypt 115–19, 127–30, 138; Rathbone (1990).
70 MacCoull, Dioscorus 5–9.
71 Vööbus (1958–60); Tchalenko, Villages iii.63–106; Brown, ‘Holy man’; Hirschfeld (1992); Palmer
(1990). 72 MacCoull, Dioscorus 7. 73 Wipszychka (1972) 37, 75–7).
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