Monumental development in Glanum: Evidence for the early impact of Rome in Gallia Narbonensis

Abstract

This article challenges the prevailing opinion that the inhabitants of Gallia Transalpina were largely unaffected by Roman hegemony in the late second and early first centuries BC. The monumental development of the site of Glanum in the late second century BC shows clearly that the local elite were reacting to, and interacting with, their Roman conquerors. This relationship is not immediately obvious because the style of the architecture dating to the second century BC is described as Hellenistic rather than Roman. However, I argue that this incongruity should not affect the perception of change in the area. Given the current emphasis in the scholarly literature on the participation of local elites in the process of culture change, what matters is not whether the monuments are 'Hellenistic' or 'Roman', but rather the motivation and timing of their production. © The Fund for Mediterranean Archaeology/Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2006.