Foreigners at Rome

The Tiber has been joined by the Orontes'. So wrote the Roman satirist Juvenal, in a complaint about immigration to the Empire's capital. Rome was constantly sustained by immigrants. Some were voluntary - craftworkers, soldiers, teachers and intellectuals. Countless others came as slaves. What happened to them after arrival? Did they try to keep contact with their homelands? Did they form distinctive communities within Rome? This book is the first comprehensive study of Rome's foreign-born element. The author uses inscriptions and literature to explore the experiences of newcomers to the capital. The results are compared with the colourful Roman stereotypes of different immigrant groups.

David Noy is author of Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe vols. 1-2, and co-author with William Horbury of Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt.