Epilogue: The End of Polis Culture?
Résumé
Abstract Focusing on the cities of Asia Minor, this chapter discusses their evolution throughout the second part of the 3rd century ad, the Tetrarchy, and the reign of Constantine. Facing military threats from the 250s until the 270s, the cities overcame them using the institutional frame and ideology of polis culture. Yet, the most competitive aspects of this culture recede. The establishment of Constantinople as a new capital after a preliminary transformation of Nicomedia in the 280s, the increase in career opportunities outside of the civic hierarchies which began with the Tetrarchy, as well as the effects of religious and imperial administrative policies at the beginning of the 4th century, led to a new situation. While civic culture continued to be articulated through traditional media and conservative vocabulary in northern Africa during the 4th century, this chapter concludes that such was not the case in the Greek cities under examination.