Volume seven of the fi rst Cambridge ancient history, dedicated to the centuries aft er Alexander (1928), has on its cover an image of the Roman she-wolf.Th us there can be no doubt that this was the period of the rise of Rome and the decline of Greek civilisation.Th e predominant view of the age by historians of the early twentieth century is outlined in an introductory essay by W.S. Ferguson. 1 Section IV on "Th e large state and the polis" is a lengthy complaint about the demise of "the polis ideal, " which was seemingly on the wane even before Chaironeia due to the rise of political and economical elites and royalist oligarchies.Th e single most important cause of decline, however, was the loss of political autonomy aft er Chaironeia: "Th e fatal weakness of the Greek city-states as the custodians of civilisation was their incapacity to form an all-embracing coalition" (p.22); as a result, they were "completely shorn of their statehood, [lacking] municipal rights and a voice in the aff airs of the realm of which they formed part" (24-25).Since then, thinking about the post-classical city has changed drastically.In the second edition of volume seven of the Cambridge ancient history (1983), J.K. Davies titled his section (VII) on the Hellenistic city: "Th e polis transformed and then revitalized." 2 And in the Blackwell companion to the Hellenistic world (2003) Patrick Baker boldly wrote that: Any disruption caused by the conquest of Greece by Philip, and later by Alexander's campaign, had relatively little eff ect on the Greek city-states beyond the multiplication of their numbers.Th us, the traditional model of democratic government -which gave the people control over political life, over justice and over community administration-persisted in a new, though not necessarily inferior, form.Th is phenomenon was most striking in the Greek city-states of Western Asia Minor which had endured centuries of Persian domination.… Aft er being declared free by Alexander the Great, many of them entered a signifi cant phase of political, economic and cultural development.… Th us, contrary to a once widespread opinion, the Hellenistic period was not one of decline for Greek city-states; rather it represented the height of their development.3
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