What was the relationship between city and country in the Roman Empire? The writings which have been preserved show an emormous empire, divided into "cells", each with a city at its centre. But the written sources are few, and focus mainly on the cities of Italy; they do not tell what life was like in the Roman provinces. Through systematic studies of the ancient landscape in Northern Tunisia, archaeologists have reconstructed the day-to-day history and economic activity of the rural population around the city of Segermes. More than 100 persons have been involved in this joint Danish-Tunisian project. The findings presented in these two volumes indicate that in Roman times, the valley was given over to intensive cultivation of wheat and olives, maintained at a high output level by means of extensive irrigation works. The population was dense and, surprisingly, reached its peak between 350 and 550 AD, a period of economic decline elsewhere in the Roman Empire. Contributors to this text include: Fathi Bejaoui, Jesper Carlsen, Anne Cordsen, Naide Ferchiou, Cathrine Gerner Hansen, Keld Grinder-Hansen, Lars Holten, Else Kolstrup, Carsten U. Larsen, John Lund, Henning F. Morch, Hjordis Nielsen, Eberhard Zangger, Thorkild Schioler, Laimi Ladjimi Sebai, Lone Wriedt Sorensen and Jamie Zoghlami. The editor, Soren Dietz, is the author of "The Argolid at the Transition to the Mycenean Age",
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