Roman landscapes of Greece. Issues on archaeological visibility and inter-regional variability

The quest for features of inter-regional variability, within a landscape with striking characters of uniformity, as the Greek landscape in the Roman period has been defined, in comparison to the variegated Italian landscape in the same period, was already one of the goals of S.Alcock’s research on Roman Greece (Graecia Capta 1993). The comment on landscape uniformity, as for Greece, was due mainly to the general persisting of the highest levels of nucleated settlements, and also to the general impression of a rural abandonment which would characterise the landscape of the early Empire, in comparison with earlier periods. In fact, while the initial shrinking in the rural landscape seems similar everywhere, explanation for this empty countryside may vary from region to region. It can be seen not absolute, but relative to the behaviour of the city sites, to the characteristics of the environment, to the extension and function of the sites themselves, to the property system. Following those lines, it should be put an effort on establishing micro-regional and regional models aiming at separating the effects of local and regional factors from trends at the larger scale of the imperial economy. The paper aims to set up a feasible research framework aiming at a critical revisit of the existing research, with the help of the most recent and updated data coming from the latest landscape research projects carried out in Greece, according to the newest methodologies and interdisciplinary research standards which would allow for a fruitful comparison of the results, such as surface density of potsherds, visibility issues, site classification, geomorphological mapping, land evaluation maps.