Friday 2nd September 2005 AD
QUESTIONS OF A ROMAN "FREE CITY"

Located between the foot of Mount Salbacus and the banks of the Lycus River, in ancient Asia Minor, lay a proud and rich city. 

Colonized by the Seleucid King Antiochus II in 260BC and named after his wife, this city was positioned on a busy trade route between east and west. Just like a rare few others in history, this thriving metropolis had flourished on a combination of strategic location and a monopoly on the supply of some vital commodities. 

This was a population center built on the production and supply of fabric, its recognized and acceptable money supply and one highly regarded and important medical treatment. Due to this unique combination, by 100 B.C. it had become one of the foremost cities of Asia Minor. 

Over the next 200 years this city would go on to amass great riches, its wealthy citizens embellishing it with beautiful monuments. So highly regarded would this city and its trade become, that Rome would bestow it the title of "Free City", being granted a taxed advantaged status. Yet later again Rome would offer it a "welfare state" hand out. 

Who was this city and why was it different? Why was it allowed to operate as a tax haven within the Roman Empire? What was this city's answer to Rome's offer of welfare and why? 

As our valued readers know, it is by digging into history, that we are better able to best understand the future. So importantly for us today, how was this trading center's "formula for success" so different to its counterparts of today? And finally, what should we learn from its lesson's? - Answers we will be digging for in our next Daily Dig. 

Best Regards - Philip Judge pjudge@anglofareast.com