place
Asia
also: Asia, Macedonia, Hispania, Gallia, Africa, Sardinia, Asiae
The Roman province of Asia, organised from Attalid Pergamum by M'. Aquillius after 129 BC; the wealthiest of Rome's eastern provinces, with the cities of Ionia and the Aegean coast. Cicero pairs it with Macedonia, Spain, Gaul, Africa, and Sardinia in his opening stocktaking of provincial misgovernment (In Verrem 2.1).
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 1.15 §1 fallen by lot
Provincial commands were assigned to outgoing magistrates by lot (sortitio). Quintus Cicero, as propraetor, drew Asia, the wealthy province in western Anatolia, which he would govern 61--58 BC.
- Ad Atticum 3.14 §2 we shall turn off into Asia
The Roman province of Asia (western Asia Minor), a destination Cicero weighs if his recall stalls; going there would put him farther from Italy. He never made the move, remaining at Thessalonica.
- Ad Atticum 3.19 §1 into Asia
The wealthy Roman province of Asia (western Asia Minor). Cicero refuses to retreat there, both from distaste for crowds and to stay near Italy in case of recall.
- Ad Familiares 2.6 §1 set out from Asia on the road to Rome
Curio had been in the eastern provinces, probably on quaestorian or propraetorian business; Cicero writes before Curio has reached Italy, anxious that the letter arrive while there is still time to influence the consular elections.
- Ad Familiares 12.7 §2 the province of Asia
The wealthy Roman province of western Anatolia, a prize Cicero assumes Cassius can secure for the republican cause along with the rest of the East.
- Ad Familiares 12.9 §1 As though Asia were sealed off
Cicero complains of a communications blackout from the East: no firm news crosses from the province of Asia, only unconfirmed rumours of Dolabella's defeat.
- Ad Familiares 13.66 §2 your province to be the safest harbour for himself
Servilius's province was Asia, where he served as proconsul 46-44 BC. An exile such as Caecina, debarred from Italy, sought refuge and the means to wind up his business affairs in a friendly governor's jurisdiction.
- Ad Familiares 13.67 §1 three Asiatic districts
Greek 'treis dioikeseis': three judicial circuits (conventus) detached from the province of Asia and attached to Cicero's command of Cilicia in 51-50 BC, namely Cibyra, Apamea, and Synnada. They contained inland Laodicea, Andro's home city.
- Ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1 §8 the highest command for three years in Asia
Asia, the Roman province organised from the Attalid kingdom of Pergamum after 129 BC, covered western Asia Minor and was the wealthiest of Rome's eastern provinces --- proverbially a place where a governor could enrich himself.
- Ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1 §42 theatre
Cicero casts the whole province of Asia as a vast theatre whose verdict on Quintus's conduct will carry all the way back to Rome --- a metaphor for the public scrutiny of a governor's reputation.
- For Lucius Flaccus §3 Lydians or Mysians or Phrygians
The peoples of the province of Asia (western Anatolia), from whom the prosecution's witnesses were drawn. Cicero's defence rests largely on discrediting Greek and Asian testimony as fickle and bought.