This is the first of two volumes of papers by scholars actively engaged in the study of the Roman East in honour of Professor Fergus Millar FBA, formerly Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford and the leading scholar of Roman History of his generation. The first volume, mainly from contributors based in the Northern Hemisphere, contains studies on the Roman Near East, Egypt and early Byzantium. A second volume containing papers by scholars mainly based in the Southern Hemisphere is in preparation.