"This book is a potential game changer. Ryan Boehm offers a radical reinterpretation of the role of cities in early Hellenistic kingdoms and the challenges posed by synoikism. The range of players and processes documented here is rich and complex; they have been lurking in the epigraphic and archaeological record, which Boehm has clearly mastered. Few other historians of the period show such range."--Denver Graninger, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Riverside "A dense and nuanced synthesis of this kind has not been available so far. A special virtue is that Boehm not only treats the 'top down' perspective of the kings but also pays great attention to the 'bottom up' interests and reactions of the communities involved. Thus, he succeeds in constructing a vivid and convincing picture of city foundations embedded in complex interaction between kings and local groups."--Christof Schuler, Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy of the German Archaeological Institute, Munich