The chapters in this volume are holistic in scope, with special emphasis on Roman imperial relations with the people of Achaea and their conceptualizations of their past. Material culture, monumental and domestic spaces, and artistic representations are discussed, as well as the literary output of individuals like Plutarch, Herodes Atticus, Aelius Aristides, and others. The debate over Roman influence in various Hellenic cities and the significance of collective historical nostalgia also feature in this volume, as does the utilization of Achaea's past in the Roman present within the wider empire. .

Alexander the Great's campaigns in the East brought the Greek and Eastern worlds in closer contact than was possible in previous centuries. While Greeks and non-Greeks had lived alongside each other for centuries before Alexander's conquest of the East, it was during the Hellenistic period that a more direct interaction of cultures occurred. The material evidence from the lands that formed part of Alexander's empire, in combination with contemporary theoretical approaches, can hopefully lead to attempts to answer why specific borrowings occurred as well as how such borrowings are interpreted by contemporary scholars. This volume is a direct result of the broader cross-cultural research interests of the editors.