accorded to merchants, and the degree of autonomy enjoyed by urban élites.
In the western half of the Mediterranean urban life changed gear radically because of political upheavals and a sharp drop in trade and monetary circulation, but the decline was much less marked than in northern Gaul or Britain. A large measure of physical continuity was evident in the preservation of Roman walls, aqueducts, and other structures, often through the efforts of local bishops. Temples such as the Pantheon in Rome were converted into churches, Roman street plans were preserved in Lucca, Barcelona, and elsewhere, and on occasion large private buildings became the nucleus of early medieval towns, as in the case of Diocletian's vast palace at Split, which became a refuge from Slav attacks for the population of nearby Salona.
The level of continuity was not, however, uniform. In northern Italy virtually all the Roman civitates survived with a few exceptions, but in the south the majority of towns ceased to be recorded as episcopal sees around the time of the Lombard invasions, and urban life was largely confined to the coastal cities which enjoyed the lifeline of Byzantine commerce and naval support. Specific external attacks could be a factor in a city's decline, as perhaps in the case of Aquileia, but in general longer-term factors were more important such as the silting up of harbours, changes in trade networks, and an overall increase in insecurity. Often the need for a settlement in a particular area continued, and the population of exposed Roman towns sought refuge in more defensible sites, either on islands as in the case of Grado and the Venetian lagoon, or on hilltops, as in the Roman Campagna.
The cities which survived presented a sorry sight in the early Middle Ages. In Rome the late Roman population of several hundred thousand had shrunk to perhaps 30,000 by the late sixth century as a result of siege, famine, and plague, important classical buildings lay derelict or were despoiled for building materials, and vast areas of the city were desolate. Although the Roman tradition of lavish municipal patronage had been replaced by a Christian programme of church-building, the
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