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This chapter provides a narrative overview of the urban history of this period of the formation of the Hellenistic states. It presents the restructuring of urban centers against the backdrop of the warfare and state-building activities of the early Hellenistic kings. Covering the period 322–281 (and, to a lesser extent, 281–ca. 250), it stresses both the ideological and structural roles of urbanization in underpinning the Hellenistic states. It treats both the political history of the wars of the successors and presents a detailed survey of the archaeological and historical evidence for the effects of Hellenistic imperial policy on settlement patterns in northern Greece and Asia Minor. What emerges is a picture of great political and social disruption, but also the centrality of polis institutions.

This chapter reconsiders the authorship of Royal Correspondence 38, a Hellenistic inscription found in the Karian site of Amyzon. RC 38 is a letter to the Amyzonians first published by F. H. Marshall, who also drew attention to the fragment copied by W. R. Hamilton at Amyzon and published by Leake. This chapter also examines A. Wilhelm's commentary on the historical context, the take-over of Karia by Antiochos III in 203 BC, as well as the possibility that the author of the letter must be a high-ranking Seleukid official, most probably Zeuxis, the vice-roy for trans-Tauric Asia Minor. In addition, it analyses how Zeuxis addressed the Amyzonians in his letter before concluding with the view that Antiochos III was gaining Karian territory in 203 at the expense of Ptolemy.

Until the end of the fourth century BCE the impact of Greek culture in Asia Minor was limited. Lykians, Karians, and Lydians offered alternatives to Hellenism and preserved their own languages until the end of the fourth century BCE. However, by 250 BCE these Anatolian languages ceased to be used in public or private documents, and polis organization became normative. After the overthrow of the Persian Empire the autonomy of Greek cities became the highest political objective. Greek civic decrees in the early Hellenistic period emphasized that democratic legitimacy depended on quorate citizen votes, the Greek language became the only medium for official public communication, and the native populations maintained their identity and independence by adopting polis organization. Between 400 and 250 BCE these populations did not merely absorb Greek cultural influence but underwent the encompassing experience of becoming Greek.