City Loyalty

I was struck by the idea of fierce city loyalty in the beginning of chapter 7. I wish Mieroop would have gone into more detail about the underlying reasons behind this affiliation. In modern times, people generally associate themselves with a larger region than just their city, unless they live in a major city such as New York, L.A., etc. Since each city had its own patron god, I wonder if each city also had its own unique characteristics from other cities nearby. For example, most people wouldn't mistake a New Yorker for a Philadelphian or Bostonian, at least if you're from the East Coast. It's interesting to think that these affiliations ran just as strongly then as they do today. Cities were basically free-standing entities because most rulers of kingdoms weren't very effectual in dispersing power equally. In this way, I could see why someone's city would be so important to them. The city meets all the needs of the people more efficiently than the state could. There didn't seem to be much loyalty to emperors outside of the immediate bureaucracy of the palace.