This chapter examines Gaza’s socio-spatial organization and the demographic features of its population. It presents Gaza’s main urban features during the late Ottoman period, including divisions into neighborhoods, main landmarks and thoroughfares. It then offers an in-depth portrayal of Gazan society, including data on economy and lifestyles, social hierarchies, marriage patterns, migration and health, based on a detailed analysis of the Ottoman census of 1905 and surviving court records (1857–1861), in light of evidence from the literature, maps and images.

This chapter considers aspects of the military’s place in Roman society, especially in relation to the issue of identity. The first section examines how features of military life served to develop a sense of the armed forces as a distinct community, particularly from the Principate onwards, including military privileges, restrictions on soldiers marrying, and the role of symbols and rituals. The second section addresses the debate about relations between soldiers and civilians, and the extent to which the military can be considered a ‘total institution’. The presence of non-combatants in military camps is discussed (slaves, prostitutes, merchants), alongside interactions with civilian society in such contexts as marriage patterns and requisitioning and billetting. The third and final section focuses on the military and religious practices, which were another context in which soldiers sometimes interacted with civilians. Consideration is also given to the role of state-sponsored religious rituals during the Principate and under the Christian emperors of Late Antiquity, and the validity of assumptions about specifically ‘military cults’ (Mithraism, Jupiter Dolichenus) is discussed.

Chapter 8 explores the elusive representation of kin groups in decline, when association with powerful upcoming groups would be pursued. ANOC IV commemorates the union of a scribe and the daughter of the vizier's doorkeeper, demonstrating how marriage could be seen as survival strategy.

There is no evidence for preferential or prescriptive unions in ancient Egyptian sources, nor is there explicit evidence for any proscription. Incest as a regulation of abhorrent sexual behaviour is hence not applicable to ancient Egypt, and evidence for the existence of consanguineous marriages, particularly brother–sister marriages, is outlined. The importance of rank, hierarchy, identity and economic considerations need consideration when analysing marriage as a survival strategy.

The chapter finally discusses the role of rites of passage in the construction of individual identity, in the strengthening of existing social links and the creation of new groups. The socialising aspect of rites of passage is brought to the forefront when age groups are considered; these are difficult to identify in the ancient Egyptian sources, but they are a productive approach to assess the relational nature of personhood.