This talk explores the northeastern borders of the Attic polis during the Classical period, the community of Oropos and the region with which it was immediately associated, the Oropeia. It is suggested that during these years, Athens was using modes of control developed in her kleruchies, and imposing these back upon contiguous border regions. The role played by sanctuaries in imperial control is examined herein, particularly the regional incubation sanctuary of Amphiaraos. How Athens negotiated her fifth century empire, and the loss of that empire in the fourth century, comes into clearer focus—not overseas in the Aegean or the Bosporous or Sicily, but rather right in her own backyard. It was here, in the "messy margins" of the polis, that new gods and sanctuaries emerged, which served as nodes of contact and communication between different communities in mainland Greece.