Ancient Cities

Mesopotamia

The earliest large urban settlement was Tell Brak in the dry farming zone of northern Mesopotamia. During the Uruk period (3800–3100 BC) this city consisted of a central zone of public architecture surrounded by sprawling suburban settlement over 1 square kilometer in extent. At the end of this period, the site declined and the focus of urban development shifted to southern Mesopotamia. At the start of the Early Dynastic period (2900–2300 BC), the southern Mesopotamian site of Uruk grew explosively from a small town to a compact walled city of some 400 hectares (4 square kilometers). At the same time, nearby rural villages were abandoned, suggesting that people were moved forcibly into the city. This urban growth was part of a cultural explosion that saw the spread of cities and city-states across the Euphrates plain, the development of cuneiform writing, and a series of economic, religious, and cultural innovations.

Over the following millennia, the Near East witnessed several cycles in which periods of city-state organization (such as the Early Dynastic period) with numerous small interacting cities alternated with periods of political centralization [Page 25]dominated by large imperial capitals. Some of the most impressive cities of the ancient world were imperial capitals in the first and second millennia BC, such as Babylon, Nineveh, and Persepolis.

Egypt

Because archaeologists have failed to find large cities in Egypt prior to Akhenaten's capital at Amarna in the New Kingdom period (1350 BC), Egypt has sometimes been contrasted to Mesopotamia as a “civilization without cities.” This label masks a distinctive form of urbanism, however. While it is possible that flooding by the Nile River destroyed earlier large capitals, it appears more likely that the Egyptians forged a form of dispersed urbanism characterized by smaller, more specialized urban settlements. Walled towns served as local administrative centers, large temples were built in religious compounds, and the temples were maintained by special settlements of workers and priests. Laborers for major construction projects were housed in walled villages. This pattern originated during the Old Kingdom period (2700–2100 BC) when the Egyptian state and associated institutions, such as kingship and hieroglyphic writing, were first consolidated. Egypt did not lack cities; rather its urban systems were structured differently from the more familiar form of Mesopotamian cities.

Indus Valley

A distinctive tradition of cities developed around 2300 BC in the valley of the Indus River in Pakistan and western India. The best known cities are Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Each was composed of two parts: a large raised platform with public architecture on the west and dense residential zones on the east. Houses were serviced by a sophisticated system of drains, pipes, and ditches; this level of sanitary engineering was not matched until the Roman period two millennia later. Public architecture at these sites is enigmatic. The citadels support likely storage structures, but there are no obvious temples or royal palaces. A large open tank at Mohenjo-daro, known as the “Great Bath,” was probably used for some kind of ritual bathing or purification rites. The basic patterns of urban architecture and layout are duplicated at a series of smaller sites, including walled towns and a port facility with a dock and warehouses. The undeciphered script of the Indus Valley civilization may hold clues to this fascinating and enigmatic urban society.

...