The Great Cities in History [antikvár]

From Mesopotamia to MegalopolisJohn Julius NorwichIT IS ONE of the great paradoxes of history that towns and cities could be said to be born of agriculture. Before man learnt to till the fields, he was a hunter; and the early hunters were nomads they had to keep on the move, following their prey wherever it might lead them. Even when prey was plentiful, it made sense that one family of hunters should not live too close to the next. Agriculture, on the other hand, calls for settled habitation in more durable structures, and for cooperation. With the advent of farming, in 8000 BC or thereabouts, architecture was born; people built themselves houses m groups near the land they cultivated. Then, gradually over the centuries, as larger communities came together and greater investment was made in individual buildings, a multiplicity of functions emerged within settlements: there were temples in which to sacrifice to the gods; a palace from which a ruling elite governed; storerooms for the accumulated agricultural produce; baths and open spaces where people could gather and refresh themselves afiier their labours; and walls for defence. Demand for prestige goods would stimulate trade and exchange, though that in turn would probably depend on the proximity of the sea or a great river. And so the village became the town, and the town - if large and important enough - eventually became the city.The greatest of these cities form the subject of this book. The first section deals with those of the ancient world, extending to AD 100 or thereabouts. Of the veryearliest Uruk in Mesopotamia, for example, which can be claimed as the first true city in the world, or Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley - relatively little is left above ground. Some fragmentary texts may survive; otherwise we have to rely for our knowledge on the archaeologists spade alone. The civilization of ancient Egypt, represented here by Memphis and Thebes, is the oldest culture of which, thanks to its surviving monuments, paintings, carvings and inscriptions, we can begin to form a distinct idea in our minds. Of Athens and imperial Rome, too, there is fortunately enough still standing - together with a considerable body of superb literature to enable us to build up an even clearer picture of what these cities looked like, and of the sort of life that was lived by their inhabitants. Jerusalem is, I think, a special case. It possesses no majestic architecture of the classical period on the scale of Greece or Rome, but its primary position in both the Jewish and Christian (and later also Islamic) religions and the wealth of great literature that they have lefi:OPPOSITE The temples on the Acropolis in Athens. Classical Greece, and Athens in particular, was the source of architectural forms that have been emulated and endlessly adapted in cities around the world into modern times.BELOW j4^icu/fure in ancient Egypt, as depicted here in a detail from a tomb paintingfrom Thebes, depended on the annual Jlooding of the Nile in an otherwise desert county. It was the success and spread of farming that allowed large concentrations of people to be supported in cities.