3rd Edition
Ancient Cities The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome
The third edition of Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on archaeological evidence.
Urban form is the focus: the physical appearance and overall plans of cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller’s experience. Objects or artifacts that furnished everyday life are discussed, such as writing systems, pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics, and coins. Ancient Cities is unusual in presenting this wide range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Preclassical and Classical periods, and in showing the links between these ancient cultures. In this new edition, in which Andrew Goldman has joined Charles Gates in updating the volume, readers and lecturers will be delighted to see a major revision of the chapters on Greek cities in South Italy and Sicily, the Etruscans, the development of the capital city, Rome, during the Republic as well as the Empire, and the end of the ancient city.
This new edition includes several new and updated user-friendly features, such as:
- Clear and accessible language, assuming no previous background knowledge
- Lavishly illustrated, with almost 350 line drawings, maps, and photographs, including new contributions from Neslihan Yılmaz Tekman adding to her already acclaimed illustrations
- Suggestions for further reading for each chapter
- A companion website with images, study guides, and an interactive timeline.
With its comprehensive presentation of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cities, its rich collection of illustrations, and its companion website, Ancient Cities remains an essential textbook for university and high school students across a wide range of archaeology, ancient history, and ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Classical Studies courses.
Introduction; PART 1: Cities of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean: Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age; 1. Neolithic Towns and Villages in the Near East; 2. Early Sumerian Cities; 3. Mesopotamian Cities in the Late Third and Second Millennia BCE; 4. Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization; 5. Egypt of the Pyramids; 6. Egyptian Cities, Temples, and Tombs of the Second Millennium BCE; 7. Aegean Bronze Age Towns and Cities; 8. Anatolian Bronze Age Cities: Troy and Hattusa; 9. Cypriots, Canaanites, and Levantine Trading Cities of the Late Bronze Age; 10. Near Eastern Cities in the Iron Age; 11. Phoenician and Punic Cities; PART 2: Greek Cities; 12. Early Greek City-States of the Iron Age (Eleventh-Seventh Centuries BCE); 13. Archaic Greek Cities, I: The Doric and Ionic Orders of Greek Architecture, and East Greek Cities to the Ionian Revolt; 14. Archaic Greek Cities, II: Athens and Sparta; 15. Greek Sanctuaries: Delphi and Olympia; 16. Athens in the Fifth Century BCE; 17. Greek Cities and Sanctuaries in the Late Classical Period; 18. Hellenistic Cities; PART 3: Cities of Ancient Italy and the Roman Empire; 19. Greek Cities of Magna Graecia; 20. Etruscan Cities; 21. Rome: From its Origins to its Expansion; 22. Rome during the Late Republic; 23. Rome in the Age of Augustus; 24. Italy Outside the Capital: Pompeii and Ostia; 25. Rome After Augustus: Imperial Patronage and Architectural Revolution; 26. Roman Provincial Cities; 27. Late Antique Transformations and the End of the Ancient City.
Biography
Charles Gates has recently retired as Senior Lecturer of archaeology and art history at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. A classical archaeologist with a particular interest in the Aegean Bronze Age and early Greek archaeology, he is now taking part in the preparation of the final reports of the excavations at Kinet Höyük (Turkey), a Bronze and Iron Age port city in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean.
Andrew Goldman is Professor of ancient history at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. A specialist in Roman archaeology, he is preparing a monograph about Gordion (central Turkey) during the Roman Empire.
