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Book Great Cities of the Ancient World

Download or read book Great Cities of the Ancient World written by Lyon Sprague De Camp and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A portrayal of fourteen ancient cities at their height.

Book Cities That Shaped the Ancient World

Download or read book Cities That Shaped the Ancient World written by John Julius Norwich and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2014-11-11 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating and evocatively illustrated tour of forty of the greatest cities that shaped the ancient world and its civilizations, from China and Mesoamerica to Europe and Ethiopia Today we take living in cities, with all their attractions and annoyances, for granted. But when did humans first come together to live in large groups, creating an urban landscape? What were these places like to inhabit? More than simply a history of ancient cities, this volume also reveals the art and architecture created by our ancestors, and provides a fascinating exploration of the origins of urbanism, politics, culture, and human interaction. Arranged geographically into five sections, Cities That Shaped the Ancient World takes a global view, beginning in the Near East with the earliest cities such as Ur and Babylon, Troy and Jerusalem. In Africa, the great cities of Ancient Egypt arose, such as Thebes and Amarna. Glorious European metropolises, including Athens and Rome, ringed the Mediterranean, but also stretched to Trier on the turbulent frontier of the Roman Empire. Asia had bustling commercial centers such as Mohenjodaro and Xianyang, while in the Americas the Mesoamerican and Peruvian cultures stamped their presence on the landscape, creating massive structures and extensive urban settlements in the deep jungles and high mountain ranges, including Caral and Teotihuacan. A team of expert historians and archaeologists with firsthand knowledge and deep appreciation of each site gives voices to these silent ruins, bringing them to life as the bustling state-of-the-art metropolises they once were.

Book The Life and Death of Ancient Cities

Download or read book The Life and Death of Ancient Cities written by Greg Woolf and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-08 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic story of the rise and collapse of Europe's first great urban experiment The growth of cities around the world in the last two centuries is the greatest episode in our urban history, but it is not the first. Three thousand years ago most of the Mediterranean basin was a world of villages; a world without money or writing, without temples for the gods or palaces for the mighty. Over the centuries that followed, however, cities appeared in many places around the Inland Sea, built by Greeks and Romans, and also by Etruscans and Phoenicians, Tartessians and Lycians, and many others. Most were tiny by modern standards, but they were the building blocks of all the states and empires of antiquity. The greatest--Athens and Corinth, Syracuse and Marseilles, Alexandria and Ephesus, Persepolis and Carthage, Rome and Byzantium--became the powerhouses of successive ancient societies, not just political centers but also the places where ancient art and literatures were created and accumulated. And then, half way through the first millennium, most withered away, leaving behind ruins that have fascinated so many who came after. Based on the most recent historical and archaeological evidence, The Life and Death of Ancient Cities provides a sweeping narrative of one of the world's first great urban experiments, from Bronze Age origins to the demise of cities in late antiquity. Greg Woolf chronicles the history of the ancient Mediterranean city, against the background of wider patterns of human evolution, and of the unforgiving environment in which they were built. Richly illustrated, the book vividly brings to life the abandoned remains of our ancient urban ancestors and serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of even the mightiest of cities.

Book The Great Cities in History

Download or read book The Great Cities in History written by John Julius Norwich and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2016-07-21 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A work of history, but also about art and architecture, trade and commerce, travel and exploration, economics and politics, this is above all a book about people and how, over the millennia, they have managed to live closely together. From the origins of urbanization in Mesopotamia to the global metropolises of today, great cities have marked the development of humankind Babylon and Nineveh, Athens and Rome, Istanbul and Venice, Timbuktu and Samarkand, their very names are redolent both of history and romance. The Great Cities in History tells their story from early Uruk and Thebes to Jerusalem and Alexandria. Then the fabulous cities of the first millennium: Damascus and Baghdad in the days of the Caliphates, Teotihuacan and Maya Tikal in Central America, and Changan, capital of Tang Dynasty China. The medieval world saw the rise of powerful cities: Palermo and Paris in Europe, Benin in Africa and Angkor of the Khmer. In the early modern world, we journey to Islamic Isfahan and Agra, and Prague and Amsterdam in their heyday, before arriving at the phenomenon of the contemporary mega-city: London and New York, Tokyo and Barcelona, Los Angeles and São Paulo. A galaxy of more than fifty distinguished authors, including Jan Morris, Colin Thubron, Simon Schama, Orlando Figes, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Misha Glenny, Adam Zamoyski and A. N. Wilson, evoke the character of each place and explain the reasons for its success, seeing what each city would have been like during its golden age.

Book The Ancient City

    Book Details:
  • Author : Arjan Zuiderhoek
  • Publisher : Cambridge University Press
  • Release : 2017
  • ISBN : 0521198356
  • Pages : 241 pages

Download or read book The Ancient City written by Arjan Zuiderhoek and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a survey of modern debates on Greek and Roman cities, and a sketch of the cities' chief characteristics.

Book Ancient Cities

    Book Details:
  • Author : Charles Gates
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release : 2013-04-15
  • ISBN : 113467662X
  • Pages : 457 pages

Download or read book Ancient Cities written by Charles Gates and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well illustrated with nearly 300 line drawings, maps and photographs, Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from an archaeological perspective, and in their cultural and historical contexts. Covering a huge area geographically and chronologically, it brings to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered by archaeological excavations from the Mediterranean basin and south-west Asia Examining both pre-Classical and Classical periods, this is an excellent introductory textbook for students of classical studies and archaeology alike.

Book Uruk

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nicola Crüsemann
  • Publisher : Getty Publications
  • Release : 2019-11-05
  • ISBN : 1606064444
  • Pages : 410 pages

Download or read book Uruk written by Nicola Crüsemann and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This abundantly illustrated volume explores the genesis and flourishing of Uruk, the first known metropolis in the history of humankind. More than one hundred years ago, discoveries from a German archaeological dig at Uruk, roughly two hundred miles south of present-day Baghdad, sent shock waves through the scholarly world. Founded at the end of the fifth millennium BCE, Uruk was the main force for urbanization in what has come to be called the Uruk period (4000–3200 BCE), during which small, agricultural villages gave way to a larger urban center with a stratified society, complex governmental bureaucracy, and monumental architecture and art. It was here that proto-cuneiform script—the earliest known form of writing—was developed around 3400 BCE. Uruk is known too for the epic tale of its hero-king Gilgamesh, among the earliest masterpieces of world literature. Containing 480 images, this volume represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the archaeological evidence gathered at Uruk. More than sixty essays by renowned scholars provide glimpses into the life, culture, and art of the first great city of the ancient world. This volume will be an indispensable reference for readers interested in the ancient Near East and the origins of urbanism.

Book The Destruction of Cities in the Ancient Greek World

Download or read book The Destruction of Cities in the Ancient Greek World written by Sylvian Fachard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-30 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Trojan War to the sack of Rome, from the fall of Constantinople to the bombings of World War II and the recent devastation of Syrian towns, the destruction of cities and the slaughter of civilian populations are among the most dramatic events in world history. But how reliable are literary sources for these events? Did ancient authors exaggerate the scale of destruction to create sensational narratives? This volume reassesses the impact of physical destruction on ancient Greek cities and its demographic and economic implications. Addressing methodological issues of interpreting the archaeological evidence for destructions, the volume examines the evidence for the destruction, survival, and recovery of Greek cities. The studies, written by an international group of specialists in archaeology, ancient history, and numismatic, range from Sicily to Asia Minor and Aegean Thrace, and include Athens, Corinth, and Eretria. They highlight the resilience of ancient populations and the recovery of cities in the long term.

Book Cities of the Classical World

Download or read book Cities of the Classical World written by Colin McEvedy and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2011-11-03 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Alexandria to York, this unique illustrated guide allows us to see the great centres of classical civilization afresh. The key feature of Cities of the Classical World is 120 specially drawn maps tracing each city's thoroughfares and defences, monuments and places of worship. Every map is to the same scale, allowing readers for the first time to appreciate visually the relative sizes of Babylon and Paris, London and Constantinople. There is also a clear, incisive commentary on each city's development, strategic importance, rulers and ordinary inhabitants. This compelling and elegant atlas opens a new window on to the ancient world, and will transform the way we see it.

Book Lost Cities from the Ancient World

Download or read book Lost Cities from the Ancient World written by Maria Teresa Guaitoli and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This prestigious volume is a guide to the discovery of the loveliest cities in the ancient world, in Africa and Americas, in Europe and the Near East, in the Middle East and the Far East. The remains of the cities, where some of the most interesting cultu

Book City and Country in the Ancient World

Download or read book City and Country in the Ancient World written by John Rich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-08-27 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of papers by influential historians and archaeologists explores the city-country relationship in the ancient Greco-Roman world and its impact on social, political, economic and cultural conditions in classical antiquity.

Book The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt

Download or read book The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt written by Steven Snape and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From early towns to booming metropolises, The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt explores every facet of urban life in ancient Egypt with a leading authority in the field as a guide Ancient Egyptian cities and towns have until recently been one of the least-studied and least-published aspects of this great ancient civilization. Now, new research and excavation are transforming our knowledge. This is the first book to bring these latest discoveries to a wide audience and to provide a comprehensive overview of what we know about ancient settlement during the dynastic period. The cities range in date from early urban centers to large metropolises. From houses to palaces to temples, the different parts of Egyptian cities and towns are examined in detail, giving a clear picture of the urban world. The inhabitants, from servants to Pharaoh, are vividly brought to life, placed in the context of the civil administration that organized every detail of their lives. Famous cities with extraordinary buildings and fascinating histories are also examined here through detailed individual treatments, including: Memphis, home of the pyramid–building kings of the Old Kingdom; Thebes, containing the greatest concentration of monumental buildings from the ancient world; and Amarna, intimately associated with the pharaoh Akhenaten. An analysis of information from modern excavations and ancient texts recreates vibrant ancient communities, providing range and depth beyond any other publication on the subject.

Book World s Greatest Cities

Download or read book World s Greatest Cities written by and published by Chartwell Books. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World's Greatest Cities is an illuminating visual guide to 30 incredible cities around the globe—with annotated 3-D reconstructions and cutaway models that allow you to journey right to the soul of each of them. For thousands of years, cities built by humans have reflected their beliefs, their power, their needs, and their desires. Palaces and prisons, churches and mosques, skyscrapers and suspension bridges are the tracks that history, sometimes glorious, often violent, imprints on these cities. But these cities are also the men and women who inhabit them and who stamp a unique character onto each of them. The spirit of each city is also etched in the daily coming and going of the streets, the hustle and bustle of the markets, and in the unhurried discussions of the cafés. Explore the cities of the world today that leave a lasting impression on those who visit them. These cities offer rich architectural heritage and spectacular natural environments. But above all, they have a vitality that makes them unique. They are cities that know how to grow, transform, and reinvent themselves without losing their essence. Feel the heartbeat of the most vibrant and exciting cities around the globe. Skyscrapers, alongside ancient marvels, are beautifully illustrated and perfectly complement the engaging text that describes the creation and history of these celebrated destinations. Cities dissected are Paris, San Francisco, New York; City, Toronto, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro , London, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Prague, Athens, Moscow, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Dubai, Sydney, Auckland, Cairo, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and all of their landmark sites.

Book Great Sites of the Ancient World

Download or read book Great Sites of the Ancient World written by Paul G. Bahn and published by Frances Lincoln. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From deserts to hidden corners of busy cities, quiet mountain tops to caves submerged deep underground, Great Sites of the Ancient World is a tour of our human past.

Book The Greatest Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia

    Book Details:
  • Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
  • Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Release : 2018-02-14
  • ISBN : 9781985449244
  • Pages : 620 pages

Download or read book The Greatest Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts of the cities *Includes online resources and bibliographies for further reading Long before Alexandria was a city and even before Memphis and Babylon had attained greatness, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur stood foremost among ancient Near Eastern cities. Today, the greatness and cultural influence of Ur has been largely forgotten by most people, partially because its monuments have not stood the test of time the way other ancient culture's monuments have. For instance, the monuments of Egypt were made of stone while those of Ur and most other Mesopotamian cities were made of mud brick and as will be discussed in this report, mud-brick may be an easier material to work with than stone but it also decays much quicker. The same is true to a certain extent for the written documents that were produced at Ur. No site better represents the importance of the Sumerians than the city of Uruk. Between the fourth and the third millennium BCE, Uruk was one of several city-states in the land of Sumer, located in the southern end of the Fertile Crescent, between the two great rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Discovered in the late 19th century by the British archaeologist William Loftus, it is this site that has revealed much of what is now known of the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Neo-Sumerian people. Hattusa was different from the other major cities of the ancient Near East in one major respect: it was landlocked and not located on a major river. At first glance, such a situation may seem like a liability, which it was in terms of trade, but for the most part its central position meant that the Hittites could move their armies more efficiently from one theater of operations to another (Macqueen 2003, 56). As a landlocked capital, Hattusa was also safe from naval attacks from other kingdoms, so if the Hittites' enemies wanted to invade their capital, they would have to trek through the middle of the kingdom to get there, which was most unlikely. As Hittite power grew during the Old Kingdom, the royal city of Hattusa became more important and even wealthier. From his citadel overlooking Hattusa, Hattusili I launched the first major Hittite attacks into the Near East, first conquering the cities between Hattusa and the Mediterranean (Macqueen 2003, 36). Although the Biblical accounts of the Assyrians are among the most interesting and are often corroborated with other historical sources, the Assyrians were much more than just the enemies of the Israelites and brutal thugs. Among all the cities that thrived in the ancient Near East, few can match the opulence and ostentatiousness of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire for much of the seventh century BCE. During that time it became known for its mighty citadels, grand palaces, beautiful gardens, and even its zoos. In fact, the beauty of Nineveh, especially its gardens, impressed later writers so much that they assigned its gardens as one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, except unfortunately for Nineveh's memory, the location was placed in Babylon. The confusion that assigned one of the Wonders of the World to Babylon instead of Nineveh is in fact a large part of Nineveh's history - it was a great city during its time, but incessant warfare brought the metropolis to oblivion and eventually its history was forgotten or distorted. Today, Babylon has become a byword for greed, excess, and licentiousness, mostly due to its mention in the Bible, but a closer examination reveals that Babylon was so much more, and even perhaps the most important city in the ancient world. Ancient Babylon was home to great dynasties that produced some of the world's most influential leaders, most notably Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar.

Book Cities   Scenes from the Ancient World

Download or read book Cities Scenes from the Ancient World written by Roy G. Krenkel and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: