Cities and Urban Space in the Ancient World

Catalog description

Using contemporary approaches to cities and urban space, this course will explore cities of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world. What makes a city and how do we define “urban”? How do cities start? Do cities die? What are the primary factors that affect their development? We will analyze not only how the development of cities responded to specific historical and geographical conditions, but also how cities in different times and places were surprisingly similar in form and social activity.