CITIES IN WORLD HISTORY Urban planning and monumental architecture

Thinking about Contextualization  Can local be global?  How does this city demonstrate the role cities played as centers of trade, through religious rituals, and in political administration?  How does monumental architecture lend to its legitimacy as seen by the people in the empire or region?  What else do we need to know (context) in order to see the role the city played economically and socially?

Persepolis

Chang’an (present day Xi’an)

Pataliputra

Athens

Carthage

Rome

Alexandria

Constantinople

Teotihuacan

Conclusions?

Recommended Reading:  Urban Planning in the Classical Age (on CD) from Reilly, old ed.