2. Antecedent: the Origins of the City

Defining the early city Essential features: monumental building complexes, city walls, density of occupation, specialized craft production, urban functionality. IV millennium BCE: the world’s first cities originated in Mesopotamia. Urbanization cycles: the peak in the III millennium. The transformation of the rural areas. Division of labor became widespread.

Mesopotamian cities Planned and unplanned urban spaces. Temples and palaces. Residential neighbourhoods. Culture’s cosmology and value system. Urban logistics: water, rubbish, hinterland.

The idea of City-State City-States began to appear in the middle of the fourth millenium BCE. The concept of civilization. Self-government. Invention of writing and political organization. Some methodological issues. «Western city» and «Eastern city».

Babylon The first of the world’s giant cities: a population on order of 200,000 to 300,000 inhabitants. The urban structure. City walls, temples, royal palaces, small one-story houses. Popular assemblies of citizens and the emergence of public officials. The Gate of Ishtar.

Iraq Babylon, the Istar [Ishtar] Gate 1932

Ishtar Gate, Berlin State Museum

Egyptian cities Egyptian cities differed from the ones that had emerged in Mesopotamia. Capitals of territorial states. Commercial and manufacturing activity was rudimentary. The leading role of bureaucrats and priests. A big city: Thebes. A population of around 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants.

Cities in the Middle East in ancient times

Mediterranean urbanization Formation and exploitation of several networks of cities: Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. Sizes of cities and movements of populations. Different typologies of city: local exchange, industry, political administration, services, cultural activities. The construction of an ordered space.