The Ancient City

Key Themes in Ancient History

by Arjan Zuiderhoek

Greece and Rome were quintessentially urban societies. Ancient culture, politics and society arose and developed in the context of the polis and the civitas. In modern scholarship, the ancient city has been the subject of intense debates due to the strong association in Western thought between urbanism, capitalism and modernity. In this book, Arjan Zuiderhoek provides a survey of the main issues at stake in these debates, as well as a sketch of the chief characteristics of Greek and Roman cities. He argues that the ancient Greco-Roman city was indeed a highly specific form of urbanism, but that this does not imply that the ancient city was somehow 'superior' or 'inferior' to forms of urbanism in other societies, just (interestingly) different. The book is aimed primarily at students of ancient history and general readers, but also at scholars working on urbanism in other periods and places.

Genres: History, Ancient

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2016

Reviews

[Bonnie_blu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. Zuiderhoek investigates what exactly it means to be a city by reviewing previous and current definitions. He states that many proposed definitions of "city" are predicated on Western history and experiences from the Middle Ages on. He makes a convincing argument that we must expand our view in order to grasp what an ancient city was, what it was like to live in it, and how it changed over time. The author examines many important aspects including the urban landscape and environment, politics, urban stratification, the economy, and much more. While Zuiderhoek focuses on Greece and Rome and its territories, he also gives examples from China, the Americas, and Africa. The book is fairly academic in nature, and thus, is more suited to readers with a good understanding of ancient Greece and Rome.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking as Ancient Cities and their development and structure is a passing interest of mine. This book lived up to its premise as its historiography, admitly condensed, seeks to define, evaluate and then discuss what an Ancient City is, how it worked and why it vanished/transformed. The focus on Greek and Roman cities allowed for a singular image, and I am wanting the comparison book (not yet written?) with the African and Mesoamerican cities that he hints at. Still, good history and an engaging read.

[Gary Reger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cambridge University Press's series "Key Themes in Ancient History" aims to provide short but scholarly and comprehensive introductions to important topics. The Ancient City, by Arjan Zuiderhoeck, is a worthy addition.

Urbanization has long been a central theme in the study of the Greco-Roman world. The literature, as a result, is enormous, impossible for a single person to control. But Zuiderhoeck's reading has been prodigious, and he has managed to distill it--and his own views--into 10 chapters that cover some of the most important aspects of ancient Greco-Roman cities.

These aspects, which run from politics to economy, social life and civic identity, to relations of cities with hegemonic powers, are framed within a discussion of the various views about what constitutes at city, what is unique about Greco-Roman cities, and how we know when Greco-Roman cities no longer exist. One important intervention is his discussion about whether these cities were states--here he comes down firmly on the "no" side, emphasizing especially the lack of mechanisms of law enforcement (the lack of police, the reliance of inhabitants on self-help), which he sees as crucial to identification of an urban space as a city-state. Some may find this argument a bit rarefied and perhaps a bit inconsequential; I'm not sure how much it really matters whether we see Athens or early Rome as a "state" (though perhaps it does matter if we want to see how James Scott's proposals a bout Seeing as a State might or might not apply).

But that's a minor matter in the broad sweep of The Ancient City. Zuiderhoeck offers an excellent, well-written, and very thorough treatment of his topic, making this book the first stop for anyone interested in learning about Greco-Roman cities. (The inclusion of the word "ancient" in the title is, I suppose, a reflection of persistent British practice: the book does not treat "the city city"--nothing about Sumeria, Carthage, etc.--but rather specifically the cities of the Greek world and the parts of the Mediterranean and western Europe under Roman control.) A few pages at the end offer wide-ranging suggestions for further reading (almost all in English); the bibliography is lengthy and a mine of resources.

[Aidan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a number of interesting facts in the book, but not much of a point made. The whole thing was kind of loose and undefinable.