Cities that Shaped the Ancient World

by John Julius Norwich (editor)

John Julius Norwich presents a sweeping tour of forty great cities that shaped the ancient world and its civilizations―and which in turn have shaped our own.

The cities of the ancient world built the foundations for modern urban life, their innovations in architecture and politics essential to cities as we know them today. But what was it like to live in Babylon, Carthage, or Teotihuacan?

From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the spectacular urban monuments of the Maya in Central America, the cities explored in Cities That Shaped the Ancient World represent almost three millennia of human history. Not only do they illustrate the highest achievement of the cultures that built them, but they also help us understand the rise and fall of these ancient peoples. In this new compact paperback, eminent historians and archaeologists with first-hand knowledge of each site give voice to these silent ruins, bringing them to life as the teeming, state-of-the-art metropolises they once were.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Cities, Archaeology

239 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2014

About the author

John Julius Norwich was an English historian, writer, and broadcaster known for his engaging books on European history and culture. The son of diplomat and politician Duff Cooper and socialite Lady Diana Manners, he received an elite education at Eton, Strasbourg, and Oxford, and served in the Foreign Service before dedicating himself to writing full-time.
He authored acclaimed works on Norman Sicily, Venice, Byzantium, the Mediterranean, and the Papacy, as well as popular anthologies like Christmas Crackers. He was also a familiar voice and face in British media, presenting numerous television documentaries and radio programs. A champion of cultural heritage, he supported causes such as the Venice in Peril Fund and the World Monuments Fund.
Norwich’s wide-ranging output, wit, and accessible style made him a beloved figure in historical writing.

Reviews

[Stephanie (Bookfever) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is edited by the late John Julius Norwhich and explores forty different cities in history that have shaped the ancient world, and like the synopsis says: which in turn have shaped our own. Each chapter in the book is dedicated to a different city and written by different authors. This was a really fascinating read that I finished in no time. I'd highly recommend!

What I enjoyed about this book in the first place was that each chapter that was dedicated to a different city in ancient history was fairly short. I love books with short chapters so this was a perfect fit for me. The chapters weren't too short in my opinion, just the right amount for this kind of book and I thought that was really great.

Second of all, the book was also divided by continent so all the cities of Asia were together, all the cities of the Americas and so on. Of course I had my favorite chapters and those were personally all set in the Near East (Uruk, Babylon, Petra etc), Europe (Knossos, Mycenae, Pompeii etc) and Africa (Thebes, Amarna, Alexandria etc).

If you want to learn more about ancient cities in different continents and also have some amazing illustrations and photographs to look at then, Cities That Shaped the Ancient World by John Julius Norwhich is one I'd highly recommend.

Cities featured in this book:

Uruk, Ur, Hattusa, Troy, Babylon, Nineveh, Persepolis, Pergamum, Jerusalem, Petra, Ephesus, Palmyra, Memphis, Thebes, Amarna, Carthage, Alexandria, Meroë, Leptis Magna, Aksum, Knossos, Mycenea, Athens, Akragas, Paestum, Rome, Pompeii, Trier, Xianyang, Pataliputra, Anuradhapura, Caral, La Venta, Monte Albán, Teotihuacan, Tikal, Palenque

[Keith Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is what is called a ‘coffee-table” book, often somewhat contemptuously. No apology should be offered for what it clearly is. Thames and Hudson have a long and honourable history of publishing books like this, featuring glorious illustrations and photographs with a modicum of intelligent commentary by experts in the field. This is no exception. Indeed, I derived a lot of pleasure from the combination of full colour, high quality photographs and brief idiosyncratic articles.

In a book of this sort, the first consideration is the choice of cities which will be included. It is clear that the preponderance of cities is from the Middle East and Europe. While there is a good showing from North Africa, there are none further south than Aksum in Ethiopia. Central America is well-served, but only one from South America. The choice from the Far East is sparse.

The commentaries, all brief, vary in quality and approach. I especially enjoyed those which touched on the current state of these ancient cities – Babylon is a good example. Some authors focused on one period of a city’s greatness – the article on Rome concentrates on the city of the emperor Augustus – and so can add some detail to what is written. In this example, the photographs also focus on the same period and thus enhance the text. Some articles are rather pedestrian – that on Alexandria comes to mind. Some are over exuberant – those written by Bettany Hughes on Athens, Troy and Mycene fall into this category – but others may enjoy them more than me.

The photographs and paintings are excellent. They are also in many cases taken recently; for example, the aerial photograph of the Acropolis in Athens clearly shows the recent work on the Parthenon in progress. These aerial photographs, a feature of the book, are very good and often grant the reader an unusual view of an otherwise familiar scene.

There are maps at the end of the book, useful suggestions for further reading (although two of three books recommended for Trier are in German) and an index. I enjoyed the quotations at the beginning of each chapter, evocative of an aspect of the city under discussion. It is nice that they are also collected in a reference list at the end of the book.

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

You're probably better off reading the wikipedia summary for each city, as it's better written and more in-depth. For a book named "cities that shaped the ancient world" it does little to no explanation of how they actually did so, just provides a VERY brief (1-4) page summary of certain aspects of the city. Not only does it then lack in actual historical content, but I found that the grammar in this is often quite terrible and some sentences make no sense.

[lily ⊹ ₊ ⁺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

[2/5] ✦

oh thank fuck that's over.

the chapters on each location were short but incredibly boring. the author(s) made no effort to actually make the writing interesting. i really had to drag through this one.

[professorwytch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great little insight to many ancient cities I have actually started to study during my ancient history and archaeology course at university. It was very easy to read with each section taking up around 5 pages of info on each. I was happy to see the inclusion of ancient Asian and South American communities that also shaped their time period and what archaeologists know from them today.

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent coffee-table-style book that provides brief overviews of an array of ancient cities, with particular emphasis on unique structural features, what they were like in their prime, and what caused their downfall. Functions as a sort of primer for people interested in the topic--if you want greater detail, you're better off consulting the 'further reading' section at the back listed for each city.

But there's a great deal of compelling information packed in here, and some of the full-colour pictures are staggering in their scale, and sense of time. For me of course the most interesting were the ones that I knew the least about: Aksum in Ethiopia with its huge stone stelae; Meroë in modern Sudan, its pyramids rising out of the sands; Xianyang, China's first imperial capital with its enormous constructed landscapes; and La Venta, ancient upon ancient city of the Olmec, long abandoned even in the time of the Aztecs.

I wish some of the text was written with more verve--of the various authors, only Bettany Hughes, who covers Mycenae and Athens, can really turn a phrase--but nevertheless I'm very glad I saw this bright orange spine in the library and plucked it off the shelf.

[Mark J C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kindle Edition isn't as thoroughly illustrated

Disappointed and returned for refund as the Kindle version is the "Compact Paperback Edition" of 2022 which lacks most of the photographs that made the original hardback so appealing. The photographs are gathered into two separate sections with a hyperlink from the chapter describing each city to the relevant photo - from what I read before deciding to return the book each city seems to have a maximum of just one photograph (some may have no photographs at all but I haven't kept the book long enough to check every single chapter).

A great pity as I'd been looking forward to having this to dip into on my Kindle app.

The narratives are still good introductions to each city and the regional maps are useful - hence two stars rather than just one.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating and thorough look at ancient cities from around the world. In a series of vignettes, each written by a different author, the book explores the foundation, architecture, culture and more from the oldest cities known to humanity.

A couple things I didn't like, thus the three stars:

1. Each story varies in quality, and some get bogged down in details
2. The Asia and Americas stories mostly feel like these are "less important" than the ancient cities of say, the Middle East. And many particularly in the Americas have not yet been explored or excavated as the other ones. Discrimination, not sure, but at least a weird disinterest.

[Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was what I hoped the previous book I read would be. Well-structured, clear and to-the-point writing, offering an insight into cities from the ancient world, each chapter written by an expert but very well edited so it reads as one seamless story. Some chapters were more interesting or highlighted more interesting aspects than others, but that's logical. I like that this book offered me some nuggets of new knowledge I can now look to expand.

(Also this is nerdy of me but people who like to play the Civilization games will recognize all of the city names. It's nice to get more background info on them.)

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a set of short essays (averaging five pages each) about ancient cities. Each essay contains a description of a city's geography, and sometimes a bit of religious or political history as well. To me, the essays had sort of a "laundry list" quality- I did not find them that interesting.

[anwen dubberley · Rating 3 out of 5]

it would be more accurate to call this book "a brief overview of cities in the ancient world and what life was like in the cities" because nowhere in this book was an explanation of how these cities shaped the ancient world. I could probably find more indepth explanations about how these cities shaped the ancient world from Wikipedia

[Elizabeth Gabhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a heavy emphasis on the Mediterranean region, which was a bit disappointing. Also, architecture is discussed more heavily than social systems. Still, I found the book interesting and loved the pictures.

[Yvette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good little introduction to 37 different ancient cities. Some I was familiar with and some I was not but I am keen to dig a bit deeper with some of them. A good book to have for reference.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real depth, just mini synopsis's

[Deborah A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short descriptions of each ancient city and some chapters speak of how the cities have faired over the centuries. Interesting facts.

[Bailey Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wished the sections were longer, just glorified background info

[Maksim Makhankou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, however, it is difficult to call this a coherent book with clear narration. Rather it is an array of short unrelated articles about dozens of cities.

[Douglas Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. Ancient History is not a topic I generally enjoy but this was a well written book that provides a brief by succinct insight into early civilisations. Well constructed and just enough information to satisfy an interest or whet your appetite for more.

[Caroline Duggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this thinking it was the 'coffee table' book full of illustrations. Instead it is just the essays with a few illustrations. The essays are great but were clearly designed as a side dish to a much more visual book.