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CULTURE OF CITIES
LECTURE 2
ORİGİNS OF CITIES
3000 BCE TO 1000 BCE
Mesolithic Age
Neolithic Age
city
Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold
MOVEMENT SETTLEMENT
HUMAN LIFE
Mid Paleolithic Period (when early man was wandering around for
food gathering and hunting)
In these ancient Paleolithic sanctuaries, the first hints of civic life before the
permanent villages can be detected. These were ceremonial centers.
In addition to the caves, there has also been great stones, sacred groves,
monumental trees, holy wells etc., which had been visited by Paleolithic man
occasionally.
These fixed landmarks and holy meeting places call together, periodically or
permanently, those who shared the same magical practice or religious beliefs.
Mecca, Rome, Jerusalem etc. still recall and carry on these original
purposes.
Stonehenge in England
ORIGINS OF CITIES & PRACTICAL NEEDS
Camp Sites:
When people were hunting and food gathering, they need a large
area for small number of people (10 people / square mile).
Until man learned to smoke and salt his meat, he must live from day
to day, keeping to SMALL & MOBILE GROUPS, not tied to a fixed
habitation.
The first condition for an sufficient, reliable food supply arose in the
MESOLITHIC PERIOD (15.000 YEARS AGO)
Increase
FOOD
PULLING POWER AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
COLLECTIVE MOBILITY
CHANGING GENDER ROLES
The tools that have been produced by woman had been replaced
by more efficient plow.
In the city, new ways took the place of ancient customs. Struggle,
domination, mastery and conquest were the new themes.
THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE CITY
The old components of the village were carried along and incorporated into the
new urban unit.
Consequently:
Mobilization of manpower;
Command over long distance transportation
Intensification of communication over long distances (in space & time).
THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE CITY
Egypt
Mesopotamia
Palestine
Iran
Indus Valley
Villages possibility of
farming and cattle-raising
(irrigation);
transportation;
In the regions like Negev in
Palestine, sufficient man
power for building cistern
and reservoirs: (possibility
for settlements)
Walking Distance
The palace and the great temple stand close within the
citadel: part of the dual system of government.
BABYLON
Stand on a broad plain
(an exact square: 24x24
km)
Surrounded by walls and
a moat with full of water.
Many gates
City divided into two by
Euphrates
Houses three-four storey
Streets running in
straight lines (grid iron)
EGYPT AND THE OPEN CITY
Centralized absolutism
Very strong influence of religious cult
Pharaoh: sharing the gift of immortality with the gods
Stronger concentration of power than in
Mesopotamia.
Second life – the most valuable
Division of Labor
In the city there were casts, classes, professions, trades, crafts.
Priests, soldiers, physicians etc.
Childe’s 10 criteria to
distinguish earliest
cities from any older
or contemporary
village;
1. Permanent
Settlement in dense
aggregations
2. Nonagricultural
Specialists
(craftspeople,
merchants, priests
and state
functionaries)
COMMON FEATURES OF EARLIEST CITIES
7. Predictive Science
8. Artistic Expression (cultural forms of expression
that were progressively refined, such as art and
music)
9. Trade for Vital materials
10. Decline in importance of Kinship- family relations
Hatshepsut's_ temple
Entrance to the Thebes
NEGEV
Location of this city:
Ruins of Avadat, in the Negev desert of
southern Israel.
NEGEV