Book dossier

Ancient cities

by Charles Gates

"Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from an archaeological perspective, in their cultural and historical contexts. It brings to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered by archaeological excavations from the Mediterranean basin and south-west Asia. Its focus is on the physical appearance of cities - their urban form - and the architecture and geography that created it. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller's experience. Objects or artifacts, which represented the essential furnishings for everyday life, are also discussed and include pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics, and coins. Ancient Cities is unusual in presenting this wide range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Preclassical and Classical periods and in shoeing the links between these ancient cultures." "Ancient Cities will be essential reading for university students in archaeology, ancient history, and classical studies and will also appeal to students of ancient civilizations at high-school level."--Jacket.