ARCH 354

CULTURE OF CITIES

LECTURE 2

ORİGİNS OF CITIES
3000 BCE TO 1000 BCE

PROF. DR. NACIYE DORATLI

 TODAY’S MENU

 Origins: 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE

 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold
 The Crystallization of the City
 Ancestral Forms and Patterns
 The Nature of the Ancient City
 TO REMEMBER

 The Stone Age

 Paleolithic Age

 Mesolithic Age

 Neolithic Age

 The Copper Age

 The Bronze Age
 The Iron Age
 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold

 To be able to lay a new foundation for the urban life:

- Understanding the historic nature of the city;
- its original functions;
- functions that emerged from these functions;
- earlier structures.
 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold

 Easiest way would be looking for the physical

remains, which have been found by the
archeologist.
 If we look only for the bones, tools and weapons and
ignore inventions like language and rituals, it
would be not present the full picture.
 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold

Social life shared with many other animals for existence

The camp, the cache, the cave

Hamlet, shrine, village

city
 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold

MOVEMENT SETTLEMENT

HUMAN LIFE

The two modes can be traced back to the evolution of

living things.

Animal Kingdom Vegetable Kingdom

 Sanctuary, Village, Stronghold

 Stability & Continuity comes forward from our

animal past.
 The way of living of many animals, like fishes, birds
etc, can be considered as prototypes of the most
primitive kind of human settlements:
- The hamlet
- the Village.
 SIMILARITIES WITH ANIMAL LIFE

 The Social functions of the beehive (BEES) or the

ant-hill shows many similarities to the social
functions of the cities that we shall put forward later.
For example:
 Division of labor;
 The differentiation of casts (SOCIAL DIVISION);
 The practice of war;
 The institution of royalty;
 Domestication of other species;
 Employment of slaves etc.
THE MOST PRIMITIVE URBAN BEGINNINGS

 In addition to the similarities to animal’s way of living,

CEREMONIOUS CONCERN for the DEAD has been one of the
most important features for the mankind.
 Early man had shown respect for the dead.

Mid Paleolithic Period (when early man was wandering around for
food gathering and hunting)

 The dead were the first to have a permanent dwelling: A CAVE, A

COLLECTIVE BARROW. These places were landmarks to which the
living man had returned at certain times.

 In a sense it can be claimed that the city of the dead is the

forerunner of every living city.
THE MOST PRIMITIVE URBAN BEGINNINGS

 There is another part of the environment to which the Paleolithic man

periodically came: the CAVE.

 Caves (covered with paintings) have been special ritual centers,

which were used for Ceremonial Purposes.

 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:

 THE PURE SPRING WITH ITS YEAR ROUND SUPPLY

OF WATER;
 SOLID HILL TOPS (accessible but protected)

 As the city takes form, much more will be added to

practical need.
 When they were gathered in/around a specific place, IT IS
A BEGINNING OF a succession of CIVIC INSTITUTION
(TEMPLE, ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY,
THEATRE TO UNIVERSITY.
 ORIGINS OF CITIES

 Even before a city is a permanent settlement of man, it

begins as a meeting place to which people periodically
came and gone.

 MAGNETS before the CONTAINER.

 The first germ of the city: the ceremonial

meeting place (serving the pilgrims).
 Attraction with its ‘spiritual’ or supernatural
powers.
 DOMESTICATION AND THE VILLAGE

 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)

 Mesolithic hamlets are the first examples of settlements with

agricultural production (they grow fruit-bearing trees) and domestic
animals: pigs, ducks, goose, dogs etc.
 DOMESTICATION AND THE VILLAGE

 The Second Stage (the process of settlement, domestication): 10-

12.000 years ago

 Systematic gathering and planting of the seeds of certain

grasses.
 Taming of the other seed plants
 Utilization of herd animals: the ox, the sheep, the horse.

Increase

 FOOD
 PULLING POWER AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
 COLLECTIVE MOBILITY
 CHANGING GENDER ROLES

 Due to these changes the role of women has changed.

In other words, the dominant role of hunting and
fighting man has shifted to women (growing their
children, domestic animals, taking care about the
plants etc.)

 With the great enlargement of the food supply as a

result of cumulative domestication of plants and
animals, woman’s central role in the new economy
was established.
 IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN’S PRESENCE

 Functions belonging to women:

 Security, receptivity, enclosure, taking care and raising of
children (domestic animals)

 It was felt in the physical structures.

 Structural expression in every part of the village
. house and oven
. bins
. cistern (water reservoir)
. storage pit (hole/well)

 A generalization: A house and a village (later the town)

has/REFLECTS strong influence of woman.

 In Egyptian hieroglyphics ‘house’ or ‘town’ stand as symbols for

‘mother’.
 DOMESTICATION
DOMESTICATION TWO IMPORTANT CHANGES:

1. PERMANENCE & CONTINUITY IN RESIDENCE;

2. CONTROL & FORESIGHT OF PROCESSES GENERATED BY NATURAL FACTORS AND
FORCES.
I WOULD ADD TO THIS: CHANGING ROLES / INCREASING OF THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMAN

During this phase:

 As it was possible to take more care about the young, number of people living
together increased.

 Long period of agricultural and domestic development

 SURPLUS OF FOOD & MANPOWER

 MORE COMPLEX SOCIAL CO-OPERATION

 URBAN LIFE POSSIBLE

 CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE

 Mesopotamia and the Valley of the Nile (9000 – 4000 B.C.)

 Mud huts (mud- and –reed construction; cramped in size)

 Around the villages garden plots (rectangular in shape)

 A village can be considered as the embryonic structure of the city

in physical and social terms:

 Physical: houses, shrine, cistern, public way, a meeting

place etc.

 Social: Council of Elders (performing like laws and

governments of later periods)
 CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE

 “Neolithic farmers could of course, and certainly did, live together in

permanent villages, though, owing to the extravagant rural economy
generally practiced, unless the crops were watered by irrigation, the
villages had to be shifted at least every twenty years.” (Gordon Childe,
1950)
 16-30 houses, with a few hundred inhabitants.
CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE
 CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE

 Once the main Neolithic inventions and

institutions established, village life might
continue for thousands of years.

 Last departure came with PLOW CULTURE &

SUBSTITITION OF METAL TOOLS FOR
STONE.
 CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE

 About 5,000 years ago the discovery of irrigation and

cultivation combined with stock-breeding and
fishing in the valleys of the Nile, the Tigris-
Euphrates and the Indus had begun to yield a social
surplus, large enough to support a number of
resident specialists who were themselves released
from food-production.
 Water-transport, supplemented in Mesopotamia and
the Indus valley by wheeled vehicles and even in
Egypt by pack animals, made it easy to gather food
stuffs at a few centers.
 CONTRIBUTION OF THE VILLAGE

 The actual emergence of the city came as a result of

accumulations of previous Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

 In the new proto-urban milieu (setting, environment), the male

became again a leading figure; woman took the second place.

 The tools that have been produced by woman had been replaced
by more efficient plow.

 It was possible to transform the whole landscape (opening of

canals and irritation works).
 This change has also influenced the human relations within the
community.

 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 city came as a definite emergent in the paleo-neolithic community.

 The old components of the village were carried along and incorporated into the
new urban unit.

 The human composition of the new unit became more complex.

 In addition to hunters, peasants and shepherds, other primitive types entered
into the scene:
The miner, the woodman, the fisherman (each brought their tools, habits etc.)

(Invention of metal, bronze later iron)

 Later, the engineers, boatman and the sailor have arisen from these more
generalized primitive backgrounds.
 Other occupations developed: the soldiers, bankers, merchants and the priest.

Consequently:
 Mobilization of manpower;
 Command over long distance transportation
 Intensification of communication over long distances (in space & time).
 THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE CITY

 Invention of the written records, the library, the archive, the

school and the university (during later periods) is the one of
the earliest and most characteristic achievement of the city.
 A city: techniques, politics and religion (among which religion
played a very important role)
 For protection the earliest cities were fortified and it was ruled
by a king (having control over everything)
 The king was a sort of mediator between heaven and earth
(supernatural forces and factors were important). Most of the
time the king was appointed by priesthood.
 There was a fusion between secular and sacred power.
 THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE CITY

 The erection of a great temple, architecturally and

symbolically reflected the union between secular and
sacred powers.
 Magnitude of the temple can be considered as a reflection of the
power of both the god and the king. (religious and political power)

 With the king’s command, the city would become a mobilized

army (held in reserve). This made the city superior to the thinly
populated villages scattered around.

 As wars became important, weapon bearing minority took over

the social leadership and political power.
 ANCESTRAL FORMS AND PATTERNS

Egypt
Mesopotamia
Palestine
Iran
Indus Valley

Sharp contrasts can be

seen.

The cities came out in a few

great river valleys:
The Nile
The Tigris-Euphrates
Indus
Hwang Ho
 ANCESTRAL FORMS AND PATTERNS

 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)

 Villages could be easily

swept away.

 The city: could mobilize

man power and exercise
centralized control.
 ANCESTRAL FORMS AND PATTERNS

 From village to city:

 Not only a matter of change in size and scale; but
A NEW TYPE OF ORGANIZATION

 It is not only the number of people in a limited

area

 It is the number of people that can be brought

under UNIFIED CONTROL to form a highly
DIFFERENTIATED COMMUNITY.

 5000 PEOPLE (as big as a neighborhood today)

ANCESTRAL FORMS AND PATTERNS

 The walled citadel:

Wall has been one of the essential definitions
of the city (until 18th century).

 Natural barrier (England, Egypt, Japan)

 Walking Distance

 Early cities did not grow beyond walking

distance or hearing distance.
 URBANISM AND MONUMENTALITY

 The palace and the great temple stand close within the
citadel: part of the dual system of government.

 The wall served as both military device and an agent of

effective command over the urban population.

 Aesthetically it made a clean break between the city and

the country side.

 Socially emphasized the difference between insider and

outsider.

 Safety & security.

URBANISM AND MONUMENTALITY

 Market: economic life of the city (2000 B.C.)

 At the beginning it was an open space as part
of the temple precinct.
 It was a monopoly of the god and the priests,
but not a money making corporation.

 Exchange was not like today at the beginning.

Before the money was founded, there was
BARTER SYSTEM.
TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS AND DEFICIENCES

 Against the modest size of the city, the scale of the

citadel and its chief buildings might be very big in size,
reflecting the prestige and power/ to ensure its
permanence.

 The regular street system, row houses, the pottery

pipes, the brick lined drainage channels in the streets
have been found in the ruins in early cities (Ur).

 There was a broad street long before the invention of

wheeled vehicles (for sacred procession or for
marching soldiers).

 In the earliest cities (Ur), the narrow street was well-

shaded for protection from hot sun.
 The general appearance of the Mesopotamian
cities looked very much like the walled North
African City today:

 Narrow streets/ alleys

 One\ two or three storey houses
 Usable roof tops
 Inner courtyards
 Dominant temple (Ziggurat), similar to the
dominating Mosque in African city
 Contemporary Glimpses of the city

 Nippur near Babylon (1500

B.C.)

 Citadel cannot be seen.

 Central park may be the
place of the palace.
 The canal divides the city
into two: South east the
principal temple.

 The map does not only

show the main
elements of the city, but
also indicates the
presence of the kind of
learning and ability in
terms of thinking in
abstraction.
Contemporary Glimpses of the city
 Contemporary Glimpses of the city

 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

Different than the earliest cities in Mesopotamia.

 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

 The pyramids, great temples at Luxor and Karnak

shows (reflect) all these features but not the traces of
cities. During later periods some traces have been
detected.
 ARCHETYPES OR GENES?

 By 2500 B.C all the essential features of the city had

taken form and had found a place for themselves in
the citadel.

 The walled enclosure

 The street
 The house – block
 The market
 The temple precinct with its inner courts
 The administrative precinct
 The workshop precinct

Exist in its simplest form.

 ARCHETYPES OR GENES?

 The city itself was a complex and powerful

aesthetic symbol.

 In different parts of the world, better to say in

different geographies they showed
considerable differences.

 Although natural factors are important,

different cultures have been far more
influential on the formation of cities.
 THE NATURE OF THE ANCIENT CITY

 The city was a control center

 Religion: Role of ruling and guiding. The form of the

city has reflected this strong influence.
 King/ruling elite
 The citadel was the place of the rulers, who had the
monopoly of knowledge and power.
 This monopoly covers many functions. (Most of these
functions were later taken over and collectively
distributed by the municipality only after many
thousands of years.
 The royal monopoly held for many technological
innovations, which later has been spread to the rest of
the city.
THE NATURE OF THE ANCIENT CITY

Division of Labor
 In the city there were casts, classes, professions, trades, crafts.
 Priests, soldiers, physicians etc.

 Occupational and caste stratification produced an URBAN

PYRAMID:
 At the peak: THE KING
 Merchants, craftsmen, peasants, sailors, house servants, freed
men, slaves.

 These divisions were distinguished and sharpened by ownership

or lack of property.
 Segregated economic functions and segregated social roles
created equivalent precincts within the city.
 Characteristic activities of the ancient city
have a special quality.
For example: Art and Drama
 They take the roots from ancient seasonal
rituals of the village.
 Battle of wits
 Competitive exhibition of body & skills

These competitions have been accompanied

by religious ceremonies.
 COMMON FEATURES OF EARLIEST CITIES

 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

3. Taxation and Wealth Accumulation (control of food

production in the hinterland and the storage of the
surplus)
4. Monumental Public Buildings (symbolized the
concentration of the social surplus)
COMMON FEATURES OF EARLIEST CITIES

5. Ruling Class, that possessed

absolute control over the
society
6. Writing Techniques
(numerical and alphabetical
notational systems for
information processing)
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

“In short, the large ancient city was the cradle of

civilization” (Gottdiener & Hutchison, 2000)
 Earliest Cities
 The great urban landmarks :
 Catalhoyuk
 Ur
 Nippur
 Uruk
 Thebes
 Heliopolis
 Assur
 Nineveh
 Babylon
 Negev
CATALHOYUK
 In this Neolithic village of about 7500 BC, we find
individual houses, mainly rectangular in shape,
abutting each other to form what is close to a
rectilinear pattern.
 CATALHOYUK

No streets here, just houses next to each

other.
Ur
 UR

 Inhabited from about

5500 BCE
Ur was a politically and
economically powerful
center on the Euphrates,
with easy access to the
Persian Gulf and long
distance see trade.
BABYLON Babylon
Location of this city:

Nowadays, its ruins covers

about 302 km lying on the
east bank of Euphrates 90
km south of Baghdad and
about 10 km north of Hilla.
 Babylon, the legendary city, is indeed, the most famous
ancient city in the whole World. It was the capital of ten
Mesopotamian.
 Babylon was renowned for its high, well-fortified
walls and for the magnificence of its temples and
palaces, and Its famous Hanging Gardens.
 Hanging gardens

 High and thick walls

THE AMPHITHEATER
 The temple of Babylon:
What we know about the Tower of Babylon today comes
only from the little archaeological evidence found and a
few ancient writings.
The most important was the Street of m, which passed
through Ishtar's Gate and ended in the Stepped Tower.
THEBES
THEBES

Inhabited from around

3200 BC.
Pyramids
Luxor_ temple

Hatshepsut's_ temple
Entrance to the Thebes
NEGEV
 Location of this city:
 Ruins of Avadat, in the Negev desert of
southern Israel.
NEGEV