Cities of the Ancient World

Cities are integral to modern lives; why wandering ancient humans leave the forests and plains to create settlements; the fundamental question of "why" is the first step toward understanding the inhabitants and lessons from ancient cities.

Imagining a city with no streets, public buildings or common spaces; the world's first city offers an intriguing window into life in the Neolithic era; exploring the remains of Çatalhöyük's family housing, murals and religious shrines.

The story of the walls of Jericho in the Book of Joshua; looking past the biblical story; what architectural remains suggest about Jericho, whose ritual spaces help create a community and whose walls help define the urban environment.

Looking at one of the most marvelous cities in the ancient world; Uruk exhibits many of the hallmarks of ancient civilization; division of labor among its craftsmen; a class hierarchy that includes professional priests; records of art and literature.

The Indus Valley is home of one of ancient civilization's great unknowns; why people are reliant on the archeological record to understand the culture of cities such as Mohenjo-Daro; touring its so-called citadel; examining its water systems.

The world of ancient Egypt during the era of the Middle Kingdom; paid laborers build tombs and temples for the pharaohs; to house the laborers, the Egyptians build Kahun, a planned city whose walls and layout reinforce the system of social class.

In the New Kingdom of Egypt, skilled workers enjoy more prosperity than ever before; opportunities for promotion allow for great social mobility; meeting workers from this society; reviewing literature about the Egyptian social structure.

Amarna serves as an administrative and religious center designed to redirect political authority to Amenhotep IV; studying some of the most iconic images from Ancient Egypt; unpacking the relationship between city planning and the social structure.

Studying the Minoan city of Knossos; this sophisticated example of urban design is home to figures of myth, religious spectacles, sizable food storage and distribution areas and a unique system of architecture; touring this visionary civilization.

Visiting a Minoan city that is obliterated by one of history's largest volcanic eruptions; the eruption destroys and preserves the city; looking at surviving houses and wall paintings; what archeologists can deduce about daily life in the city.

Investigating the culture of Bronze Age Greece; the intriguing masonry at Tiryns; the impressive walls of Mycenae; how vernacular architecture reveals differences in political systems among regional powers; the Mycenaean collapse; the end of the era.

Classical Athens in the Golden Age of the fifth century B.C.; touring some of the city's most well-known landmarks; the Periclean building program in the years following the Persian Wars; examining some of the city's statues and friezes.

Turning from the Athenian public sphere to the domestic spaces; what life is like for everyday citizens; how a shoemaker or a sculptor might fill his day; a stop by the Agora; considering gender separation; the role of women in ancient Greece.

Meeting Hippodamus of Miletus, the father of urban planning; he uses orthogonal planning to reflect the ideal social order; seeing this system in action, from city blocks to the creation of districts; its impact on the history of urban design.

The planned city of Olynthus contains the best-preserved classical houses yet excavated in the Greek world, walking among the row houses and suburban villas, gaining a rare glimpse into the patterns of domestic life in the ancient world.

Alexandria is the first massive cosmopolitan city known in antiquity; its lighthouse is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; the variety of artists' workshops and ethnic diversity make Alexandria the Greek cultural center.

While Hippodamian planning emphasizes practicality, the organic layout of Pergamon emphasizes theatricality, great scale and drama intended to evoke wonder; how Pergamon's monuments and public buildings imitate and try to surpass Periclean Athens.

Traveling through Rome in the footsteps of a well-to-do citizen, from their apartment complex to the happenings at the Forum Romanum; how social classes interact at the public baths, where lower classes wrangle dinner invitations from wealthy Romans.

Tracing a day in the life of an immigrant glassblower in Rome, whose life would be considerably less fortunate thanks to various factors; the alternatives poor Romans have, including life as a gladiator or soldier.

Ostia is a "producer city" that appears to be comprised solely of middle- and working-class people; going inside the warehouses and storage buildings; the city's economy; what it means to have no evidence of the poor or the wealthy.

An excursion to the frontiers of the Roman Empire, where a group of military veterans lives in a planned city that represents the ideal Roman vision; why these veterans are notably patriotic; transmitting much of Roman culture into new territory.

Considering another city at the edge of the empire; an agricultural community with a diverse population; the farm-based economy; its relationship to the consumer city of Rome; examining the integration of Greek, Roman and Egyptian ethnic groups.

An examination of Constantinople, which bridges the gap between the era of antiquity and the Middle Ages; the development of this city; the political demonstrations and riots that accompany its growth; studying the Hagia Sophia and its dome.

What a survey of ancient cities adds up to; the lessons to be drawn from antiquity; a look at Venice and London to see what elements of ancient cities endure in modern architecture and urban design; reflecting on the future of the city.