Week 3 : Pre-industrial Cities and Technology, Chapter 3: ROME

3.1 The pattern of Roman urbanization

Table 3.1 Selected periods and (in italics) emperors in ancient Roman history (adapted from Scarre, 1995, pp136-7)

Dates Period

753 -510 BCE - Rome ruled by kings

510-27 BCE - Roman republic

27BCE - 476 CE - Rome ruled by emperors, including

27BCE - 14 CE - Augustus

41- 54 - Claudius

54 - 68 - Nero

69 - 79 - Vespasian

79- 81 - Titus

81 - 96 - Domitian

96 - 98 - Nerva

98 - 117 - Trajan

117 - 38 - Hadrian

138 - 61 - Antoninus Pius

193 - 211 - Septimius Severus

211- 17 - Caracalla

270 - 75 - Aurelian

284- 305 - Diocletian

306 - 12 - Maxentius

307 - 32 - Constantine 1

This chapter details the rise of Rome and the Roman Empire. From the first trading colonies established in Italy by the Phoenician traders and Greek settlers in the 8th Century BCE through the founding of the city, which archaeological evidence indicated was a result of a federation of a group of villages. The establishment of the Roman republic in 510 BCE to the emperors of 27 BCE and the Empire itself, through to the 5th Century CE. It records specifically that the Romans seem not to have been great innovators but tended to have improved on the established agricultural production methods and transport methods of the Greeks and the Phoenicians. The food requirements of the city were supplied by production across the Mediterranean and in overseas provinces such as Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, North Africa, and Egypt, and by the first century CE an estimated 250 shiploads of grain were unloaded at Portus each year. This was transported into the city by lighters or river-boats and stored and distributed from purpose built riverside warehouses.Sea transport continued to be markedly more efficient than land transport for carrying bulk goods such as agricultural produce, metals and building stones: according to one estimate of prices in Diocletian's reign, it was cheaper to carry grain the entire length of the Mediterranean than to transport it 120 kilometres by road (White,1984,p131). The marine trading system and its prevailing modes of transport therefore helped shape the pattern of urbanization in the Roman Empire; they were also the means by which Rome could grown as large as it did.' (Book1,p65).

The Romans are well known for their road building but the roads were primarily used for moving infantry and their use of wheeled vehicles for commercial and industrial haulage was limited. Developments in land transport was almost all of Celtic origin.

Did any technological innovations influence the pattern of Roman urbanization?

Apparently not. The development of a system of cities dominated by one of unprecedented size was based mainly on established agricultural methods and modes of transport. The Romans' fine granaries were not original in design, and the developments in shipbuilding were mainly a matter of taking established technologies and using them on a larger scale. Similarly, this was not the first empire to invest in durable roads.

It might well be inferred that the genius of the Romans was the development of existing technologies, and of their organization on an impressive scale - as in their grain trade, and the road network that was a military necessity for the consolidation of a vast territorial empire. This is certainly the conclusion many historians have reached, but an open mind is needed at this stage.

DVD1 - Imperial Rome and Ostia

This programme gives a detailed insight into Roman methods of construction and building techniques. It particularly makes the point that in technology terms, the Romans themselves were not great innovators but rather developers and improvers of the technology of the Greeks and civilisations that they conquered. It does however, emphatically make the point that they were visionaries and great organizers and administrators, which enabled them both to run a vast empire, feed and house one million people in the city of Rome, with an infrastructure of complex houses and multi-storey houses, warehouses, temples, baths, amphitheatres, roads, and aqueducts ensuring ample clean water and effective heating systems for hot water. Specific mention is made of the Pantheon and the Baths of Caracalla. Finally mention should be made of the glass windows and double glazing particularly in their baths and exploiting its thermal properties.

3.2 Roman urban planning and morphology

This section looks at the respective influences of the Etruscans and the Greeks on the Roman city, particularly noting the gridiron planning which was distinctive of the Greek colonies. It also notes that these planned cities would appear to have been influenced by the style of military camps with central intersecting roads known as the east-west decumanus maximus and the north-south cardo maximus. At the intersection would be the forum a more self-contained version of the open Greek agora.

Rome itself like Athens was unplanned and more organic in its growth, although certain areas reveal grid planning. The restricted use of carts enforcing the use of porters, pack animals and walking limited horizontal city expansion so housing became multi-storied enabling individuals to live close to political and commercial centres.

Suburban development took place outside of the city walls and became the '...location of industrial premises with unpleasant by-products, such as fulleries and pottery workshops, and of large recreational buildings, such as stadia, amphitheatres and circuses'. (Bk1,p89) This encroachment on the countryside reinforce the ecological impact of urbanisation seen from the time of the Mesopotamians. The wealthy wishing to escape the crowded city built rural villas and market gardens emphasizing the changing relations between the metropolis and its hinterland. In late antiquity with declining populations and the threat of attack cities contracted with the need to live within defensive walls.

3.3 Technology and Roman building

This short introduction reviews the idea that the Romans were technologically uninventive and that their achievements were heavily dependent on the innovations of their captive people. Considering glass production and glass blowing, iron working and its application in building, and the fact that they used water wheels to power corn mills but did not apply this energy source to the production of iron, Hodges (1971) concludes that this technological uninventiveness was down to their social institutions, abundant labour power, widespread use of slaves, an intellectual elite that disdained commerce and industry which created a bureaucracy that had no incentive to develop technology.

Surveying and fortifications

A section on the surveying for colonial towns concluding that the instruments, procedures and technology were all of Greek origin. The section on fortification considers the two defensive walls around Rome. The Servian wall built of dry stone masonry after 390 BCE and the much larger Aurelianic wall some 19 kilometres long built in the 3C CE reflecting the developed technologies of both construction and siege warfare.

Building construction: a concrete revolution?

This lengthy section reviews Roman building methods and styles and the use of different materials. Particular note is made of the Roman development of concrete, which was used within facings of brick and consisted of fist sized pieces of stone held together with the mortar. The particular volcanic sand pozzalana was invaluable setting with great strength and having the ability to set under water. There is also discussion of the use by the Emperors and upper classes (wealthy) of marble being transported from all corners of the Empire, for use as facing material and as a sign of wealth, power and status. The description is also given to the multi-storey tenement buildings, insula, that housed the majority of the population. Finally it covers the Romans development of the Greek architecture and the use of trusses, arches, and vaults to enable them to construct some of their outstanding buildings like the Panthenon and the Baths of Caracalla.

Baths of Caracalla

Water supply and sanitation

Describing the Roman's use of aqueducts to provide water for both Rome and some of their provincial cities scattered throughout their empire. It also looks at the construction of damns and reservoirs particularly in semi-arid areas and the manner of their construction. It reviews the distribution of water throughout the city to fountains, cisterns, water towers and public baths. Distribution was carefully administered and private users were charged according to the size of their pipe. Both terracotta and lead pipes were used. Few private dwellings had a water supply, most residents collecting it from a public fountain. In most instances the water ran continually, running off through drains and hence helping to clean latrines and sewers.

Roman aqueduct

Reader (9) The Construction of Fortified Towns by Vitruvius

An interesting extract from a primary source, Vitruvius' Ten Books on Architecture, in which he sets out quite detailed recommendations for the siting of a town to ensure healthy living of its inhabitants and to ensure best protection from the elements. He further gives guidance on the construction of defensive walls, street planning and the most appropriate positions of public buildings and temples.

Reader (8) The Organisation and Supply of Roman Building

A lengthy and wordy article that recounts the various methods of organisation over centuries. It explores the supply of manpower to the building trade, and concludes this was mostly provided by 'free' poor unskilled workers as opposed to large numbers of slaves.

There is a specific section on brick and tile production which appears to be a well documented area . It also traces the change in attitude and perception of public buildings from the somewhat muddled and bureaucratic republican times to the use of building projects and building works as propaganda and statements of status by emperors.

Reader (10) On the Water Supply of the City of Rome

Frontinus writes about the laws concerning the supply of water and particularly to private households, and the concern of those illegally tapping the water supply.

3.4 Rome: building the metropolis

Discussion on major buildings throughout Rome in the light of the growth of the City, the needs of markets and the desire of Emperors to be seen as benefactors. Again concrete and its development as used in large vaulted structures particularly is seen as a major achievement i.e. Panthenon and Baths of Caracalla. Leisure and entertainment are highlighted by many of these buildings as being a major part of the cities life and speculation is mentioned in the chapter of the city being 'a parasite' on the rest of the empire. Many of these major buildings provided by the rulers can be viewed as an attempt to placate the differences between lavish villas of the rich and ruling classes and the poor conditions that many ordinary Romans lived in, in the multi storied insulae

Conclusion

This section records that Rome grew to be the largest of all the ancient cities and that although throughout this entire section the assessment does seem to be of a limited inventiveness by the Romans, the city itself is testimony to a major advance in the application of such innovations as arches, vaults, aqueducts and hot bath. Considering the previous discussions on technological determinism and social constructivism the technologies in Rome and their application would appear to have been driven and used primarily for political and social purposes and not in themselves have been the reason for the growth and success of the city.

Interesting and relevant links

BBC Ancient History - Other Cultures

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopotamia_gallery.shtml


Babylon Myth and Reality exhibition at The British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/babylon.aspx

Just because I like it!!!

Richard Dadd (British 1819 - 1886)

The Artist's Halt in the Desert

Date: circa. 1845

Week 2 Pre-industrial Cities and Technology Chapter 2: GREECE

2.1 Urbanisation in the Aegean region
Colin Chant states 'A necessary condition of the emergence of cities in Europe was the diffusion of Neolithic agriculture and animal husbandry from the Near East, (...) and by about 3000 BCE had been adopted throughout Europe'. (Bk1,p48). V.Gordon Childe's diffusionists model suggests that the city came to Europe as a result of trade with the urban civilisations of the Near East as they sought to acquire raw materials not locally available. (Diffusion in this context refers to the spread of technological innovation). This was especially true of the quest for tin ores required for the creation of bronze.

Trade in these raw materials alone was not sufficient for urbanisation to occur as the ability to create agricultural surplus nearby was required to allow the development of specialization. Childe suggests that the 'idea' of the city invented in the Near East was diffused to Crete, Greece and Rome, but Chant suggests this is an over-simplification, and that having developed agriculture and animal husbandry a sudden expansion in metal working associated with the use of bronze and other copper alloys from about 3000 BCE accompanied rapid population growth and the development of a ranked and hierarchical society. This with the intensive trading in the Eastern Mediterranean region saw urbanization develop. The geographical considerations of mountain ranges to the north and west of the Aegean encouraged sea borne trade. This was also encouraged by the indented coastline full of natural harbours and accessible islands. Cities located on small coastal plains or a little way inland on one of Greece's relatively small rivers had abundant building stone, clay for pottery, a good quality timber from Northern Greece. 'The situation was in reverse of that in Mesopotamia, which had abundant agricultural land and limited raw materials, but the effect was the same: a resource imbalance that stimulated trade'. (Bk1,p50)

Table 1.1 Selected period and (in italics) reigns of ancient Mesopotamian history (adapted from Postgate, 1992,p.22 and Oates, 1986,pp199-202

Dates (BCE) Period Dates (BCE) Period

5000-4000 Ubaid 1950-1600 Old Babylonian
4000-3200 Uruk 1792-1750 Hammurabi
3200-2350 Early Dynastic 900-650 Neo-Assyrian
2350-2150 Dynasty of Akkad 704-681 Sennacherib
2334-2279 Sargon 650-539 Neo-Babylonian
2150-1950 Third Dynasty of Ur 604-562 Nebuchadnessar II

Table 2.1 Periodisation of ancient Aegean history

Dates (BCE) Civilization (Period)

2600-1400 Minoan
1400-1200 Mycenae
1100-750 Greek (Dark Age; also subdivided into Protogeometric
and Geometric, after distinctive pottery styles)
750-500 Greek (Archaic)
500-338 Greek (Classical)
338-31 Greek (Hellenistic)

The first European cities
This section recounts the first Bronze Age civilisation, the Minoan which lasted from around 2600 to 1400 BCE centered on the island of Crete. It outlines a society dominated by rulers in independent palaces with a population skilled in pottery, metal working, weaving etc. and building in local stone. Sea trade being important suggests specialist production of wooden sailing ships, and on land partly paved roads. Only some palaces provide evidence of urban communities alongside them. More elaborate palaces from about 1700 BCE following destruction by earthquakes,had running water and flush drainage systems. There were some settlements now recognised as towns such as Palailcastro and Mallia. The Minoan civilisation declined from about 1400 BCE either from volcanic and earthquake activity or from invasion. 'In either event, the domination of the Aegean region passed from this time to mainland Greece, and to a Bronze Age civilization called Mycenaean'. (BK1,p52). The Mycenaean were of uncertain origin but assimilated Minoan habits of sea borne commerce and palace building. They constructed substantial roads around main settlements sometimes paved and kept passable in the rainy season by bridges and culverts. Their palaces have been discovered in a number of sites including Athens, Troy, Pylos, Tiryns and Mycenae, last two having stone defensive walls. Excavations of Mycenae indicate a settlement of urban complexity with a cistern fed by an aqueduct from a near-by mountain spring for the cities water supply. This boom of urbanisation was relatively brief ending in about 1200 BCE 'Whether this was because of earthquake, drought, invasion or the kind of inter-city warfare described in Homer's Iliad is another of the great unresolved issues of ancient history'. (Bk1,p53).

There is considerable conjecture as to any connection between these palace dominated urban forms and the cities of the Near East, but the Near East civilisations had at various times controlled Canaan which had also developed its own urban societies and was the site of the important trade centres and ports of Byblos and Ugarit. Some scholars believe that these directly influenced the form of Minoan settlements. Although the consensus is, that the Aegean building tradition was essentially indigenous emerging from the diffused technological and social conditions from which
the Mesopotamian and Egyptian urban civilisations had emerged.

From bronze to iron
This section initially informs of the migrations of the so called Indo-European peoples into the Mediterranean areas and the subsequent long-term effect of their languages across Europe. It also makes a distinction between the technologies of urban civilisations and those of Nomadic -people in the northeast up to the Steppes of Asia, and how their technology suited their life-styles. Leading towards a discussion on the emergence of iron which appears to have a contested history regarding its origins, the point is made that the Nomadic peoples being far more concerned with mobility,almost certainly domesticated the horse and introduced the bridle. It proposes that the emergence of the horse-drawn chariot brought together the horse skills of these Nomadic Civilisations and the woodworking skills from urban civilisations like Mesopotamia.

'Iron metallurgy was the final technology of the 'three-age system'
(stone,bronze and iron)proposed by the Danish museum director Christian Jurgensen Thompson in the early nineteenth century and still applied to Old World prehistory. [...]the US pioneer anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan[...] saw the history of human culture as a progression from savagery, through barbarism, to civilisation. He identified 'four events of pre-eminent importance'[...] the domestication of animals; the discovery of cereals; the use of stone in architecture; the invention of metallurgy, through which 'nine-tenths of the battle for civilisation was gained'.'(Bk1,p54) Explicit technological determinism!!

It also talks of the development of iron working. Iron ore was much more readily available in many areas, but took much greater effort and much higher temperatures to work than tin, copper and bronze alloy. Iron being much more resilient and tougher came to replace bronze and certainly aided the Northern civilisations such as the Hittites to take over in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Medes and the Persians moved into Iran and conquered Babylonia and the Greek civilisations moved into decline and entered a period sometimes known as a Greek Dark Age. The remaining Greek settlements however were influenced by the surrounding civilisations who introduced the idea of coinage, the use of currency having a direct bearing on the built environment as wealth, no longer needed to be stored as agricultural surplus or manufactured goods. The Greeks main experience of cities though was through the sea-borne trade of the Phoenicians who developed the port of Sydon and established trading colonies throughout the Mediterranean in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE in Sardinia, Western Sicily, Spain and North Africa where Cathage became a great commercial city. These cities were different to those of Mesopotamia and Egypt based on trade rather than Imperial power or the control of agriculture surplus. The cities of Greece were to follow in this tradition.

2.2 Greece
'The emergence of an ancient Greek urban culture was about 900BCE it's first distinctive feature was a geometric style of pottery decoration, the technological basis of which was an improved potters wheel' (bk1,p56). Pottery, wine and olive oil were the main trading commodities. Mediterranean trading and transport influenced the pattern of Greek urbanisation. Overland transport was not readily available and they followed the lead of the Phoenicians in ship building including ever larger oared warships.
















The rise of the city state
This section looks at the fundamental political changes that led to the development of forms of government with citizens and elected leaders and the establishment of city states. The distinction between polis (the concept of a city state) and asto (the physical city) i.e. polis = Leics and asto =Leicester. Citizenship could equally apply to those living in the rural areas which form part of the city state. The city states established 'colonies' throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas. Although colonies such as Ephesus, Miletus, Smyrna became legally independent of their mother cities on the Greek mainland. It was the limited availability of agricultural land that sent many settlers to these colonies and thus established the whole trading area. This led to the demise of a powerful aristocracy and the rise of a hierarchy of a social class based on property rather than aristocratic descent. 'Another departure was that legislation through assemblies of citizens was clearly a human activity, rationalized through abstract concepts such as 'justice'. Although Greek civic life was conducted within a religious context, laws and political decisions were no longer presented as unchallengeable divine commands...'(Bk1,p58)

The Hellenistic City
The nub of this section recounts how the city states were eclipsed by the Macedonian invasion from the north in 338BCE led by Philip of Macedon and the empire that covered the Near East, Egypt, Persia and the Indus valley created by his son Alexander the Great. Alexander died in 323BCE and what emerged were three Hellenistic territorial empires; Macedonia under the Antigonids, Syria under Seleucids and Egypt under the Ptolemies. (Descendants of Alexander's generals who became ruling families). Ptolemy reputedly took Alexander's body from Babylon and entombed it in the new city of Alexandria, (Egypt) which had been planned by Alexander and completed by Ptolemy. It included a great palace and a renowned library and museum which attracted scholars from all over the Hellenistic world. It became an important trade and manufacture centre particularly of glassware and jewelry. It became the pre-eminent Hellenistic city. The city was laid out on a grid plan generally constructed of stone with vaulted roofing, and private houses had cisterns and sewerage arrangements. The administration of the cities public services offered Augustus the first Roman Emperor,a model for his own imperial capital. Here Ptolomy's son built the famous lighthouse on the island of Pharos. (One of the seven ancient wonders of the world).

'What were the implications for cities of the transition to imperial rule? The loss of independence meant that many former city states no longer supported their own military and naval establishments, nor did they invest in fortifications. There was also a trend, within the wider setting of imperial rule, from democracy to oligarchy in their internal politics. The eclipse of the city states has often been seen as a decline in Greek civilisation, but this does less than justice to the cultural, architectural and technological achievements of the Hellenistic age; at the very least, the great properity that resulted from the Hellenistic conquest of the Near East brought about a general rise in the material quality of urban life. Another consequence of imperial rule was greater uniformity in the urban built environment. The same Hellenistic styles, building methods and urban design spread throughout the Mediterranean and into the Near East. Each Hellenistic city was similar in its temples, assembly halls, stoas (colonnaded public buildings), market-places, roads, gates and public fountains'.(Bk1,p59)

Activity Study Book encapsulates section 2.1 and 2.2
1. How far can urbanisation in the Aegean region be seen as a process of diffusion from the Near East?
The diffusion of Neolithic technologies, and then the trading activity of the Near Eastern urban civilisations, seem to have been necessary for urban settlements to appear in the region. The cities of Canaan may also have exercised a direct influence on Aegean city-builders, though this is disputed. The new urbanizing cultures are no longer seen merely as passive recipients: archaeologists and ancient historians now see the spread of technologies and cultures as a more complex and piecemeal process that concepts such as 'diffusion' and 'migrations' of ethnic groups imply. Present-day scholars place more emphasis on indigenous contributions to both technology and trade.

2. How and why did the pattern of urbanisation in the Aegean differ from that in the Near East?
The pattern of urbanisation in the Aegean region was influenced by a geography that differed greatly from that of the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Mediterranean was an even more encouraging medium for trade, though the mainland topography was much less so - hence the pattern of settlements on the islands, and on the coasts of Greece, Anatolia, southern Italy and Sicily. The balance between the endowment of agricultural land and mineral resources was the opposite of that in Mesopotamia; as a result, Aegean settlements tended to be smaller, though they were built of more durable materials.

2.3 Greek urban planning and morphology
This chapter looks at the planning and construction of Greek cities during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. ' Defence was a prime consideration in the foundation of Greek cities: the earliest usually centred on a rocky hill or an acropolis'(Bk1,p60). There is a contrast between the early development of Greek cities from about 900BCE to the rebuilt cities and planned colony cities in the 5th Century and Hellenistic period. There emerged the gridiron or orthogonal layout of streets centering on an agora, an open space surrounded by the main public buildings. Examples are seen in Smyrna and Miletus (see Bk1,fig 2.8,p,61).


The grid device embodies notions of land use and occupational separation, central organisation and co-operation in the building of housing blocks with party walls and shared drainage; possibly a more democratic form of plan giving equal division of land when compared with early royal cities with poor dwellings on the periphery and higher class dwellings near the centre. The reason for this design may have been less political than military or that such uniformity made for speed of construction. It further allowed for gradual filling in and easy extension, there is some dispute over the origins of these cities between building for religious reasons as proposed by the French historian Francois de Polignac, and Ward-Perkins who states that archaeological records confirm the orientation of a new town was down to topographical and hygienic reasons not religious. The religious and practical considerations however went hand in hand with shrines incorporated into buildings that do appear to have been designed primarily for their secular functions, such as those surrounding the agora (see Bk1,fig2.9,p63) '...in this respect, the ancient Greek city differs from the Sumerian city, dominated by its ziggurat and shrine or the Egyptian city, dedicated to the divine Pharaoh's afterlife'. (Bk1,p63)

With the shift in focus from the acropolis to the agora the city flourished with developments such as theatres, gymnasia, stadia, public markets and enclosed shops etc. These physical structures came to be the defying features of Greek cities rather than the communities political constitution.

The design of Greek houses in which they turned in on their courtyards and away from the street reflected the importance of the private household (oikos) as the social and economic unit of Greek society. These interior courtyards were also practical providing cool, shade and light.

Finally, in this section, the importance of various Greek political and social structures to the phyical structure of a city is demonstrated by a consideration of Sparta, Athens great rival and a city considerably different in its design and fabric.


2.4 Greek technologies and city building
A short introduction focusing on Greek cities and their grid lay-out and its relationship to technologies.

Building construction
This section is a review of Greek building types mentioning stone-dry building techniques (laying masonary without mortar) or public buildings of the Classical and Hellenistic periods (Bk1,fig2.11,p66). This fig shows the typical Classical Greek building with a sectional view of the front of the Parthenon with columns, architrave, frieze, cornice, pediment. Ward-Perkins notes 'The 'Aeolic' capitals of the earliest Greek architecture in stone echoed a type that was widespread in Phoenicia and Palestine, while more generally the whole Greek architectural system of column, capital and entablature represents the impact of the masonary architecture of the ancient East, and in particular of Egypt, upon the primitive timber and mud-brick construction of Aegean Greece'. (Bk1,p67)Large assemblies tended to be held in the open-air and the Mediterranean climate allowed many Greek recreational buildings such as theatres to be uncovered. When covered spaces were required internal columns inevitably blocked the view of many in the audience (Bk1, fig 2.12, p67) shows a plan of the Therilion in Megalopolis from the 4th Century BCE with columns radiating out from the rostrum, allowing 6,000 people a view. Gymnasiums were cultural centres with included libraries and auditoria, and associated with the exercise area provided covered bathing. Hot bathing was available in the public baths warmed by a variety of methods from charcoal braziers to combination furnaces and boilers. Several technological systems were involved in the construction of a building such as a temple. Quarried stone was transplanted by means of heavy wagons drawn by teams of oxen, and column drums moved by ox-drawn cradles with large wooden wheels. Geometrical perfection was achieved with simple traditional instruments such as the cord, plumb-line, level and square. Bk1. fig 2.15,p69 shows a crane based on a description by Vitruvius.

The commitment to Hippodamean planning was retained even where some of the grid streets had actually become steep flights of stairs. Greek architects and builders became adept at constructing platforms, terracing, and landscaping to connect different levels. As maritime traders the Greeks became active and successful harbour builders. Examples of artifical harbour facilities could be found at the ports of Corinth, Athens and at Syracuse. The most ambitious undertaking was the construction of two harbours at Alexandria where a stone mole (causeway) about one and a half kilometres long connected the mainland to the island of Pharos. The famous multi-tiered lighthouse was on this island.

Water supply and sanitation
This section opens with some important points regarding water sources and their influence on the positioning and founding of Greek cities. It indicated that the Karst phenomena of permeable limestone experienced in Greece was looked for in other places when founding 'colony' cities. It records a number of technologies applied to secure water supplys over considerable distances including tunnels, aqueducts, piping and even an 'inverted siphon'. It notes that planned cities and street layouts such as in Rhodes founded in 408-407 BCE incorporated systems of underground drainage. Whereas unplanned cities such as fifth century Athens have virtually no sanitation, waste being discharged into open gutters. The Classical Greeks were among the first to be concerned about the effects on public health of urban conditions, passing laws on the dumping of waste and the digging of open drains and cesspools. Plato, Hippocrates, and Aristotle all wrote on these health related issues.

Urban industry
The Greeks were responsible for a number of craft innovations that affected the labour process and to a limited extent industrial premises of cities. Developments such as the kick wheel potters wheel, the lathe, chisels and punches made of iron and the shaft-furness all improved production and the development of smelted iron (although iron could not be cast). Changes in industrial premises would have been subtle involving some specialization of work spaces such as a fullery with its vats in which clothes were cleaned, using fullers earth and cloth was dyed. The section makes the point that within Greek society there was a general deregation of commerce, industry and manual labour by political elites, although this generalisation needs to be qualified. There is listed a number of theories and inventions by early Greek philosophers some working at the library and museum at Alexandria who invented machines based on mechanical principles such as the pulley, the screw, the lever etc. but for intellectual reasons rather than economic advantage. This rather selective attitude has been attributed to Archimedes although this may reflect more the attitudes of the writer Plutarch some three centuries later than Archimedes himself.

2.5 Athens
This section recounts specifically Athens, its history and its ascendancy particularly during the fifth-century BCE. With a huge population rising to about 330,000 additional food was a problem. The Greek fleet dominated the Straits between the Black Sea and the Aegeon and ensured that grain ships from the Black Sea region stopped at Athens first. It notes that another important source of economic strangth came from the control of the nearby silver mines, an operation of some technical note.

Athens was largely an unplanned city of organic growth around the Acropolis. The Acropolis became a separate realm of the gods conferring legitimacy on a college of magistrates who ruled following the weakening of the kingship. The Agora connected to the Acropolis by the Panathenaic Way became the centre of communal life, once the land was drained and water was supplied to a public fountain. There is a plan shown in Fig 2.22 p.76 of the city and various buildings. Alluded to is a complex relationship of the City States belonging to the Delian League. Delos being an oracle on an island, a relationship of wealth linked to religion. This financed major rebuilding in the second half of the fifth-century BCE including the temples, one of which was the Parthenon which dominated the city. There was also a redesign of Piraeus a peninsular with three harbours which became the main port of Athens. Long walls enclosed the expanding city and harbours. Water supply was also a pressing concern, and there are some notes on this and of the prevailing karst geology.











Greek vase showing women at a fountain house







Conclusion
This conclusion reviews how much Greek cities had in common with those of the Near East predecessors in their technologies, energy sources and the influence of the immediate natural environment. But, it also notes a difference in the way in which surplus resources were deployed to benefit more of the urban residents rather than chanelled into the power structures of divine monarchs.

Extract - Aristotle Politics
In this short extract Aristotle writes on the ideal geographical and geological conditions and position for a city. He notes specifically the conditions of air and supply of water. He writes at some length on the requirement for city walls and defences and how the planned layout of a city in his view, would be best partly grid (Hippodamus) and partly old style which would be organic and unplanned, suiting both aesthetic and military purposes.

Herodotus Book III Reader p22
Herodotus identifies three feats of engineering and construction by the Samians as three of the greatest works in all of Greece. A tunnel carrying water beneath a hill (details of dimensions given also see fig 2.20 p73. A mole in the sea enclosing a harbour (a jetty) and a large temple.

Reading 6 : Burns Ancient Greek water supply
This extract looks at the uniformity of techniques, materials and dimensions used across many Greek settlements and cities in bringing water to fountain houses by means of underground pipes, tunnels, resevoirs etc. It reinforces the view that a water supply from permeable limestone rock was a major consideration in the siting of any city. Such rock formations also generally provided an acropolis.

Questions
1. What were the main urban technologies deployed by the Greeks?
Building construction relied on local materials, and on animal power to bring them to the building sites; cranes were used to lift the heavier stones. Among the most impressive technological achievements of the Greeks were their water-supply and drainage systems, such as the tunnel driven through a mountain on Samos (the tunnel admired by Herodotus in Reading 3) and the Hellenistic aqueduct made to transverse two river vallays on its way to the Pergamon. Compared with the technological complexity of certain processes at the Laurion silver-mines outside Athens, urban crafts continued to be on a small scale - partly, perhaps, because they were disdained by the political elite.

2.How great was the influence of Greek technology on urban form and fabric?
Military technologies had an indirect bearing on the location of Greek cities, and perhaps on their morphology: there was some debate about the defensive merits of planned and unplanned settlements, as Extract 2.1 from Aristotle shows. The shape of cities was constrained by substantial fortifications. The harbours around which so many Greek cities were build indicate the importance of water transport in trade. There was an intimate connection between readily available materials and the trabeated (post-and-lintel) construction of the main buildings.

The greatest influence, however, has been assigned to the technology of water supply, and the geology underlying it. According to Dora Crouch, as quoted in Chapter 2, and Alfred Burns in Reading 6, the physical and even social character of Greek cities depended upon the means of obtaining fresh water, which in turn was shaped by the karst geology of Greece, with its strata of permeable limestone overlying impermeable rock. Once more, this explanation of the morphology of settlements looks monocausal, and before accepting the argument, careful thought should be given about the other possible causes discussed. For instance whether Greece's hydrogeography throws any light on the contrasting layouts of planned and unplanned settlements.

Reader: Burford Heavy transport in Classical Antiquity
A protracted extract which focuses on a dispute between historians over evidence for the use or otherwise of teams of oxen in the moving of heavy loads.

Reader: Coulton Lifting in early Greek architecture
This extract considers the lifting of heavy weights in architecture and the methods used at different times by the Greek civilisation.

Week One - Pre-industrial Cities and Technology - Part 1 Ancient Cities

Chapter 1: The Near East
1:1 Introduction
This introduces the area known as the fertile crescent, a series of river valleys and alluvial plains stretching from the Tigress and Euphrates in Mesopotamia(modern Iraq) along the Jordan to the Nile in Egypt. It is suggested that urbanisation in this area from the fourth millennium BCE gave rise to the eventual urban developments in Europe. Mention is made of the difficulty in obtaining data from this period due to the variations in materials used, their requirements for preservation and the way in which the new is often built upon the old thus making it irretrievable.
Map showing fertile crescent.
















1:2 The emergence of cities: a technological revolution?
The beginnings of technology
This section recounts the activities of early humans during the Palaeolithic period emerging from Africa across the world, and the adaption by use of simple technologies to survive and provide food, shelter and warmth. As hunter-gatherers they were nomadic although mention is made of the cave dwellers (with wall paintings) in France. Population density would rarely have exceeded one person per ten square kilometres.

Childe's Neolithic Revolution
The historian Childe is quoted and his ideas and theories used in explaining the emergence of agriculture i.e. the growing of food, notably man choosing what to plant where and tending the plantation as opposed to gathering from wild pants. The domestication of animals used for food and clothing and as work beasts, such as pulling a plough or cart. The domestication of animals around 8,000 BCE with goats followed by sheep, cattle and pigs. This ability to greatly improve the productivity of food stuffs led to other specific skills such as pottery making and textiles. With the ending of the last ice age the climate in the fertile crescent was conducive to these agricultural developments along with plentiful supplies of wood.

Catal Huyuk and Jericho
A short section reviewing the discovery of these two large agricultural communities with populations of between 2,000 and 6,000. Claims have been made that these were the first cities but with no evidence of specialised occupations other than agriculture, it was thought they were essentially large agricultural villages.

Childe's Urban Revolution
This section specifically examines the development of marsh drainage and irrigation of plantations in Mesopotamia particularly along the river Euphrates and the emergence of the first cities in these areas, thanks to the plentiful and surplus food production, Such schemes required both a substantial work vision and workforce, and probably led to the emergence of the ruling classes who undertook and oversaw such projects. Mention is made of the ancient cities of Uruk and Ur. These areas however, didn't have a ready supply of all materials, and the section records the development of trade in items such as malachite and obsidian from neolithic villages and hunter-gatherers as far afield as Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The technologies of the Urban Revolution
This section reviews the technologies required to bring about the urban revolution and to allow city life to develop. In a number of cases there is some dispute as to whether these technologies allowed cities to develop or if they developed because of cities.

• Metallurgy - the development in metal working and crafting, particularly of copper during the first half of the fourth millennium highlights the need for specialization of skills i.e. miners, smelters, smiths and the requirement for trade to obtain the ore particularly as this was not available close to the fertile crescent but from the mountains, and highland plateau's.


• Transport - the need to trade to obtain items meant surplus food stuffs needed to be moved and traded for items such as mineral ore. Initially this would be human carriers and pack animals such as donkeys and later mules (camels were not used until the first millennium). Transport routes were available along the river valleys, this also allowed the development of water transport with boats carrying and towing items such as timber.



• The Wheel - Childe records 'the wheel was the crowning achievement of pre-historic carpentry' (Bk1,p11). This was particularly used in areas with suitable domesticates (oxen etc) but needed level, durable roads.
  

The production of surplus food and its requirement to support trade, merchants, transporters, specialists, craftsmen etc also led to an increased need for recording and the communication of information. This and the desire to protect settlements, trade routes, merchants or possibly to control and enforce rivals developed the military, which further developed metallurgy and weaponry. These combined forces brought about the stratification of society, hierarchy and monarchy.

Activity -According to Childe, the main technological preconditions of the Urban Revolution included: the cultivation of plants; the domestication of animals; irrigation and other water-management technologies; household crafts (pottery, carpentry, textiles); metallurgy; wheeled carts and wagons; sailing ships; and the beginnings of information technology (writing, weights and measures, numerals, clay tablets and reed styluses). (SG1,p8)

Administrative clay tablet, Uruk Era

1:3 The emergence of cities: a social revolution?

In the previous sections, written much from the view of Childe, technological innovations are regarded as the fundamental issue in bringing about an urban revolution, and the emergence of cities. This section introduces us to an alternative view as put forward by Adams that social changes were fundamental to this revolution. Mention is also made that Childe focuses on the developments in Mesopotamia whereas these technological innovations were simultaneous in many areas and can be viewed not as a revolution but ongoing development. A view is also expressed that many of the social aspects of urbanisation were already in place scattered throughout the rural communities.

Technological determinism
This section reviews the different views held by historians on the issues regarding technological and social innovation in bringing about urban development. Much emphasis is placed on the views as to whether or not technological innovation is autonomous or part of a wider social issue. 'This ascription to technology of a fundamental role in the dynamics of historical change is commonly labelled technological determinism' (bk1,p15) Mention is also made of humans free will in accepting and applying or not applying technology.

Technology and society:some alternative approaches

This section focuses on historians who have taken a more all encompassing view of both the technological and social influences. 'They are ready to move towards a synthesis of technological determinism and social constructivism, whereby socially shaped technologies are accorded their due weight as instruments of social change' (Bk1,p18).

The Wittfogel thesis

Wittfogel's thesis is that the need in Mesopotamia to drain swamps and control rivers was the prime cause of the autocratic nature of its government. By implication it supports the view that the need for centralizing water management prompted the social organisation necessary for the emergence of cities. This is part of the deep differences between historians over the relationship between irrigation technology and the origins of cities. Many scholars think that such major projects would have required the previous and political structure, and think that the emergence of the city in Sumer and a centralized monarchy in Egypt preceded the achievement of irrigation on a large scale.

The function of cities

The debate about the causes of the emergence of cities overlaps with another about the primary function of the first cities: did they originate for environmental, technological, economic, military or religious reasons. Many appear to have developed at religious sites, an idea supported by many archaeological excavations, showing a temple with a city around it. Others appear to be dwellings around a military establishment, but this could be because of the durability of the military and religious buildings. Many cities were renowned for the presence within them of one or two main technologies e.g. glassware, pottery etc and it is likely that these were the reasons for development in transport, trade and a market place for the buying and selling of food. The emergence of cities linked to anyone of these central features is not consistent throughout the world and the debate between technological determinism and social constructivism is one that continues throughout this course.

Extract 1.1 Oates (Book1,p43)

In this extract Oates makes the point that it was within the areas less favoured environmentally that the urbanisation and cities developed. This he says was due to the fact that technology needed to be developed and applied to improve the agricultural output. This led to surplus and the opportunity for specialisation in occupations and the requirement for administrators etc. to oversight the application of technology (irrigation) and food surplus distribution. The lack of local resources also led to trade development and an outward looking political view.

1.2 Extract Flannery (Bk1,p44) - The 'rank revolution'

This extract reviews Childe's conclusions of the evolution of society brought about by improved technology and surplus food production and his egalitarian (socially equal) view of these societies. The article sees Childe as ignoring warfare and violence and the 'rank' revolution that established social divisions, clan chiefs and elite groups etc. The point is made that in Peru and Mexico complex cities and urban communities developed with outstanding buildings etc without having achieved the agricultural surpluses discusses by Childe.

1.3 Extract - Butzer (Bk1,p45)

This extract reviews the theories put forward by Chide and Wittfogel regarding agricultural development particularly irrigation and water management. It claims that both took something of a Marxist historian view, but that their work has led to increased investigations into the development of Urban societies and their socio-political structures.

Reader Urban Origins: A Review of Theories by Harold Carter

'Social scientists, including historians and archaeologists, have proposed four explanations for the emergence of towns:

1. Hydraulic theories or environmental bases to urbanism;

2. Economic theories or the growth of markets;

3. Military theories or growth about defensive strong-points;

4. Religious theories or growth about shrines.

The article reviews each of these points but concludes in quoting Wheatley by saying 'It is doubtful if a single autonomous, causative factor will ever be identified in the nexus of social, economic and political transformations which resulted in the emergence of urban forms ... whatever structural changes in social organization were induced by commerce, warfare or technology, they needed to be validated by some instrument of authority if they were to achieve institutionalized permanence.' (Reader,p13)

Questions:

1. What are the main objections to Childe's concept of an Urban Revolution?

a) Doubts about accuracy of evidence.

b) Too much emphasis on the idea that technologies spread, they may have been invented independently in several places.

c) Word 'revolution' is inappropriate for changes taking place gradually.

d) Suggestion that Childe exaggerated technological innovations to explain the origins of cities.

2. How do 'technological determinism' and social constructionism' differ, and how might they be reconciled?

a) Technological determinist's focus on the effects of technology. They see societies characteristics caused and changed by technology.

b) Social constructionists focus on the origins of technology seeing successful technology not as the outcome of an objective process but as a compromise between interested social groups.

c) Some social historians seek to combine the emphasis on effects and origins both views being given their due weight in explanations of social change.

3. What are the main objections to technological determinism and social constructionism?

Arguments as in 2, however other historians see both as too narrow a focus and underestimating the importance of human agency in the process of social negotiation.

4. Which of the following authors come closest to technological determinism, and which are furthest away: Adams, Butzer, Carter, Childe, Flannery, Hodges Oates, Wittfogel?

Although some of these historians favour one argument against the other, all of them can be interpreted as keeping something of an open mind. Technological determinists would appear to be Childe, Wittfogel, Oates and Hodges. Adams, Flannery and Butzer more social constructionists. Carter occupies the middle ground taking a much wider view of a number of possible contributing factors, which all tend to be circular arguments i.e. chicken and egg debates.

1.4 Technology and city-building in Mesopotamia

This section includes a guide to the chronological periods in ancient Mesopotamia from 5,000 BCE. It introduces two analytical concepts used by urban geographers urban morphology which is the study of the layout and physical form of a city and land-use, the question of whether the function of a building or district of a city is for example, residential, commercial, industrial or public. There is then a brief description of the layout of an early Sumerian city.

Building technology and building types

This section looks at the types of building materials used in cities such as Uruk and Ur in Mesopotamia, which lacked large resources of wood and building stone. The main material used was mud-brick usually sun-baked, which did not give much protection against erosion. Fired or baked bricks were much better -preserved. This section also looks at early building techniques which developed the brick arch and vault. Relationship is noted between the building of defences and walls and development of technology for warfare. Cities were built in layers, the temple perched at the top of several layers which were known as ziggurats. These mud cities have overtime eroded into mounds known as tels. The various layers of the numerous temples build at Uruk which cover the cities 5,000 year history, show an increasing technological ability in decoration with materials such as mother of pearl, stone and shell friezes and copper over a bitumen core. It records that there developed in various city states and empires a strong form of monarchy and that the centralisation of power is a recurrent feature of these early urban civilisations.

ziggurat at Ur (dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur).

Transport

A note on the manner in which modes of transport or lack of them influenced the physical form and fabic of cities. The early cities in this chapter appear to have accommodated no form of wheeled transport only pedestrians and pack animals.

Water supplys

It is noted that each city was located by a freshwater spring and that water was raised from wells that were usually lined with baked bricks, there was also storage in the form of cisterns. In later history of the Ancient Near East there appeares earthenware pipes, masonary sewers, water closets and drains in the rule of Sennecherib (c.704-681 BCE). It mentions the Syrian empires based in Assur, Nimrud and Ninevah. There is considerable detail given of the construction and planning of Nebuchadnezza's Babylon mentioning the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens.

Reader 2 Bricks and Brickmaking in Mud and Clay - P.S.R. Moorey

This article reviews brick manufacture and use.

Reader 3. History - Herodotus

Amazing record by the Greek historian of the feats of engineering and construction and to a lesser extent of the lifestyle of the Babylonians and of the pyramid construction in Egypt.

Wiki link on Herodotus

Activity

1. What were the main technologies of ancient Mesopotamian cities?

'The principle materials of city-building were bricks, mortar and plaster made from mud; reed matting and bitument were also used to bind and to waterproof brick walls. Using this earth-based method of construction, Mesopotamian builders developed some of the fundamental structural forms of architectural technology - arches, vaults and domes. The main source of energy was human muscle power, as Roger Moorey makes clear in his description of brick-making. This was sometimes extended by mechanical devices such as levers and pulleys, or supplemented by draught- and pack- animals. The most important mode of transport was by water; the Mesopotamians were often very ingenious in adapting to the difficulties invloved in moving goods on the Tigris and Euphrates, as in evident from Herodotus' account of the transport of wine to Babylon (paragraph 194). Chemical energy was harnessed for crafts such as metalworking, pottery, baking, brewing and dyeing. In the later history of the ancient Near East, some cities invested in drainage systems and piped water supply.

2. In what ways can these technologies be said to have ben socially shaped?

Irrigation and surplus production was probably shaped by either coercion from the ruling class or religious duty. A social context within construction is even more evident with effort and expense channelled into the construction of royal palaces, divine temples and massive walls and gates to protect the property of the élite. This is reinforced by the ceremonial image of the king as builder. (Bk1,p27,fig1.17).

3. How typical was Babylon of ancient Mesopotamia cities, and how reliable is Herodotus' description of it?

Babylon with its palaces, religious structures, defences and riverside location was typical of ancient Mesopotamian cities. Although granting some insight it is pointed out that the descriptions by Herodotus may have been secondhand and embellished.

4. Is Herodotus a primary or a secondary historical source?

First reaction may be that Herotus must be a primary source, as he was an ancient author. However, he was writing about Nebuchadnezza's Babylon well over a hundred years later, and so should realy be regarded as a secondary soource for that subject. This all goes to show that the distinction between primary and secondary sources is a relative one, in that a given source can be primary with regard to one topic and secondary to another, Herodotus would certainly be regarded as a primary source for an account of Greek travel, and also for many aspects of Greek history.

Audio Activity

1. What does the programme add to your knowledge of Babylonian technologies?

'It illustrates one use of animal power in agriculture (mules for threshing), and an aspect of irrigation technology (the irrigation wheel in the palm grove). It shows how bitumen was sometimes used as mortar, and illustrates the Babylonians' skill in producing glazes of various colours. You are given details of the construction of Babylon's bridge (to add to the information furnished by Herodotus) and the kind of sanitary arrangements found in the best-appointed Babylonian buildings'.

2. What does it tell you about the political, religious and environmental contexts of these technologies?

Emphasizes the role of a centralized numerate administration. It also provides a view of the religious context of building construction. The ideological impetus is conveyed in the subordinate relationship of all to the city god e.g. Marduk, even the king who has to account yearly for his stewardship. Significance of environment highlighted by contrast between irrigated and non-irrigated land and the forward looking use of scarce timber in house-building.

Detail from the 'Ur-Nammu Stela' found at Ur, showing King Ur-Nammu (c2112-2095) ceremoniously carrying the tools of a builder.

1.5 Egypt: a civilisation without cities?

This section reviews the evolution of civilisation in Egypt and makes comparions with the same in Mesopotamia. The ecological and environmental situation differs greatly from our earlier studies. Egypt consists at its heart of a fertile strip no wider that 50kms running along the banks of the Nile, and into the marshlands of the Nile delta. The Nile follows a regular flooding pattern and this sequence became a vital element in the devlopment of agriculture. The application of technology to overcome difficulties was not required in the same manner and hence irrigation although used to improve crop production was not needed as in Mesopotamia. The Nile with its gentle northern flow and southerly wind direction became the highway of Egypt and led to the development of boats and sails, allowing traffic in both directions. Other technologies such as the wheel appear to have come to Egypt from other areas e.g. the Levant. There is little evidence to support any major cities in the Nile valley, but there still emerged the Pharohic rulers and a social stratification.

Building Technology

As in Mesopotamia the most common building material was sun-dried mudbricks which appear to have been used in all buildings other than funery buildings i.e. pyramids and for any buildings needing to be durable and weatherproof. This availablitiy of stone appears to have stopped the development of kiln-fired bricks. The outcome of this is that what survives today are primarily the pyramids and objects that point towards an Egyptian obsession with the after-life, as many of the ordinary buildings have disappeared. The article records considerable information on the pyramid building projects and from the pyramids explains that more detailed information is available on the development of craft skills and technologies in Egypt from their wall illustrations. The bulk of the population lived in rural agricultural villages divided into areas known as 'nomes' each with a Pharaoh appointed govenor. Each Pharaoh tended to build their own capital for each 'nome' so prolonged settlement of one site to develop into a city was unusual. Memphis in the Lower Nile area appears to be an exception.

Thebes

This section looks at the 'city' of Thebes (not to be confused with the city of Thebes on the Greek mainland), although there is debate as to whether this was a true city or a community of officials and workmen connected with the palace, temples and tombs dedicated to the after-life of the Pharoah. It was the princes of Thebes who reunited the country and inaugurated the Middle Kingdom bringing prosperity and building activity that resulted in 'the first known major city to be laid out on axial lines in ancient times' (Bk1,p39). It is also here that the 'New Kingdom' Karnak temple complex is found with its huge stone columns and temple buildings. Alongside this has been discovered the evidence of an original mud walled settlement thought to have been the workmans town.

Reading 4 Deir El-Medina by A.R. David

This is primarily a detailed account of the town which was purpose built for housing workmen and craftsmen working on the nearby pyramid. It describes both the construction of the town and the lifestyle and conditions experienced by the inhabitants.

1.6 Conclusion

This chapter considers the emergence of Near East cities and highlights the debate on the roles of technological determinism and social constructionism in their development. It further states that environmental and geographical influences cannot be uncoupled from technological development but that the main issue as for the physical form and fabrics of cities is concerned with the social relations of technology.