Encyclopedia of society and culture in the ancient world ( PDFDrive ) 247

218 cities: Europe a city of palaces After Luoyang, all Chinese capitals would have only one palace area Moreover, beginning with the Eastern Han capital of Luoyang, all palace sectors would be positioned along a central north-south axis Both Chang’an and Luoyang would be the locations of China’s most important imperial cities for nearly a millennium following the fall of the Han in 220 c.e A strong economy and commerce throughout the country gave rise to important cities outside the capitals in Han China Some of them, such as Linzi and Handan, had their roots in cities of the Zhou Dynasty Others, also with earlier building periods, such as Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Hefei in Anhui, and Chengdu in Sichuan, have remained important Chinese cities since the time of the Han Dynasty Han military commands spread across the empire, beyond China’s borders, and some cities built strong walls and defense systems that resembled castle towns of medieval Europe ANCIENT CITIES OF SOUTH SOUTHEAST ASIA AND After China, remains of the most significant urban activity in Asia or the Pacific in ancient times can be found in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan In Baluchistan, Afghanistan, at the site of Mehrgarh, there is evidence of settlement in the seventh millennium b.c.e Domestication of animals occurred in the sixth millennium, and within the next 2,500 years pottery and objects of stone and metal were produced These developments set the stage for the Indus Valley’s first true cities, represented by the largest ones, Mohenjo Daro and Harappa In India the city of Dholavira, in Gujarat, developed at the same time Both Mohenjo Daro and Harappa have been known since excavations of the 1920s More recently, Kalibangan, about 87 miles southeast of Harappa, has emerged as an important urban center All three cities flourished during the period from about 2600 b.c.e to 1099 b.c.e The most striking feature of the cities was the orthogonal arrangement of streets In other words, major streets were oriented on a grid that ran northsouth or east-west It is believed that builders first studied the movements of the sun and stars and then designed their cities based on them There is evidence of massive walls and gates at both Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, but the cities are better known for high, wall-enclosed mounds on which buildings were raised The highest mound, at Mohenjo Daro, rose 39 feet Unlike the main streets, the mounds were not oriented to the four cardinal directions Main streets were as wide as 236 feet, with narrower lanes dividing the spaces between the main streets into quadrilaterals Both Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were situated beside rivers, the former near the Indus and the latter near a tributary of the Indus, a waterway called Ravi Indus Valley cities had sophisticated drainage, bathing, and sanitation systems, including wells, reservoirs, and cisterns (a receptacle for holding liquids, such as rainwater The bathing areas were separated from lavatories Many houses had private wells, but there were also public wells in the cities Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were each approximately miles in circumference, Mohenjo Daro slightly larger Harappa was marked by a large central depression, believed to have been a tank or reservoir If this was a public space, it was not the only one Indus Valley cities had large public buildings and great baths Southwest of the great bath of Mohenjo Daro, beyond the outer city wall, was a large building elevated on a mound It has been identified either as a great hall, perhaps for ritual use, or a granary About 98 feet south of Harappa was a mound with its own houses, drainage system, and baths This may have been a rest stop for travelers Mud brick was the main construction material of Indus Valley cities, with wood being the next most common building material It is believed that artisans who specialized in one material or the other worked together in city construction Ban Chiang, in northeastern Thailand, is the most important Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement in Southeast Asia It is dated to about 3600 b.c.e to 200 c.e Bronze production in Ban Chiang is believed to have occurred by the mid-second millennium b.c.e., consistent with that of China but more than a thousand years before evidence of a Bronze Age in the rest of Thailand URBANISM IN NORTHEAST ASIA Although Korea and Japan enjoyed long Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, urbanism was not part of them There is no evidence of cities during either Japan’s or Korea’s Bronze Age Korea’s earliest walled cities may have been constructed as military commands of Han Dynasty China In Japan, where the Bronze Age flourished well into the Common Era, there is little evidence of urbanism through the first several centuries c.e It is probable that cities came about in Japan as a result of influences from continental East Asia, either from Korea or China, and that cities were first constructed as late as the sixth century c.e City walls were built even later in Japan Still, by the end of ancient times, cities flourished in every part of Asia Soon thereafter, cities reached the Japanese islands in the Pacific EUROPE BY J OHN COLLIS Between 58 and 51 b.c.e Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (modern France, Belgium, and parts of Holland, Germany, and Switzerland) In his detailed account of the Gallic Wars he talks about large defended sites that on occasion he had to attack; indeed, he spent a winter at one of them, Bibracte, composing his memoirs Though he sometimes uses the word urbs (city) to describe these places, the term he normally uses is oppidum, meaning “defended place” or simply “town.” Among the sites he lists are some that are still towns today: Geneva, Besanỗon, Paris, Bourges, Orléans Others are now deserted hilltops like Bibracte (Mont Beuvray, in Burgundy), which was abandoned a couple of generations after the conquest for the more accessible Augustodunum (Autun)