Ancient Cities, The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome, 2003, 464 p., nbr. ill., rel. -

This book surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from an archaeological perspective, in their cultural and historical contexts. It aims to bring to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered by archaeological excavations from the Mediterranean basin and south-west Asia. Its focus is on the physical appearance of cities - their urban form - and the architecture and geography that created it. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city-dweller's experience. This textbook is unusual in presenting such a range of Old World cultures in such comprehensive detail, giving equal weight to the Pre-classical and Classical periods and linking these ancient cultures together in a long chain of interconnections.