{"product_id":"the-cities-of-the-plain-urbanism-in-ancient-western-thessaly-9781789259926","title":"The Cities of the Plain: Urbanism in Ancient","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book explores urbanism in Antiquity from an archaeological perspective, focusing on the area of western Thessaly in central Greece. Presenting all the available evidence for ancient urban sites in the region, the study outlines and discusses the origins, development, and decline of urbanism in the area.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe archaeological evidence shows that urban sites in western Thessaly developed from the mid-4th century BCE, with at least 25 identified contemporaneous cities spread over the area. These cities appear to have been planned and organised from the onset, with regular street-grids, fortification systems and water supply works, but were generally short-lived, typically existing for only five–six generations. Most of the sites were completely or nearly completely abandoned as settlements in the early 2nd century BCE, often with evidence of violent destruction, and only a handful survived as smaller regional centres under the Roman administration. Restorations of the former urban sites and especially their fortifications occur towards the end of Antiquity, especially the first half of the 6th century CE, but re-occupation appears again to have been short lived, as only three cities survived into the Middle Ages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a regional perspective, the study shows that the rise and fall of urbanism itself did not necessarily cause complete socio-political disruption, but rather reflect changes in regional and supra-regional political organisation. On a global scale, the study exemplifies the political nature of the pre-Industrial city, its synthetic rather than organic role in agrarian societies, and the cyclic nature of urbanity in history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book contains an extensive catalogue, presenting each site with photographs, topographical sketches, and complete bibliography.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChapter 1: Introduction      The topography of Western Thessaly  A very brief overview of the history of ancient Western Thessaly  A summary of previous research  ‘Cities’ in Western Thessaly, or, how to compile a catalogue      Chapter 2: The evidence      The pre-Urban setting  The urban sites of the late Classical and subsequent periods  Non-urban fortified sites  Textual evidence      Chapter 3: Discussion      The late Classical and Hellenistic cities  The Roman-period cities  The Early Byzantine towns  Estimating urban populations  Territory, a terrible term  The nature of urbanisation, or, who paid for it all?  De-urbanisation and the non-organic nature of cities  The returns of cities and ‘cyclic urbanism’      Chapter 4: Conclusions  Appendix 1: Catalogue of sites      1. Chtouri  2. Domokos  3. Ekkara with environs  4. Episkopi  5. Ermitsi with environs  6. Farsala  7. Fiki  8. Fyllo with environs  9. Gefyria  10. Kalampaka  11. Kallithiro with environs  12. Kalogiroi  13. Kedros  14. Klokotos  15. Krini  16. Metamorfosi  17. Mitropoli  18. Myrini  19. Neo Monastiri  20. Paliogardiki  21. Pialeia  22. Proastio  23. Pyrgos Ithomis  24. Pyrgos Kieriou  25. Omvriasa  26. Skoumpos  27. Sykies  28. Trikala  29. Vlochos  30. Zarkos with environs      Appendix 2: Catalogue of fortified sites  Bibliography","brand":"Oxbow Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49084409643351,"sku":"9781789259926","price":37.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781789259926.jpg?v=1725552066","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-cities-of-the-plain-urbanism-in-ancient-western-thessaly-9781789259926","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}