"No city has existed in the whole world that could be compared with Rome for size," wrote Pliny the Elder during the first century CE. He would have been equally correct to add that the other three or four main cities of the Roman Empire were also bigger than anything seen before. What is more, no city was ever to reach this size again in Europe until well into the industrial revolution. Roman cities, in other words, were a truly stunning phenomenon in their size, complexity and grandeur. How do we explain their existence? How did these cities relate to the countryside and to the rest of the Empire? What role did cities play in their inhabitants? sense of identity, duty and loyalty? These questions are vital to anyone wanting to understand the ancient Mediterranean World, and, indeed, to anyone wanting to understand the phenomenon of urbanism in more recent periods of European history. Using a range of evidence, written and archaeological, we shall answer these questions in this course.

3,500 word essay (40%), tutorial participation (10%) and tutorial presentation (10%), two-hour exam (40%).

Mumford, L., The City in History: its Origins, its Transformations, and its Prospects, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1975.

This course may be included in a History or Classics major.