San Antonio College Library

Today we take living in cities, with all their attractions and annoyances, for granted. But when did humans first come together to live in large groups, creating an urban landscape? What were these places like to inhabit? More than simply a history of ancient cities, this volume also reveals the art and architecture created by our ancestors, and provides a fascinating exploration of the origins of urbanism, politics, culture, and human interaction....

"From Sicily and ancient Syracuse to the Middle East with Jerusalem and Babylon, from Anurâdhapura in Ceylon, to the great Mediterranean cultures of Carthage, Rome and Constantinople--wherever civilization flourished in the ancient world, great cities grew. In this lavishly illustrated book, L. Sprague de Camp portrays the magnificence of fourteen ancient cities at their height. With detailed maps and careful reconstruction, he outlines the plan...

Focuses on mankind's transition from savagery into the beginnings of modern life.

Ancient Egyptian cities and towns have until recently been one of the least-studied and least-published aspects of this great ancient civilization. Now new research and excavation are transforming our knowledge. The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt is the first book to bring these latest discoveries to a wide general and scholarly audience, and to provide a comprehensive overview of what we know about ancient settlement during the dynastic period....

"This handsomely illustrated book highlights one of the most important and creative periods in the history of art: a time marked by the appearance of the city states of the Sumerians, the citadel of Troy, the splendid royal tombs at Ur, and the monumental cities at Mohenjodaro and Harappa. The volume examines the cultural achievements of these first urban societies, placing them in a historical context. Topics covered include the emergence of the...

Cities have existed in sub-Saharan Africa since antiquity. But only now are historians and archaeologists rediscovering their rich heritage: the ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe and Congo, the harbor cities at the Indian Ocean, the capitals of the Bantu Kingdoms, the Atlantic cities from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and the urban revolutions in the 19th century. Mercantile cities opened Africa to the world, Islamic cities became centers of scholarship...