What Gave Rise to Urbanisation in the Mediterranean

"What gave rise to urbanisation in the Mediterranean region?"

What is urbanisation? To Ð''urbanise' is to Ð''make (a rural area) more industrialized and urban' , urban meaning Ð''of or living in a city or town' . Marja C.V. Vink argues that "The word urbanization was used for the first time in Spain a little more than one hundred years ago" to show the "quantitative and qualitative growth if cities" . The degree of urbanisation is quite different when comparing towns or cities of antiquity to the modern understanding of an urban centre; however, essentially it is the same process.

When talking about the rise of urbanisation in the Mediterranean region 3 main civilisations spring to mind, firstly the Greeks who were inspired by advanced civilisations of the Near East. Secondly, the Etruscans who ruled central Italy from the eighth century to the third century B.C. when the last Etruscan cities fell to Rome. Etruria was bordered to the south by the River Tiber and to the north by the River Arno. City states developed in Etruria in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., and "by the last decades of the eighth century B.C. the centres which had undergone the process of urbanization and social diversification had acquired some of the status of cities." Etruria flourished until the Gauls invaded in the fourth century B.C. From

616-509 Etruscan kings ruled over Rome. Finally, the Romans dating back to 753 B.C. with the founding of Rome by Romulus.

Urbanisation is synonymous with cities. It seems impossible to consider a civilisation Ð''urbanised' if it does not have urban centres. So what is an urban centre? And why were these urban centres needed? Looking at what the cities consisted of can help one answer these questions. In Greece the most obvious choice for studying the process of urbanisation is Athens. I have chosen Marzabotto as the example of an urban centre for Etruria and finally, for the Roman Empire I have chosen Rome. These three cities all adapted to the needs of their population and the one thing common to all three is a cult centre. The first urban centres were certainly not Roman, however once urbanised Rome surpassed any of the Greek or former Etruscan cites in terms of monumentalisation.

The Neolithic & Dark Age sees the beginning of domestication of plants and livestock, as well as the emergence of weaponry. With cultivation now possible people were able to settle in one place and not move once the food sources were exhausted. Subsequently, first in the Near East and later in the Mediterranean region there was the development of Ð''poleis' (city states) and urbanisation.

During the Dark Age worship was done in the open air however after the eighth century B.C. temples and sanctuaries were built and the "character of the architecture. Was to some extent dictated by the needs of the cult"

Religion was the main factor with respect to deciding on an urban centre.

"the city was a political, religious and to a lesser extent social centre for the community" Most cities would have a centralised cult and the temple or church or sacral building would be the central building around which urban centres would grow. Then as the urban centre grew more temples and altars would be built to cater for the growing population. It seems that at early stages of development few public buildings were established except for temples. In the case of Athens for example the Parthenon was built before the political and social buildings of the agora, this is the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena, the warrior maiden.

In Etruria, the city of Marzabotto is where we find the oldest stone building in the whole of Northern Italy, "pottery found during the excavations shows that it dates from the end of the 6th or the beginning of the 5th century B.C." This was a small sanctuary which signifies that Marzabotto was initially a cult centre and that people chose to live near the sanctuary. That Marzabotto urbanised mainly as a cult centre is also suggested through the fact that "beside it stood the Monteguragazza sanctuary, the most significant relic of Etruscan culture in the Apennines."

Rome encompasses 7 hills, at the centre of political, social and most importantly religious life is Capitoline Hill, the highest of the seven hills and the major cult centre that would symbolise the main state of Rome and, every city thereafter would have a Capitoline Hill. Rome "was replete not only with its many official cults and an increasing number of imported ones."

Religion also concerned burial, generally outside the city walls. Ð''like the romans, the Greeks disapproved of burial within the city walls' however, Ð''for heroes the prohibition did not obtain.' Through excavation, archaeologists have discovered an increase in the number of burial sites. Burials were increasing either due to population growth or more people being buried rather than left to rot. The latter is backed up by the fact the valuables people were buried with were decreasing in value.

"The colonisation movement not only assisted the development of regular town planning but must also have been a stimulus to the process of Greek urbanisation in general." Colonies are being set up by settlers and what were small trading centres were now being made into flourishing urban centres as the populations got bigger and towns expanded. Cities were a common feature of Near Eastern civilisations with monumental palaces, temples and public buildings. When Greek settlers came into contact with these rich civilisations they adopted their practices of urbanisation and planning.

Miletos in Ionia was initially established for trading and commercial reasons, situated on rocky mountainous landscape for purposes of defence and exploiting the regions natural landscape, but in the seventh and sixth centuries it became a fully functioning city . In turn, through expansion northwards into the Po valley and Southwards into Campania the Etruscans came into contact with the Greeks and were first introduced to the idea of regular town planning and urban design.

The Orthogonal planning method is demonstrated in the Etruscan town of Marzabotto. It is suggested that there were two phases to the urbanization of Marzabotto, the first being the pre-urban where the main street running north to south most likely existed with a few wattle and daub houses resembling a nucleated settlement had been built. The second phase