The Ancient Metropolis
Great Cities of Our Past
Introduction
If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance that you live in a city, which would be considered by historical standards a “Metropolis”. In less than two centuries (something so negligible that it would be a rounding error in overall recorded history), we’ve witnessed the greatest wave of urbanization ever known! By 2050, urban centres are expected to become the living spaces for about 70% of the world’s population.
But the idea of ‘living in the big city’ is hardly anything modern; there is evidence around the world of some great societies that date as far back as 7,500 BC. Maybe, you’ve also wondered what it would’ve been like to live in one of these great ancient cities and how it would’ve compared to an urban lifestyle today.
My own interest in urban history grew out of a childhood fascination with ancient cities. I grew up in Pakistan, land of the fabled Indus Valley Civilization and home to some of the world’s earliest cities. Even as a kid, I remember being in complete awe of mysterious ruins of human settlements that were built more than 5,000 years ago. Add to that the countless teenage days spent playing the classic strategy video game Age of Empires 2, I’ve since kept falling curiously down this rabbit hole. Over the years I’ve been fortunate to visit several such places, and fast forward to today; I‘ve co-founded an urban technology company with the goal of creating connectedness and community in apartment housing. So naturally, I get to spend lots of time thinking about the future of urban living as well.
Mohenjodaro, Pakistan — largest city of Indus Valley Civilization. (Photo: BBC)
Nemrut Dagh, Turkey (Photo: dailysabah)
The motivation to start a series on urban history comes from the recognition that we might be living through a century where some generational trends will play out — including the convergence between built spaces and technology that’s already happening at an unprecedented pace.
History of cities, ultimately, is the story of humanity — it offers us a window into our collective past, a benchmark for our present, and a template for our future. It may sound surprising today, but there was remarkable diversity across ancient cities; in things such as modes of living, types of government and local economy.
In each part of this series, we’ll look at a different ancient city along these themes and try to paint an idea of that era’s lived experience. We would also include the current state of these places and as a fun futuristic exercise, create their generative AI-based renderings (imagined to the present day). We’ll try to include bonus content like book and documentary recommendations if you’d like a deep-dive on a particular society.
Abu Simbel, Egypt — Temple of Pharoah Ramses II (Photo: Tim Rivenbark)
Persepolis, Iran — ruins of the “Gate of all Nations”. (Photo: wikimedia)
Through learning about these cities, we’ll get to explore the dramatic rise, and tragic downfall of some of history’s greatest civilizations. While we observe a wide variety of factors behind the rise of ancient cities, there seems to be a few common causes of their eventual decline. There’s obviously external invasions or natural disasters; but a surprisingly large number of past cities have fallen due to the actions, inaction or hubris, of its own people.
There’s something very sobering about the stories of history’s great cities; they are monuments to some of humanity’s greatest achievements, but also their greatest failures. In many ways it seems that things couldn’t be more different, while in as many, it seems like nothing’s changed. The best we can do, is to learn from this body of knowledge that exists before us, which comes from our distant ancestors, and use that to shape our future.
“Those who cannot remember their past mistakes, are condemned to repeat them.” Jorge Santayana
Angkor, Cambodia. The abandoned Ta Prohm Temple. (Photo: Vox)
Pompeii, Italy. Great Roman city destroyed by volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. (Photo: World History Encyclopedia)
Gobekli Tepe, Turkey. World’s oldest temple, 9,500 BC. Built almost the exactly like Stonehenge, but predates it by 6,000 years. (Photo: Thrive Global)
Hope you would enjoy this series, it would mean a lot if this can help stimulate curiosity, awareness or debate around a topic that I care deeply about; urban living and the future of our communities. Excited to kick this off with the timeless opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, one of history’s greatest novels.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness;
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair;
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us;
we were all going directly to heaven, we were all going directly the other way”.