ancient rome

About 10,000 years ago people started living in agricultural villages.

2 components allowed the formation of cities to happen
- social stratification
- an agricultural surplus

Mesopotamia - 3500 BCE
Nile River Valley - 3200 BCE
Indus River Valley - 2200 BCE
Huang He and Wei River Vally -  1500 BCE
Mesoamerica - 200 BCE

Mayan and Aztec civilizations -
Many ancient cities were theocratic centers where rulers were known to have divine authority and were god kings.

by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized
- network of more than 500 cities and towns
- on the mainland and on islands
- each city had an acropolis and an agora

the roman cities
A system of cities and small towns linked together with hundreds of miles of roads and sea routs.
- sites of roman cities were typically for trade
- a roman cities forum combine the acropolis
- roman cities had extreme wealth and extreme poverty