The Purposes of Ancient Cities - Research Paper Example

English - World Literature I Cities play significant roles in terms of their heroic works of the ancient world. As depicted in this paper, both Uruk and Corinth shared some common similarities in the ancient world, but they portrayed some acute differences in their importance and other characteristics. The two cities were very important to both the ancient world and to the lives of the people who lived within them. Ancient Corinth was basically a city or polis in the ancient Greece. The city was located almost in the middle of Athens and Sparta. The city meant a lot when it comes to the Christian religion. Conversely, Uruk was an ancient city in Sumer which later became Babylonia. The city was situated to the eastern side of river Euphrates. It is believed that the ancient city of Uruk was established by Enmerker, a man who brought within him official kingship. The two cities are discussed in the paper with respect to their importance to the ancient world, the characteristics shared by the two cities, and the way attitudes towards the cities lives differ. Both Uruk and Corinth were used as religious centers. This comparison is evidenced by their use in religious books especially the Bible. In the Biblical Hebrew, Uruk is referred to as Erech. Similarly the city of Corinth appears in the Bible especially in the book of Corinthians. This means that the two cities served critical religious purposes. Their locations are also crucial to this role since they are located to a region, where most of the world top religions emerged including Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. The ancient city of Uruk is believed to have been the capital of Gilgamesh. Biblically, the city, referred to as Erech in the Bible, is believed to have been the second to be founded by Nimrod specifically in Shinar. Looking at the ancient city of Corinth would depict similar religious functions and characteristics. According to the Christian believers, Corinth is known from two books of the Bible, which include the New Testament’s First and the Second Corinthians. The city’s site had been occupied from 6500 BC. The settlement process continued into the age of Early Bronze. The ancient city of Corinth started as trading center but later grew into a cultural and religious center. Some of the trading commodities trades within the city were ceramics and other products of pottery. Uruk is much younger than Corinth since it was formed within the Uruk period. The Uruk period ranges from 4000 BC to 3200 BC. Unlike Corinth, which started as a center for trade, the main economic activity in Uruk was agriculture. Uruk started as a collection of small agricultural villages to an urban center. Uruk grew into a large city with full bureaucracy, stratified society, and military. Uruk was larger and more complex than other surrounding settlements. Its structure, governance, and military power made it more powerful than most of the other cities. The city was a cultural center, with the cultural practices by its society being exported to other settlements. The city governance could however not maintain strong military control on distant colonies. For Corinth, the city was not as strong in governance and organization as Uruk (Schmidt, pg.65). Trade was the main economic activity, which means during poor economic times, people would leave the city for better life elsewhere. This aspect is depicted by the dramatic drop ceramic remains proving that the city continued to become sparsely populated with time. Again, the economic activity of pottery continued to deteriorate with time as well. An increasing ancient settlement at the coastal region near Lechaion shows that Corinth was falling and becoming weaker as time went by instead of growing to a larger city. Unlike in Uruk, where people held positive attitude towards the city life due to better standards of living, people’s attitude towards life in ancient Corinth was different. It seems that people lost interest in the city and the living standards within it. This provides a reason for their movement to another settlement in the coastal region near lechaion. This attitude seems to have changed sometime during the 900 BC when people started inhabiting the city. The attitude of people changed when Dorians settled in Corinth (Salmon, pg.68). Uruk was one of the main forces of urbanization especially during the period between 4000 BC and 3200 BC. The city developed to not only a cultural center, but also a trading center. Its growth was consistent unlike the case of the ancient city of Corinth. Corinth had started as a powerful trading city only to deteriorate after sometime and gaining momentum later but after a long period. Uruk had added advantage from its geographical site. Its location within a site characterized by ancient civilization was various advantageous to its growth, structure, trade, and militant power. Agriculture was captivated by the rich soils around the Mesopotamian region, which was surrounded by permanent rivers including the Euphrates River. Corinth lacked all these, due to its location making it difficult for the people to rely on agriculture (Schmidt, pg.78). In Uruk people felt secure due to food security and good governance. Contrary to this feeling, people in Corinth valued trade and survived by encouraging and practicing artwork such as pottery. Those who could hardly survive the economic conditions usually found other places to live. Lack of confidence with the city condition contributed to its occasional instabilities. People had to often move from the city and settle back when things were a bit more promising. This aspect was all different in Uruk. In Uruk, surplus in agriculture was common. The agricultural surplus contributed to the growth of trade as agricultural products were traded with other items hardly available to within the city (Schmidt, pg.77). Trade was a common characteristic of the two cities. Items of trade in the two cities ranged from agricultural products, pottery, to jewelry among other valuables. The forces leading to trade were however different. People had different motives in the two cities. The cities also were different in complexity, governance, social aspects, and culture. Geographically, Uruk and Corinth were different in both locations and climate. Such differences generated the different opinions that people had towards the life in each of the two ancient cities. Nevertheless, the two cities played significant role in shaping the cultures of ancient people and in the origin of civilization (Schmidt, pg.82). They also played very critical role to the history of politics in Sumer. The city’s contribution to politics of Sumer is seen through the practice of hegemony especially over the nearby settlements. The city’s sphere of political influence spread to all settlements in Sumer and spread beyond the external colonies within the upper Mesopotamian region including Syria. The city was prominent in Sumer’s struggle against the Elamites. The city suffered greatly. Leadership power moved progressively from temples to the palace. In the case of Corinth, the influence of the city on ancient politics is based on the rhetoric of Corinthian correspondence of Paul. Politics in this case were much bonded with religion. Typically, history shows many similarities in ancient cities in terms of politics, economics, trade, lifestyles, leadership, religions, and structure. The purposes of most ancient cities are similar as well. Mostly, people came together in settlements for common reasons, which are based on economic, business, cultural, political, and security motives. Differences in these aspects determined the growth and decline of the cities (Chandler, pg.43). Both the ancient cities of Uruk and Corinth provided people with security, good economic grounds, social needs, and cultural needs among other functions. The differences were brought about by geographical, economic, and cultural differences. These characteristics saw the difference between Uruk and Corinth and the way people had varying attitudes towards the life in each of the two cities. Works Cited Chandler, Tertius. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Edwin Mellen Press, 1987. Print. Salmon, J. B. Wealthy Corinth : a history of the city to 338 BC. Oxford: Clarendon press, , 1997. Print. Schmidt, J. "Uruk-Warka, Susammenfassender Bericht uber die 27. Kampagne 1969." Baghdader, vol. 5 (1970): 51–96. Print. Read More