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Symposium of J.S.W.A.A.
Formation and development of ancient cities in West Asia and Egypt:
What lies behind the city landscape
January 30, 2010 at Waseda University, Tokyo
by
Japanese Society for West Asian Archaeology
SUMMARIES
The Cities of Canaan and the Cities of Israel:
What Made their Landscape Different?
David T. SUGIMOTO
Professor, Keio University
The landscape of the Canaanite cities and the Israelite cities were quite different, even though
both of them were formed in the same land, the southern Levant.
The political situation of these cities is one of the factors which formed their landscape. Since
the Canaanite cities were basically independent, competing city-states, their landscape was
dominated by massive fortification systems to defend against each other. The Israelite cities, which
were parts of the centralized kingdoms, concern more on the civic activities during the peaceful
periods. Among the Israelite cities, “hierarchy of rule” can also be recognized.
The cultural tradition of the residents is another factor which formed the cities’ landscape.
The architectural elements of the Canaanite cities share much in common with the cities of Syria in
the north, because they were in the same cultural milieu. On the other hand, the influence of the
Neo-Hittite culture can be recognized in the Israelite cities because it was influential when the
Israelites, who did not have city culture, constructed their own cities. The cultural elements include
the ideological/religious elements: there is a marked difference between the Canaanite cities with
multiple massive temples and the Israelite cities which have almost no major temple except their
central shrines.
‘Landscape of the Greek History: Natural Environment and Agricultural Strategy
of Greece’
Yoshiaki NAKAI
Professor, Doshisha University
There are two types of states in the ancient Greece. One is polis (pl. poleis) and the other is
ethnos. Polis is considered as a city state and ethnos is regarded as a federal state. Polis has a core
city/ town (asty) and suburbs (kome, pl. komai). Ethnos consists of poleis and komai. The territory
of polis is narrow and its population is small. Most of citizens are landowners and their important
source of revenue is from agriculture, the most important industry in the ancient Greece.
Agriculture is influenced by the climate. When we think about the climate in the ancient
Greece, we tend to think that it is hot and dry in summer and warm and wet in winter. However, we
must not forget that the climate condition of Greece is not necessarily uniform. It greatly changes
with areas and with years. In the Western part of Greece facing the Ionian Sea it is comparatively
wet, in the Eastern part of Greece it is dry, and in the North area of Boeotia it is chill, not suitable for
olive. The climate is different even in the same area.
Precipitation, which has big influence upon agriculture, extremely changes with years. The
Greeks developed agricultural strategies in such a natural environment. There are two strategies:
profit maximization and risk minimization. Those who are wealthy took the former strategy and
those who are poor tended to take the latter strategy.
Fundamental Rules of “Arabic-Islamic Cities” by Besim S. Hakim and its
Applications in Islamic World
Naoko FUKAMI
Associate Professor, Organization for Islamic Area Studies, Waseda University
So-called Islamic Cities continue to be a matter of debate, but similar urban styles in high
density, with organic road patterns and courtyard houses had existed all around West Asia and North
Africa in pre modern era under Islamic rulers, and remain as the inner old city in historic cities now.
This paper introduces the Hakim’s work and reassembles the common feature of Islamic cities with
analyzing some examples. How these cities have their rises? Maze-like cities had existed in
pre-Islamic era. Considering early Islamic age, there were also planning cities in that era. And for
these situations, so-called Islamic cities had been promoted through their long continuous history. The
social structure to sustain this stability is based on the common Islamic and historical environment as
Hakim shows, above all the land ownership and waqf system of Islam had a great role to create
numerous special sub-regional development in the city instead of the large master plans. And the
most of Islamic monarchs after the eleventh century were nomad origin and had little or no interest to
urban planning, they built their glanderous palaces and gardens outside the city. Overlapping these
conditions extensively, so-called Islamic cities were spread with Islamic Culture.
Town Planning for Amenities in Ancient Mesopotamia: Multilayered Landscape of
Straight Streets and Various Blocks
Tatsundo KOIZUMI
Lecturer, Waseda University
In ancient Mesopotamia urbanization had appeared in the Ubaid period of the fifth
millennium BC, and the emergence of cities occurred until the Late Uruk period around 3300 BC. One
of the most remarkable features in the urbanized settlement would be a straight main street along the
long axis of the town walls. At Habuba Kabira South in the Late Uruk period, along the Upper Syrian
Euphrates, was there clearly found subterranean drainage system of drains laid in ditches before
building constructions as well as major streets within the enclosing walls. The arrangement of this
planned street and drainage equipment enclosed by defensive walls could be one of the most
important standards for the urbanization of ancient Mesopotamia.
The urban planning had progressed with securing enough spaces of diverse sectors for
certain purposes as pottery manufacturing, metallurgy production, ritual ceremony and others,
extracted from dwelling areas. In Hababa Kabira South and other settlements, have been observed
specified occupation zones of those craft productions separated from residential quarters. It is
probably conceivable, therefore, that the town planning of the ancient Mesopotamian cities might be
composed of straight main streets along the long axes of the city walls, and various blocks organized
like proliferation. This multilayered landscape, including the drainage system, in the urban spaces
could produce comfortable zones for the residents during the city life, which may bring amenities even
to other dwellers living in their own blocks, as strangers, from different hometowns.
Orchards in southern Babylonia: Supply of fruits and shelters from the sun and
storms
Harumi HORIOKA
Ph.D Student, Kokusikan Unibersity
In western Asia, there is a necessity of gardens and orchards in cities. Especially in areas prone
to heat and sandstorms, trees are useful as protection. In addition, trees furnish fruits and shade for
growing vegetables. From the Epic of Gilgamesh, we can infer that the city of Uruk had orchards.
From tablets of archaic Uruk, we can decipher the cuneiform signs for apples, figs and date palms.
In Babylonia, the date palm was cultivated from the 5th millennium B.C. It was a native plant
that produced fruit with high nutritional value, and the dried fruits were valuable trade goods.
Consequently, date palms were revered as a symbol of fertility. Date palms are dioecious, so artificial
pollination was needed to produce the fruit. Plantations of date palms are made up principally of
female palm trees, as they are the ones that bear the fruit. In general, there is one male tree for about
50 females. In the wall painting of the Court of the Palms of Mari, we can see workers climbing high
date palms to pollinate them with the pollen of the male flower. There were a number of Sumerian
names of each part of tree or each stage of growth. Date palm wood is used for building materials,
parts of boats, fuel and so on.
The Landscape and the Conceptual Architecture of the Ceremonial City of Thebes,
Egypt
Jiro KONDO
Professor, Waseda University
Thebes developed as the territory of the god Amen who was a new comer within the land where
the god Mentju had dominated as the chief god of the 4th nome of the Upper Egypt. The development
of Thebes as the land of Amen began at the start of the 12th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom. The
concept of the territory of Amen had developed through history and had more or less completed its
form by the time of the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom. The process is similar to the way
Akhenaten built boundary stelae around the town when he constructed the new capital of Akhenaten
and established the territory of the god Aten. What correspond to the boundary stelae of Akhenaten
in Thebes (Waset) are temples and shrines. The development of the conceptual plan of Thebes had
seen a number of changes during the history through the 12th Dynasty to the end of the Ramesside
period. In this conceptual plan, there was an important symmetry between the West and East Bank
of the Nile in which the Great Festival of Opet played an important role in establishing the symbolic
parallel of Amen-Re in the Great Temple of Karnak and the goddess Mut in Luxor Temple on the east
bank, and the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens on the west bank of the Nile.
Christian monasticism and the “Scenery” of Upper Egypt in Late Antiquity
Satoshi TODA
Lecturer, Hitotsubashi University
The origin of coenobitic monasticism is generally sought in Upper Egypt, where pagan temples
of Pharaonic period still today dominate the scenery. Unlike ancient Egyptian religion which was
strongly inclined toward megastructure, and unlike monasteries of Western Europe which are often
characterized by robust walls and gigantic edifices, Egyptian monasticism, in which love of eremitism
persisted for a long time, did not always leave visible traces on the earth; hence the difficulty which
confronts archaeologists of Coptic monasteries, coupled with the fact that Coptic archaeology has been
a relatively neglected branch of Egyptian archaeology.
Some detailed reports of Esna and the Theban region show that the hermits and monks of the
6th - 7th centuries A.D. lived in subterranean tombs as well as in the remains of pagan temples;
sometimes they built their church in the midst of a temple, using its columns etc. for their own
purpose. However, this does not necessarily mean that the monks thus challenged pagan gods and
temples; rather, they came on the scene only after ancient Egyptian religion had been evacuated and
the temples emptied. Furthermore, the monks did not care for outward matters; their interest lay in
the inside, i.e., their own sins and salvation.