Cities provide an important window to societal preferences and priorities. This is especially true in the case of late antique cities. The establishment, maintenance, and, in several cases, expansion of these urban landscapes situated across the Mediterranean and its adjoining regions necessitated considerable social and financial investment. The institutions and infrastructure that made such investment opportunities possible demanded continued attention. Yet as time passed from the third to seventh centuries CE, these institutions and infrastructure changed and, as a result, so too did urban development. This in and of itself is not a unique historical phenomenon. It is to be expected that, as political, social, religious, and economic circumstances change, so too would individuals alter the way in which they organize communal living. What is exceptional, however, is the interest and debate that late antique urbanism has generated for over two and a half centuries.
It is widely acknowledged that...
University of California Press