Scholar’s Bookshelf

Archaeology of the City: Urban Planning in Ancient Israel and Its Social Implications

Ze’ev Herzog (Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv Univ., 1997) Monograph Series No. 13, xiii + 299 pp., 11 figs., $60.00 (hardback)

What caused the rise of cities? Why did villagers leave their family homes and migrate to heavily populated centers? What persuaded farmers to support the ruling urban elite?

There is no universal agreement regarding the way urban societies arose. But the enormous amount of archaeological data presented by Ze’ev Herzog in this volume will surely aid serious readers as they address the many questions surrounding the emergence of urbanism in ancient Palestine. Herzog, a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, has provided an excellent overview of urbanism in ancient Palestine and its social implications. The volume is greatly enhanced by 114 figures, many of them previously published but adapted here by the author.