The Life and Death of Ancient Cities with Greg Woolf

Esplicito

I interview Greg Woolf on "The Life and Death of Ancient Cities", with my guest J. A. Velasco. We talk about three main themes of Greg's book. First, we discuss the innovative evolutionary framework through which Greg has chosen to discuss the phenomenon of urbanisation. Second, we talk about the claim that inequality between people grew as urban centres expanded. We investigate whether there was less inequality in rural settings or whether the appearance of no inequality is simply due to the difficulties in inferring inequality from the archaeological record. Third, we reflect on the nature of urban centres and grapple with the possibility that urban centres necessarily require poorer centres around them from which they can draw cheap resources that can sustain that kind of life in urban centres.

After the interview I chat with J about the ...