Urbanism

Abstract

The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth century onwards, and this chapter attempts to synthesize evidence from various city sites into an overall scenario of when and why ancient urbanism came to an end and what happened thereafter. As the fate of the cities turns out to have been closely related to that of the surrounding countryside, the development of rural settlements is also taken into consideration. The tide turned in the mid-fifth century, which marked the beginning of “late” late antiquity or the early Byzantine period. Urbanism was affected negatively and went into decline while the countryside reached unprecedented levels of prosperity. The surviving cities were newly fortified in the seventh century against Persian and Arab incursions. The new strategic situation concentrated settlement activities on urban sites once more, while the defenceless countryside appears to have suffered badly from the incursions. Later, when peace and prosperity returned to rural Anatolia during the middle Byzantine period, most cities seem to have been finally deserted. By the time the Turks arrived on the scene in the later eleventh century, most of Anatolia was ruralized.

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