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Readings

For each meeting, please read at least one of the readings.

1 Jan 27: No meeting (Snow Day)

2 Feb 3: Introduction. The city and the state. Sources.

• Geoffrey Parker, “Nation, Empire, and City.” In Parker, 7–16.
• Mogens Herman Hansen, “The concepts of city-state and city-state culture.” In Hansen, 11-34.

3 Feb 10: Neolithic Mesopotamia: Uruk and Akkad

• Song Nai Rhee, “Sumerian City-States.” In Griffeth & Thomas, 1–30.
• Marc van de Mieroop, “The Urban Landscape.” In van de Mieroop, 63–100.
• Marc van de Mieroop, “Social Organization.” In van de Mieroop, 101–117.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 1.

4 Feb 17: Bronze Age Aegean: Knossos and Mycenae

• Richard Tomlinson, “Mycenae: The Forerunners.” In Tomlinson, 30–42.

                Iron Age Fertile Crescent: Tyre and Babylon

• Mogens Trolle Larsen, “The city-states of the early Neo-Babylonian period.” In Hansen, 117-128.
• Hans Georg Niemeyer, “The early Phoenician city-states on the Mediterranean.” In Hansen, 89-116.
• Marc van de Mieroop, “The Eclipse of the Ancient Mesopotamian City.” In van de Mieroop, 229–247.

5 Feb 24: South Asia and East Asia: Varanasi and Suzhou

• Mark Edward Lewis, “The city-state in spring-and-autumn China.” In Hansen, 359-374.
• Dilip Chakrabarti, “Mahajanapada states of early historic India.” In Hansen, 375-392.

6 Mar 3: The Greek Polis: Sparta and Athens

• Carol G. Thomas, “The Greek Polis.” In Griffeth & Thomas, 31–70.
• Geoffrey Parker, “The Ancient Greek Polis.” In Parker, 28–46.
• Mogens Herman Hansen, “The Hellenic Polis.” In Hansen, 141-188.
• T. Leslie Shear Jr., "Athens: From City-State to Provincial Town," Hesperia, Vol. 50, No. 4, Greek Towns and Cities: A Symposium (Oct. - Dec., 1981): 356-377.

7 Mar 10: Archaic Italy: Veii and Rome

• Mario Torelli, “The Etruscan city-state.” In Hansen, 189-208.
• Tim J. Cornell, “The city-states in Latium.” In Hansen, 209-228.
• Geoffrey Parker, “No Mean City: Rome from Urbs to Imperium.” In Parker, 57–77.

   Mar 17 No meeting (Spring Break)

8 Mar 24: The Niger: Katsina and Nembe-Brass

• Robert Griffeth, “The Housa City-States from 1450 to 1804.” In Griffeth & Thomas, 143–180.
• E.J. Alagoa, “Social and Political Organization” and “Legends of Origin.” In Alagoa, 11–49.
• Kingta Irene Princewill, “The city-states of the Eastern Niger Delta.” In Hansen, 533-546.

9 Mar 31: The Silk Road: Samarkand and Bukhara

• Roya Marefat, "The Heavenly City of Samarkand," The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Summer, 1992): 33-38.
• James Critchlow and Paul B. Henze, "Caravans and Conquests," The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Summer, 1992): 20-32.

10 Apr 7: Mesoamerica: Tenochtitlan and Palenque

• Nikolai Grube, “The city-states of the Maya.” In Hansen, 547-566.
• Michael E. Smith, “Aztec city-states.” In Hansen, 581-596.

11 Apr 14: Renaissance Italy: Florence and Venice

• Gordon Griffiths, “The Italian City-State.” In Griffeth & Thomas, 71–108.
• Geoffrey Parker, “Serenissima: Venice and the City-States of the Adriatic.” In Parker, 78–91.
• Geoffrey Parker, “Bishops, Dukes and Republics: The City-States of Renaissance Italy.” In Parker, 92–115.
• Stephan R. Epstein, “The rise and fall of Italian city-states.” In Hansen, 277-294.
• Sidney Tarrow, "From Comparative Historical Analysis to 'Local Theory': The Italian City-State Route to the Modern State," Theory and Society, Vol. 33, No. 3/4 (Jun. - Aug., 2004): 43-471.

12 Apr 21: Late Byzantium: Constantinople and Thessaloniki

• Norman Hepburn Baynes, “Supernatural Defenders of Constantinople.” In N. H. Baynes, Byzantine Studies and Other Essays. London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1955, 248–260.
• Warren Treadgold, "The Persistence of Byzantium," The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Autumn, 1998): 66-91.

13 Apr 28: Early-modern Germanic States: Lübeck and Cologne

• Geoffrey Parker, “The German Hanse.” In Parker, 132–150.
• Geoffrey Parker, “The Fall and Rise of the Hanse Cities.” In Parker, 194–212.
• Christopher Friedrichs, “The Swiss and German City-States.” In Griffeth & Thomas, 109–142.
• Peter Johanek, “Imperial and free towns of the Holy Roman Empire: City states in pre-modern Germany?” In Hansen, 295-320.

14 May 5: Modern powers: Kuwait and Singapore

• Geoffrey Parker, “The Globalization of the City-State.” In Parker, 213–224.
• Kris Olds and Henry Wai-Chung Yeung, "Pathways to Global City Formation: A View from the Developmental City-State of Singapore," Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Aug., 2004): 489-521.
• Mary Ann Tetreault, "Autonomy, Necessity, and the Small State: Ruling Kuwait in the Twentieth Century," International Organization, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Autumn, 1991): 565-591.