in
Ephesus, present-day
Turkey. The pillars on the left side of the street were part of the
colonnaded walkway apparent in cities of late antique
Asia Minor. from a
mosaic of the
Villa Romana del Casale,
Sicily, 4th century CE The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities. Archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by the collapse of cities in the
Mediterranean basin. Two diagnostic symptoms of decline — or as many historians prefer, "transformation" — are subdivision, particularly of expansive formal spaces in both the
domus and the public
basilica, and encroachment, in which artisans' shops invade the public thoroughfare, a transformation that was to result in the
souk (marketplace). Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in the dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines and relics. In
Roman Britain, the typical 4th and 5th century layer of
dark earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. The city of Rome went from a population of 800,000 at the beginning of the period to a population of 30,000 by the end of the period, the most precipitous drop coming with the breaking of the
aqueducts during the
Gothic War. A similar though less marked decline in urban population occurred later in
Constantinople, which was gaining population until the outbreak of the
Plague of Justinian in 541. In Europe there was also a general decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of late antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all of Europe, and a reversion to more of a subsistence economy. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a greater degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce and specialised production. Concurrently, the continuity of the Eastern Roman Empire at Constantinople meant that the turning point for the
Greek East came later, in the 7th century, as the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire centered around the
Balkans, North Africa (
Egypt and
Carthage), and
Asia Minor. The cities in the East were still lively stages for political participation and remained important for background for religious and political disputes. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the smaller cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. The urban continuity of Constantinople is the outstanding example of the Mediterranean world; of the two great cities of lesser rank,
Antioch was devastated by the Persian sack of 540, followed by the
plague of Justinian (542 onwards) and completed by earthquake, while
Alexandria survived its Islamic transformation, to suffer incremental decline in favour of
Cairo in the medieval period. Justinian rebuilt his birthplace in
Illyricum, as a new city called
Justiniana Prima. This became the metropolitan seat of the newly founded
Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima. However, the city did not last for long: it was abandoned under a century later, in 615, potentially in response to the invading
Avars. R33 is a male archaeological sample from Late Antiquity Italy (circa 300–700 CE), specifically discovered at the
Mausoleo di Augusto in Rome. Associated with the decline of Roman order, his genetic profile indicates mtDNA haplogroup K1a1* and Y-DNA haplogroup R-DF110, representing populations during the transition into early medieval European civilisation, according to dnagenics. In mainland Greece, the inhabitants of
Sparta,
Argos and
Corinth abandoned their cities for fortified sites in nearby high places; the fortified heights of
Acrocorinth are typical of Byzantine urban sites in Greece. In Italy, populations that had clustered within reach of
Roman roads began to withdraw from them, as potential avenues of intrusion, and to rebuild in typically constricted fashion round an isolated fortified promontory, or
rocca; Cameron notes similar movement of populations in the Balkans, "where inhabited centres contracted and regrouped around a defensible
acropolis, or were abandoned in favour of such positions elsewhere." In the western Mediterranean, the only new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five
Visigothic "victory cities".
Reccopolis in the
province of Guadalajara is one: the others were
Victoriacum, founded by
Leovigild, which may survive as the city of
Vitoria, though a 12th century (re)foundation for this city is given in contemporary sources;
Lugo id est Luceo in the
Asturias, referred to by
Isidore of Seville, and
Ologicus (perhaps
Ologitis), founded using
Basque labour in 621 by
Suinthila as a fortification against the Basques, modern
Olite. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and at least Reccopolis, Victoriacum, and Ologicus in celebration of victory. A possible fifth Visigothic foundation is
Baiyara (perhaps modern
Montoro), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the 15th-century geographical account,
Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar. The arrival of a highly urbanised Islamic culture in the decade following 711 ensured the survival of cities in the
Hispaniae into the Middle Ages. Beyond the Mediterranean world, the cities of
Gaul withdrew within a constricted line of defence around a citadel. Former imperial capitals such as
Cologne and
Trier lived on in diminished form as administrative centres of the
Franks. In
Britain, most towns and cities had been in decline, apart from a brief period of recovery during the fourth century, well before the withdrawal of Roman governors and garrisons, but the process might well have stretched well into the fifth century. Historians emphasizing urban continuities with the
Anglo-Saxon period depend largely on the post-Roman survival of Roman
toponymy. Aside from a mere handful of its continuously inhabited sites, like
York and
London and possibly
Canterbury, however, the rapidity and thoroughness with which its urban life collapsed with the dissolution of centralized bureaucracy calls into question the extent to which
Roman Britain had ever become authentically urbanized: "in Roman Britain towns appeared a shade exotic," observes
H. R. Loyn, "owing their reason for being more to the military and administrative needs of Rome than to any economic virtue". The other institutional power centre, the
Roman villa, did not survive in Britain either.
Gildas lamented the destruction of the twenty-eight cities of Britain; though not all in his list can be identified with known Roman sites, Loyn finds no reason to doubt the essential truth of his statement. Harassed urban dwellers fled to the walled estates of the wealthy to avoid taxes, military service, famine and disease. In the Western Roman Empire especially, many cities destroyed by invasion or civil war in the 3rd century could not be rebuilt. Plague and famine hit the urban class in greater proportion, and thus the people who knew how to keep civic services running. Perhaps the greatest blow came in the wake of the
extreme weather events of 535–536 and subsequent
Plague of Justinian, when the remaining trade networks ensured the Plague spread to the remaining commercial cities. The impact of this outbreak of plague has recently been disputed. The end of
classical antiquity is the end of the polis model. While there was a decline of urban life in late antiquity (especially in the West) the epoch brought with it new forms of political participation in the urban spaces as well. Especially the role of crowds and masses in cities increased, leading to new levels of tension.
Public building In the fourth century, the basilica emerged as one of the most important civic structures. As cities faced growing financial strain, municipal expenditures prioritized the maintenance of defensive walls, baths, and
bazaars, while fewer resources went toward more luxury public amenities such as
amphitheaters,
theaters,
libraries, and
lecture halls. With the rise of Christianity, the basilica and other sacred architecture (such as churches and
charitable institutions) came to occupy a growing share of the public space. The Christian basilica was inspired by Roman, civic predecessors, including features such as the long nave, side aisles, and especially the
apse. In its Christian form, the chair of the apse was taken by the bishop, echoing the tribunal of the magistrate in the earlier secular form of the institution, and symbolically reimagining the bishop as the spiritual ruler in Christ's place. Famous, great basilica from this time period included the
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran as well as the
St. Peter's Basilica, both located in
Rome, and the
Basilica of San Vitale in
Ravenna. Great examples of architecture from this time period, other than basilica, included the
Hagia Sophia, erected by the Byzantine emperor
Justinian I in the sixth century. City life in the East, though negatively affected by the plague in the 6th–7th centuries, finally collapsed due to Slavic invasions in the Balkans and Persian destructions in Anatolia in the 620s. City life continued in Syria, Jordan and Palestine into the 8th. In the late 6th century, street construction was still undertaken in
Caesarea Maritima in Palestine, and
Edessa was able to deflect
Chosroes I with massive payments in gold in 540 and 544, before it was overrun in 609. == Sculpture and art ==