city-state

Examples of city-state in the following topics:

• Painting and Architecture

  • In the period leading up to the 13th century, Italian city-states began to re-assert their own power and authority.
  • Much of this was driven by the role these cities played in trade.
  • In particular elites in many northern city-states such as Venice, Genoa and Pisa became wealthy through maritime trade.
  • City leaders would, on occasion, work together to insure their power and wealth; for example, banding together to form the Lombardi League.
  • At the same time leaders of the city-states began to use their wealth to become patrons of the arts.

• Sculpture

  • However, in the period leading up to the 13th century, Italian city-states began to re-assert their own power and authority.
  • Much of this was driven by the role these cities played in trade.
  • Elites in many northern city-states including Venice, Genoa and Pisa became wealthy through maritime trade.
  • To ensure their power and wealth, city leaders banded together to form the Lombardi League.
  • Leaders of the city-states also used their wealth to act as patrons of the arts, with these artists reviving an interest in classical forms and styles.

• Babylon

  • Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Iraq.
  • Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Iraq.
  • Over time, Amorite grain merchants rose to prominence and established independent dynasties in several south Mesopotamian city-states, including Babylon.
  • The First Babylonian Dynasty was established by an Amorite chieftain named Sumu-abum in 1894 BCE, when he declared independence from the neighbouring city-state of Kazallu.
  • During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, suppressed only by the complete destruction of the city.

• Pisa, Venice, and Milan

  • The Italian cities of Pisa, Venice, and Milan were important bridges between the Medieval and the Renaissance periods.
  • Italy was ruled primarily as a set of independent city-states or sometimes slightly larger Duchies.
  • Venice today is known for its series of canals serving as transportation in this city made up of many islands.
  • Today Milan is the second largest city in Italy, and during this period, it was no less important.
  • A founding member of the Lombardy League, formed to repel the Holy Roman Empire from encroaching on the sovereignty of Italy city-states, Milan also became a Duchy during this period.

• The Mixteca-Puebla Tradition

  • Puebla, a state located in East-Central Mexico, originated from the city of the same name founded by the Spanish in 1531.
  • One of the major indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica, today they inhabit the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla in the La Mixteca region.
  • They are the fourth largest indigenous group in Mexico, although many have emigrated out of traditional Mixteca areas into other parts of the state, Mexico City, and even the United States.
  • The temples of a Pre-Columbian Maya walled city are situated on 12-meter tall cliffs in Tulum in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico; a mural can still be seen on the eastern wall that resembles the Mixteca-Puebla style of art.
  • Using vast trading networks, the Mixteca-Puebla style of art spread from Cholula, a city located in the center west of Puebla, to other areas in the Valley of Mexico and eventually to Mesoamerica.

• The Mesopotamian Cultures

  • The Sumerian city of Eridu, which at that time bordered the Persian Gulf, is believed to be the world's first city.
  • By the late fourth millennium BCE, Sumer was divided into about a dozen independent city-states delineated by canals and other boundary makers.
  • At each city center stood a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city.
  • During this period, Uruk became the most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants.
  • Cities became walled and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared.

• Lagash and the Third Dynasty of Ur

  • Lagash is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
  • Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East.
  • Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces.
  • Map showing the Ur III state and its sphere of influence.
  • Generalize about the history of Lagash and its successor state, The Third Dynasty of Ur

• Benin

  • Not to be confused with the present-day country of Benin, this empire dissolved into what is today the Edo State of Nigeria, marked by the capital, Benin City.
  • The famed Benin City, formerly of the Kingdom of Benin, was a large complex of homes in coursed mud, with roofs of shingles or palm leaves.
  • The Palace of the City had a sequence of ceremonial rooms and was decorated with brass plaques .
  • Perhaps most famous are the Walls of Benin City, considered to be the largest man-made structure in the world.
  • This illustration shows a number of features in Benin City: in the background is the house of the queens; on the left, the royal courtyard, containing several palaces, showing their spires; and the king is depicted in the center, mounted on a horse with his mounted nobles in procession on the right.

• American Regionalist Art

  • Regionalism, also known as American scene painting, refers to a naturalist style of painting that was prevalent during the 1920s through the 1950s in the United States.
  • At the time, the United States was still a heavily agricultural nation with a much smaller portion of its population living in industrial cities such as New York City or Chicago.
  • Using a realist approach, Regionalist artists shunned city life and its rapidly developing technological advances to create scenes of rural life.
  • In Grant Wood's pamphlet Revolt Against the City, published in Iowa City, 1935, he asserts that American artists and buyers of art were no longer looking to Parisian culture for subject matter and style.
  • He wrote that the lure of the city was gone, and hoped that art of the widely diffused "whole people" would prevail.

• Rome and the Papal States

  • His ascension heralded a period during which the city became the center of humanism.
  • The Renaissance had a great impact on Rome's appearance: the city was enhanced with works like the Pietà by Michelangelo, and the frescoes of the Borgia Apartment, which were all made during the latter half of the 15th century .
  • The city hosted artists like Bramante, who built the Temple of San Pietro in Montorio and planned a great project to renovate the Vatican.
  • Rome lost some part its religious character over time, becoming increasingly a secular-humanist Renaissance city.
  • Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.