The Most Important City In History
So, there are lots of cities who have played large roles as "institutions" over the course of history- but which one has had the biggest impact on history?
Some examples might be Thebes, Baghdad, Athens, Sparta, Rome, London, Madrid, Berlin, Beijing, Washington DC...
Try and think of the city as both an institution itself and as the representation of the nation/empire if you feel the city was vital to said nation.
From what viewpoint? Many would say Jerusalem or Mecca. Shanghai was and still is very important in eastern culture. Many of the things we take for granted such as mathematics and our alphabet originated in ancient Babylon. Our form of architecture originated in Athens, our form of government (republican democracy) originated in Rome. Our legal system ironically is a cross between British common law and the Viking Jury system. Many eastern cultures have other origins for the same thing.
There simply is no single important city in history. Many have dominance during certain periods, but none relly qualifies for what this thread is about.
Alexandria. Imagine all the knowledge we would have if it wasn't for the fires that burned the library.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=9
I'd have to go with either Rome or London.
These two cities Were the centeral hub of two of the greatest empires ever.
The span of knowledge they respectively had at their disposal was massive.
Having said that i think places like Moscow, Athens, Dublin and Meca have played pivotal, if over looked roles in world history.
Originally posted by backdoorman
Dublin seems a little out of place among those others you listed.
Also, The birthing of modern poetry using the English language took place in Ireland.
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Alexandria. Imagine all the knowledge we would have if it wasn't for the fires that burned the library.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=9
However, the fact is their impact is minimal because whatever knowledge they had (if it was as great as you believe) was lost.
I would say Rome, the Empire ruled the world for hundreds of years...the Roman Catholic Church continued to exert great amounts of influence and power over Europe- and the New Word via Portugal and from the fall of the Western Half of the Empire up to Napoleon. The EU is based on the Roman ideal- which is why they signed the Treat of Rome there.
Tricky to define 'important'
The problem with picking Rome is that you are really referring to the Roman Empire, and that's not the same thing as the city. Whilst the Empire started there,. Rome itself actually ended up being of very secondary importance. It was declining as the major city of the Empire from AD onwards and a couple of centuries in saw half a dozen other places in the Empire being far more significant than the ill-placed, cut off over-fed bunch of temples that was Rome. The last place any of the later Emperors ever really spent any time in was Rome.
Most notably, Constantinople was a much greater city than Rome ever was, as far as the ways you can rate the importance of a city in an Empire was concerned. It was on a major land and sea trade route, it provided enormous amounts of money, it became the centre of the Roman Empire (eclipsing Rome entirely), outlasted its western cousin by a thousand years, and was the richest city in Europe for most of its history. A much better candidate for 'miost important city' than Rome ever was.
Rome provided nothing. All it did was suck food out of the Empire. It was not strategically important nor did it produce anything worthwhile.
Compare again, for example, London- access to the ocean and centre of both political and economic power; esseential to the whole regime.