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Arts & Communication Constructing the image of ancient cities

exposed. People’s rites, consequently, become important for people’s collective memory and their experience within
understanding the urban environment. In that vein, Aldo their urban environment. In ancient cultures, for instance,
Rossi insists on the importance of the city as a whole and the king was considered god’s representative in his city
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in terms of its individual parts. Considering it as an object and, therefore, he gained ritualistic significance among
is a good opportunity to understand the city’s relations the urban community in addition to political power.
with its surroundings; this is one of the city’s images, the Therefore, as Stanley Tambiah suggests, involving political
external image. However, the interrelations between the aspects is worth considering in conceptualizing the urban
city’s parts are very important to be drawn and understood environment and reconstructing its proper image. 26,28
to constitute the interior image of the city (ancient people’s According to Lynch, the city’s image holds its identity,
perception of their urban environment). structure, and meaning. He believes that the image of the
Similarly, in his phenomenological approach to city should be expressed as it is perceived by its inhabitants.
understanding architectural space, Christian Norberg- Thus, the surrounding urban environment and its structure
Schulz identified four levels of existential space: or pattern are the main sources of knowledge about the
geographical and landscape, urban, the house, and the thing. city and its people’s beliefs and intentions. Although Lynch
He emphasized that a comprehensive understanding of the had identified five main elements in the city (paths, edges,
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space, whatever its scale, requires exploring it at different nodes, districts, and landmarks), the final image of the city
levels as well as the connections between these levels taking is actually affected by only three memorable elements. The
into account that the house is the central space from which city is essentially built around “focal points” and divided
all social, cultural, and epistemological aspects start. into clear parts “districts” (mostly regarding function
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This approach is useful in forming and understanding the or social class). These parts are connected by routes
structured totality of an urban agglomeration and/or the “paths”, whose existence is very important in building the
city; Norberg-Schulz’s approach meets Rossi’s thoughts collective memory and the urban experience in the city.
regarding the study of the city on different scales (as one These three elements and their structures represent the
object and as the agglomeration of different parts). Schulz’s city’s materiality which varies depending on the function
phenomenological approaches were always backed by his or social group; this is important to be considered when
structuralist background; he always worked on reconciling analyzing ancient cities’ archeology, where the disparity
structuralism with phenomenology, and his contribution in the districts’ materiality and designs indicates the
regarding the existential space or the spirit of place (the differences in the economic, social and cultural aspects
concept of genius loci) is essential in the understanding between areas from the same historic phase, or highlights
of the city structure. Based on reviewing examples the advancement of ancient people’s planning and building
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from Mircea Eliade and Kevin Lynch’s work, Schulz skills between different periods of the city’s history.
argued that architectural spaces are existential spaces In addition, the city’s materiality displays the internal
that are structured into schemata and centers, directions, dynamics between urban and social hierarchies. Since the
paths, and domains. This approach clearly intersects with main focus of this article is a ruined city whose people
Kevin Lynch’s structure of the city. Schulz concluded that disappeared a long time ago, inferring the relationship
architectural space can be understood as a concretization between the city and its people will go through a detailed
of environmental schemata or images. analysis of its architectural and urban fabric as well as
Consequently, the city image is generated based on archeological and written resources. Interpreting the
specific urban elements. The focal points and districts of discovered material culture plays an important role in
the city, as Kevin Lynch states too, are the primary catalysts defining the urban elements (landmarks, districts, and
that stimulate the city’s urban life and, simultaneously, memorable routes) and the city’s organizational pattern or
reflect people’s thoughts of their built environment. The structure.
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final internal image of the city is interpreted through Many cities, especially prehistoric ones, were built
binding these urban elements and using specific “cultural” and developed around specific buildings or complexes.
and urban routes (paths, as named in Lynch’s theory). Aldo Rossi perceives these structures as urban dynamics
These routes knit the urban life story of the city based monuments around which the morphological and
on people’s social and cultural aspects. Subsequently, structural transformation process of the city took place.
to obtain sensible reading and understanding of the These strategic points should be distinguished by their
city, these two (external and internal) images should be structure, pattern, or function. They have a primary role
combined. The psychological dimension of the city is also in evaluating the development of the city over time. The
another aspect which provides essential knowledge of the stratigraphy of these monuments in most cases reflects the

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 5 doi: 10.36922/ac.4239