Geology and Settlement: Greco-Roman Patterns

Traditionally our understanding of ancient cities has been approached through archaeological, historical and literary sources, with little regard or understanding of geology or engineering. In this comparative study of ten ancient cities (Agrigento, Morgantina, Selinus, Syracuse, Argos, Corinth, Delphi, Miletus, Priene and Ephesus), with a date range between 800 BC and AD 600. Dora Crouch advocates a multi-disciplinary approach to investigating these cities and one which includes insights from geology. The influence of geology on human settlement, of processes such as erosion and subsidence, topography and natural sources of materials, and of events such as earthquakes, flooding and volcanic eruptions, are discussed with reference to the ten examples. The appendices include a glossary of technical terms and chronologies.