ABSTRACT
The city once was like a cloud, not larger than a man's hand; it is now the tree that overshadows the world. The very word 'civilization' in Latin means the culture of cities. Scholarly opinion differs as to what made these villages turn into cities, that is, inhabited places where people engaged in diversified activities. Politically, the cities of Babylonia, like the later cities of Phoenicia, Greece, and Italy, were independent entities, or city-states, where sovereignty was vested in the city dwellers and their representatives. The central city, the seat of imperial power, became a metropolis. As cities increase in size and the urban population grows denser the division of labor becomes more intricate. The city as a solid organization in its own right originated in Greek and Roman antiquity. From small beginnings, the culture of cities has grown to be the tree that overshadows West and East.
