Town Planning in Bible Times

By David Campbell

This short book is part of a series a series that charts and examines how Ancient people built cities. In this short edition we look at the Holy land during bible times and see that the cultural and religious requirements of ancient Judaism in a hot climate directed the shape of family house, and the way these houses were arranged in response the prevailing state of conflict in the ancient world shaped the form of villages and larger towns and we look also at the way smaller towns shaped cities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Campbell
• Release date: Jun 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227904577

Book preview

Introduction

When we talk about the bible times were are discussing a broad spectrum of cultures across from the contemporaneous with Sumerian early bronze age through the iron age and into the Roman empire.  Within this time however, the Israelites developed a distinctive culture and did so quite early.

In this book we will class Israelite settlements into four broad groupings:

(1) villages,

(2) larger villages and towns

( 3)smaller walled cities and

(4)cities

Cities of The Holy Land

Hebrews had many words for city and town they tended to revolve around a feature of urban development.  

Several terms were used by ancient Hebrews to denote cities were based on specific features the settlements and included Kofer meaning a cover for a village covered by a wall, Persse from the word for open country meaning an un-walled city. Similarly, the word agor meaning a place guarded by watching and the word giyr meaning wall also describes a city. However, the main word used to denote a city wasir and the related word Chatser from yard or stocked meaning a hamlet surrounded by a wall. 

Other words used to describe settlements include quuereth, the verb building from a root meaning to cause to bring about. Similarly, the word qiryah meaning flooring is sometimes used to describe a city, as could sha’ar (an opening, door or gate) and some biblical references describe towns as a place of magistracy.  

The Bible has many references to Hebrew cities in antiquity and described that they were walled [1]and guarded[2] Defence was a primary concern for the Hebrew citizenry even in antiquity. For rulers throughout antiquity defensive measures took precedence over many other features in the design and location of cities with hilltop locations [3]being the preferred location. 

Business was conducted at the gates [4]mainly as this was the common point in any town. All persons in the community regardless of status or residential location in the settlement had to enter or exit the town at the gate. 

The Hebrew town was the basic component of the urban landscape. The Hebrew settlements were, by comparison with other contemporary civilizations small, and with the exception of the royal capitals did not really warrant the term city. By the same token, settlements that would be described by the English word 'villages' were always referred to as daughters of the nearby main settlement indicating a degree of reliance on the district town, these settlements in biblical times were numerically rare compared to towns. 

The following basic description of the Hebrew settlement pattern is a basic outline and would be subject to local and regional variation but essential the towns followed the same pattern.  

Villages and small-unwalled hamlets were subsidiary agents of local towns relying on them for defence and administration. For a basically agrarian culture and economy, the villages were relatively infrequent and of a lesser importance in the culture than was to be expected. By way of contrast the village in medieval Europe, held a much more important role and was by far numerically more common than in the ancient Hebrew lands.  

At the other end of the settlement spectrum were the Capital cities of Jerusalem[5]and Samaria. These were the only settlements that could be truly described as cities and followed similar design patterns. Samaria was an entirely planned settlement while Jerusalem began life as an organic hilltop settlement of non-Israelite origin, which was transformed by the early Kings of the united monarchy and latter Judea.

Unlike most cities which begin as a planned city and subsequently become organic Jerusalem began as an organic city, a small hilltop citadel fortress, and once captured by the Hebrew kings who undertook massive expansion programs around 1000 B.C, became a semi planned establishment.

The first additions were a palace complex and then under the third Israelite King of the united monarchy a significant addition to the wall circumference was built, and with it a major temple complex. Successive generations added continuously to the city in both in terms of the area of the city and specific major building projects. A massive terrace was added later, the existing temple complex.[6]

The vast bulk of the Hebrew settlements other than Jerusalem and Samaria came in the form of Towns, and towns came in two forms: 

1.) Towns with a casement wall and an empty open space in the interior. The casement wall was typically formed either as a specific built wall or one comprised of the outer wall of a belt of dwellings that formed a rough ring around a hilltop summit. These settlements were typically at the smaller end of the settlement size, and it has been argued that they form a transitionary position between a nomadic way of life and a more sedately, as the layout indicates that the occupants were probably members[5]of a wider family network.  

2.   Towns with a casement wall and the interior occupied by tightly packed buildings of both institutional and residential nature serviced by narrow lanes all fronting onto one main gate. These towns were often servicing specific administrative or military functions and often show some degree of being planned. Town such as this often functioned as a citadel for the surrounding regions. 

To understand the uniqueness of the Hebrew city one