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The Origin of Premodern Western Cities

Alon Levy · 28 Sept 2026

Read the piece on pedestrianobservations.com ↗

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Alon Levy did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    From the second millennium onward, extraction by kings or temples was not the only origin of cities: some began as commercial centres and only became sites of royal extraction after proving their economic value.

    Their wordsBut once one gets to the second millennium and cities are more visible to us in economic history, this is no longer the only origin of cities. Some emerge for commercial purposes, and only become sites of royal extraction after they've proven their economic value.

  2. Our reading

    Premodern European cities were founded along a spectrum, from the entirely commercial to the entirely political.

    Their wordsThere's really a spectrum of city foundations, from the entirely commercial to the entirely political.

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