Posted on 02/10/2008 5:26:54 PM PST by blam
2,500 years ago, a city bigger than Athens in Orissa
11 Feb 2008, 0028 hrs IST,Minati Singha,TNN
Experts say Sishupalgarh is the ‘most visible standing architectural monument’ discovered in India (TOI Photo)
BHUBANESWAR: From under the ruins of an ancient fort on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, archaeologists have dug out the remains of a 2,500-year-old city which they believe was bigger than classical Athens.
Eighteen pillars were found among the remnants of the grand city at Sishupalgarh, a ruined fortification first discovered 60 years ago. The findings include debris of household pottery and terracotta ornaments, pointing to an advanced lifestyle led by the people who lived there. The polished potteries even have ownership marks on them.
Monica L Smith, head archaeologist from the University of California, who was part of the 12-member team that conducted the excavation, said the site is the "most visible standing architectural monument" discovered in India so far. "It's a huge city that existed about 2,500 years ago."
"The city had four gateways and could have housed up to 25,000 people. Even classical Athens had only 10,000 people," said R K Mohanty from Deccan College, Pune, who was part of the excavation team which also had members from the Archaeological Survey of India and University of California.
"It was a very important city with well-built walls and a big expanse. The pillars we found were part of a gigantic structure, probably used for public gatherings," added Mohanty. Sishupalgarh was once ruled by the Kalinga kings.
GGG Ping.
Must have elected the equivalent of Democrats to prevent Global warming, crop failures or lunar eclipse.
Is this one of the Rishi Cities of the Rama Empire, blam?
The columns remind me of Easter Island carvings.
Makes me wonder about the theories that every 10,000 years civilization repeats itself..destroys itself...and grows again. Atlantis is a legend but wonder if it was just a survivor of the last purge.
As we are headed, America will one day be as much of a legend as Atlantis.
The city state of Athens had a much larger population. Even the city proper had far more than 10,000 full citizens. Maybe they meant 10,000 adult males — although even that figure would be low.
Don't know.
I think “classical” Athens may refer to a specific time period in Athens’ history.
I think it refers to about the same time periods. Also, there were a lot of slaves, and other non-citizens amongst the population. Here’s an article I just found with some information about the subject:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2007/2007-04-59.html
This makes sense:
The second study, "The Size of the Athenian Citizen Population in the Fourth Century B.C.", is by far the longest in the volume, occupying some 42 pages total. In this work, as with the others in the volume, H. uses the so-called "shotgun method" of estimating ancient populations as he revisits the debate between those scholars who prefer a minimum of ca. 30,000 adult male citizens to those supporting a figure of ca. 20,000 in Athens in the fourth century.4 H. argues here in favor of the higher figure, basing his argument on the consideration of four main points: the total number of citizens required to operate the Council of Five Hundred; the number of Athenian ephebes; the number of citizens between 322 and 307 B.C.; and the Athenian importation of grain and carrying capacity of Attica.And I'll freely admit to not being in the least bit surprised that a journalist may have gotten the facts (10,000) in a story wrong!
I remember a science fiction story about Atlantis being a “future memory” of America, after North America was so thoroughly submerged that just its highest peaks remained above the ocean, like Micronesia is today.
It was an odd note, that the rest of the world missed America so much, and remembered it so fondly, that even their ancestors remembered it before it existed as a nation.
OH, I thought this might be about another story from Orissa...how Christians in India are being attacked, killed, and their churches demolished - yet how thousands of the people of that area are coming to Jesus Christ - despite the fires of persecution burning brightly against Christians at the hands of the “peaceful” Hindu extremists....
See: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Christians_attacked_in_Chhattisgarh/articleshow/2709020.cms
And despite Professor Mohanty's false information, Athens may have had a citizen population of roughly 10,000 in its classical period, but a total population including slaves and foreigners that was much larger.
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Thanks Blam.Even classical Athens had only 10,000 people," said R K Mohanty...Yow. That's way off. Athens at its classical peak ("age" of Pericles) -- the extension of its walls to encompass the Piraeus -- was far bigger than this. The final number left alive after the defeat of Athens' expedition to Syracuse (in Sicily) during the Peloponnesian War was 40,000 (and I've seen even higher figures), which included "non-combatants" as well as non-Athenian allies. Still, it's obvious that the figure is wrong. The death toll of the epidemic (typhus?) which swept through the greater walled Athens during that war claimed at least 10,000. |
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How could Athens have sent an Army of 10,000 men to Marathon in 490BC with a population of only 10,000?
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