Max Weber aptly labelled classical antiquity as an urban coastal civilisation. Though throughout antiquity an overwhelming majority of people lived in the countryside, cities of the model of the Greek polis were reference points of political identities and focal points of the religious, economic and social life of most ancient societies. The module investigates in a variety of phenomena related to ancient cities, such as agriculture, slavery, law and, finally, empire, the power structure that finally put an end to urban autonomy. It is, at the same time, designed as an introduction to sources and methods in ancient history.