A City Through Time

This is the fifth in a series that uses Noon's intricately detailed panoramic illustrations to show the many facets of historical change. Here, we see the face of an unnamed Mediterranean city at six stages in its development from Greek colony in 500 BC to modern city of steel and glass in 2005. These, and all the stages between - roman town, medieval and 17th-century cities, industrial port - are shown in two double page spreads: the first a cityscape with cutaway buildings and a teeming tiny population engaged in the multifarious business of the time; and the second a closer look at a significant building - Greek temple, roman baths, medieval castle, town hall, railway station, and high-rise tower. The detail in the illustrations is supported by brief paragraphs on various aspects of architecture, technology, work and play and costume that follow in a separate section after the illustrations themselves. This is a lively introduction to social and economic history that offers plenty of interest in each panorama and, in a viewpoint that draws further and further from the narrow confines of the original city, conveys the explosion of urban life in the modern era.