A city bigger than Athens? [ Sisupalgarh, India ]

Times of India ^ | Saturday, August 7, 2010 | Sandeep Mishra

[SunkenCiv]

Just outside Bhubaneswar, around 2,000 years ago, stood one of old India's biggest cities. When they chanced upon Sisupalgarh, excavators could only gape in astonishment at its modern ways.

Sisupalgarh sounds like a happening settlement by historic standards: a sprawling urban settlement that housed 20,000-25,000 people, street-linking gateways, pillared meeting halls, water storage systems and disposable vessels for daily use. In one of the richest hauls for archaeologists in the country in recent times, a 12-member Indo-American expert team discovered the remains of a city from the early historic period in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar two years ago.

...Explaining the importance of the ancient city, Mohanaty says Sisupalgarh has four gateways and could have housed a large number of people (compare this to the 10,000 Athens could manage). From photographs taken through geophysical research methods, the team had found that a huge urban setup, a much larger area than could possibly be excavated, had existed at the site. "The findings were mind-boggling. The lifestyle of the people then could be more advanced than present-day life," Smith had said. "Potteries found are polished and have ownership marks. The huge number of cups and bowls suggest people then practiced a use and throw system."

It is hard to say what sent Sisupalgarh into terminal decline. The data and findings when they will be made available to scholars could lead to a conclusive answer.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Parley Baer]

“It is hard to say what sent Sisupalgarh into terminal decline”

They elected an Obama as President.

[Fred Nerks]

CORONA satellite photo over Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar (7/Apr/1967).

The archaeological site of Sisupalgarh lies near Bhubaneswar. It is a ruin of a square shaped walled city having a moat and eight gates. At each gate the wall is projected to strengthen defence, so that the city looks as if it had eight horns. There seems to be a monument at the center of the city.

According to Lal (1958), the foundation of the settlement of Sisupalgarh is considered to date back to the third century BC. It is speculated that the site can be identified as the capital of the ancient Kalinga State, which was referred to in the inscriptions of the Edicts of Emperor Asoka.

•B. B. Lal (1958) SISUPALGARH 1948, Ancient India: Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of India, Vol. 5, pp.62-105.

SOURCE

[yarddog]

I think Athens during the time of Marathon and the Peloponnesian war was around 100,000, not 10,000. I know they sent an army of around 10,000 to Syracuse and after that army suffered disaster, they scraped together another 10,000 and this was after the plague which killed around a third of the population.

[njslim]

Total population of Athens at that time was estimated at
300,000 .

Complete mobilization of all available manpower is usually
set at max of 20% of population giving Athens some
60,000 if all manpower was used.

[HospiceNurse]

The lifestyle of the people then could be more advanced than present-day life," Smith had said.

Academic hubris alert.

[marsh2]

I would think that 20,000 people using and throwing pottery away each day would lead to being buried in pottery. I imagine that is what did ‘em in - lol

[BBell]

Article is too short.

[colorado tanker]

This is in coastal Orissa state, same neighborhood as Calcutta, on the Bay of Bengal.

[yarddog]

At the battle of Marathon, Athens was able to muster only 10,000 and I would guess that was a maximum effort.That would indicate a population of 50,000 based on the 20% figure.

They only had 11,000 total as Plataea sent their entire army of 1000 to help. Sparta sent their army but they were delayed by a religious festival.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ct!

[SunkenCiv]

It’s a little bit longer at the source, I think.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[SunkenCiv]

/bingo

The outlying districts were abandoned in the face of the Spartan advance, and the refugees crowded behind the long wall connecting and protecting the Piraeus and Athens. The population had boomed even before this (Periclean Athens became the marble marvel because of a silver strike on Athenian territory).

Eventually a plague broke out; Thucydides wrote that those infected were incurably thirsty, and crawled into the buried cisterns and water supply culverts, thus spreading the disease to others.

But that plague was early in the war, well before the Syracuse expedition. And the Athenian navy (which was the instrument of empire) required something like 30,000 rowers.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Fred Nerks!

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[BBell]

I went to the source. Very short.

It is hard to say what sent Sisupalgarh into terminal decline. The data and findings when they will be made available to scholars could lead to a conclusive answer.

[BBell]

Thanks for the ping as I always read them.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s my pleasure, always. And thanks for the kind remarks!