8 - The Grammar of the City

Summary

Isidore’s Etymologies, written in the early seventh century, offers one of the most extensive analyses of the city, yet they have been dismissed as an antiquarian compilation of out-of-date views. Isidore emerges as more than an antiquarian, someone at the heart of contemporary politics with close relations with the Visigothic kings. The concern of these kings for cities comes out in their foundation of new cities, especially Reccopolis. Isidore’s writing, far from being buried in a classical past, is more influenced by Christian writings, and shows memories of the past recycled and reinterpreted. For him the city is timeless, stretches throughout the history known to him, and covers an area wider than the classical, including Persia. His detailed analysis of the city may contain antiquarian details, but is engaged in a present and the foundation of new cities.