From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium: Kings, symbols, and cities,by Mario Baghos, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2021, 264pp., £64.99 (hardback), ISBN 9781527566279

Modern cities are designed and organized along functional and utilitarian lines, shaped to a large extent by economic and material exigencies. It is true that many of them are still dotted with religious buildings where the faithful congregate once a week to discreetly worship their divinity. But in the most modern cities, skyscrapers quite literally overshadow the churches,mosques and synagogues that once stood as architectural testaments to a city’s religious soul.It is this insight that provides the impetus for Mario Baghos’ fascinating exploration of the religious function and purpose of ancient cities in From the Ancient Near East to Christian Byzantium: Kings, Symbols, and Cities.