This book examines a selection of Greek and Roman cities, looking specifically at their architectural remains. They are chosen for their importance to our understanding of the evolution of the city form, either because they were already important in antiquity, or because the quality of the remains makes them particularly interesting. Thus the survey includes early places which failed to develop, places which were major, dominant cities in their own time, and others which were never more than ordinary but which through accident (the eruption of Vesuvius at Pompeii) have left especially significant remains. This is more than a book about pure ancient architecture: rather it is architecture in its social context - showing how architecture is part of history rather than an aesthetic topic to be treated in isolation. The book emphasizes how the form and arrangement of different building types persist or develop in response to differing circumstances.