“Community, public space and collective political agency in pre-modern societies.” In: J. C. Moreno García (ed.), Space and Communal Agency in Pre-Modern Societies (Multidisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Societies [MAtAS], vol. 5), Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2025, p. 1-33. By Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia

https://www.academia.edu/129329711/_Community_public_space_and_collective_political_agency_in_pre_modern_societies_In_J_C_Moreno_Garc%C3%ADa_ed_Space_and_Communal_Agency_in_Pre_Modern_Societies_Multidisciplinary_Approaches_to_Ancient_Societies_MAtAS_vol_5_Oxford_Oxbow_Books_2025_p_1_33?email_work_card=title The continuity and visibility of such spaces over time speak not only about the hazards of preservation but also about other intentions, from endurance and informal -but socially acceptedfunctionality to the construction of ideal landscapes that expressed and legitimated social and cosmological order. Whether temples, massive tombs and palaces celebrated absolute rulers -or their pretension to be so -in other instances, great pyramids, platforms, ceremonial buildings and large walls were not the outcome of highly centralised societies but other forms of social organisation. Central powers organised the space through citadels, acropolis, fortresses, 'new' cities and a 'tax geography' that included roads, bridges, warehouses and harbours. Flows of wealth, people and information were thus channelled to specific locations to facilitate their control and circulation and satisfy the rulers' demands. Therefore, vertical powers produce specific spatial arrangements that transform pre-existent, alternative ones but that, in turn, may disappear in periods of political crisis and be replaced by older spatial forms. The Roman conquest of many European regions forced people to abandon the hilltops, castra and oppida where they lived and settled them in the valleys to cultivate commercial crops -wheat, wine, olive oil -favoured by the Roman tax system. However, the end of the Roman empire led to the abandonment of many villae. At the same time, hilltops were reoccupied, and alternative lifestyles based partly on agriculture, partly on silviculture, and extensive grazing flourished instead. Therefore, beyond the spatial and architectural order promoted by vertical powers, alternative forms may exist and leave some traces. Their visibility and public expression depended on the social organisation of the collectivities that built themkin, occupation, belief, ethnicity, or other, so heterarchical or egalitarian societies may produce quite different settlement layouts and uses of streets and open zones (Salisbury 2022; Yalman 2022). Such spatial forms also depended on the degree of autonomy and political agency that communal organisations and civic bodies enjoyed, a feature often related to the concept of citizenship (Bijl and van Klinken 2019;. The classical world, for instance, with its emphasis on civic life, citizen bodies and political deliberation, promoted specific monuments (agoras, deliberation buildings and spaces, theatres and amphitheatres) and original constructions intended to cement social cohesion and instil civic values to strengthen the feeling of being part of a community depositary of rights and capable of political agency. Plazas may fulfil diverse complementary roles, from markets to visual stages in which multitudes observed -and approved -power in action. Thus, Mesoamerican rulers performed ceremonies and rituals in vast ceremonial areas that legitimated their authority because the collaboration of people -if only as mere spectators -was considered indispensable (Harmanşah 2013: 102-187;. As for the Aztec empire, power decentralisation and local councils limited the authority of formal 'emperors' and resulted in an urban layout based on self-organised neighbourhoods and dispersed habitats. The contrast is evident in societies where secluded ritual and governmental spaces were only accessible to minorities. Here, public ceremonies