Early cities were little more than protected villages safe from bandits. However as cities grew, the citizens developed new needs and desires. Kings constructed palaces to impress their citizens and foreign dignitaries. Temples appeared to house the culture's knowledge and to sustain the people's souls. By 500 BC, theaters spotted the cities of Greece while four hundred years later, gladiator swords fell on the bloodied grounds of the Roman coliseums. The evolution of the city improvement had begun.