1. Reconstruction of the Greek city of Miletus in ancient Ionia
The Classical Greek Polis: Urbanism and Democracy
Reconstruction of the Greek city of Miletus in ancient Ionia

2. The Classical Greek Polis: Urbanism and Democracy
Priene, Turkey, 4th cen. BC (c. 350 BC)

4. hilltop citadel + palace = total urban area
I. Democratic culture produces a new kind of public space & new public buildings
A. What were the two poles of Classical Greek cities?
Classical
Bronze-Age Greece
Priene, Turkey, 4th cen. BC (c. 350 BC)
acropolis
“high city”
Mycenae (c B.C.)
hilltop citadel + palace = total urban area
agora

5. Priene, Turkey, 4th cen. BC (c. 350 BC)
I. A.
agora – town square, place where people assembled to agoreuein (“to speak to one another”)
Priene, Turkey, 4th cen. BC (c. 350 BC)
Aristotle said that an acropolis was
suitable for oligarchy and monarchy
and level ground for democracy
(see Politics ).
Greek historian/ethnographer Herodotus wrote that the king of the Persia said: “I never yet feared the kind of men who have a place set apart in the middle of the city [i.e., the agora] in which they get together and tell one another lies under oath” (Herodotus, History, 1.153).
acropolis
downtown with agora

6. Priene Priene, Turkey stoa agora
I. B. Locate the major public buildings in a Classical Greek city
I. B. 1. stoas a. Definition
b. Activities displayed to the public in stoas
Priene
Priene, Turkey
stoa
agora

7. Remains of the Bouleuterion in Priene
I. B. 2. council/senate house (bouleuterion)
Remains of the Bouleuterion in Priene
Priene, Turkey

8. Remains of the Ionic Temple of Athena Polias
I. B. 3. urban temples
Remains of the Ionic Temple of Athena Polias
in Priene, c. 334 B.C.
Priene, Turkey

9. Theater at Priene, c. 300 B.C., seats 6000
I. B. 4. theater
Theater at Priene, c. 300 B.C., seats 6000
Priene, Turkey

10. Greek theaters bind audience to place through performance
I. B. 4.
Greek theaters bind audience to place through performance
Theater at Priene, c. 300 B.C.

11. Archaic period: Greek colony of Paestum (Italy)
II. Planned cities in Greece: a reflection of Pythagorean principles and a product of democratic values
Archaic period: Greek colony of Paestum (Italy)
Classical period: Greek new town of
Priene (ancient Ionia)

12. Priene Miletus Piraeus (port of Athens)
II. A. The Hippodamian city plan
Priene Miletus Piraeus (port of Athens)

13. II. A. 1. Who was Hippodamus of Miletus?
Hippodamus of Miletus (5th cen. B.C.), the first to theorize the gridded city plan.
Priene, Turkey

14. 1. Streets at right angles. 2. Quarters divided into blocks
II. A. 2. What were the five main features of the Hippodamian plan?
Priene, Turkey
1. Streets at right angles.
2. Quarters divided into blocks
3. Blocks subdivided into housing lots
4. Public buildings set into the system
without interfering with traffic
5. Plan laid over any terrain.
Priene

15. Priene: N/S street from temple to agora Priene: main E/W street
II. A. 3. How do we know that Pythagorean principles governed nature and not the other way around?
Priene: N/S street from temple to agora
Priene: main E/W street

16. II. A. 4. What is the nature of city wall in Greek planned cities?
Priene, Turkey