GREEK & ROMAN URBANISM

Classical Greece

The Greek World

http://www.uoregon.edu/~atlas/europe/maps.html

The Greek urban system

Site and Culture (enabling factors, not determining)

No floods Abundant and diverse

resources Fish, grain, grapes, olives,

chestnuts, figs Many isolated valleys and

islands (natural barriers) Sea ≈ moat Isolation meant greater

security, so power took a less aggressive form both externally and internally

Alphabet derived from Phoenician consonant system, promoted democracy and public life

Money (local) Decentralized political power Ritual blended with

competition to produce a fairly relaxing life

Tremendously creative society: drama, poetry, sculpture, painting, logic, mathematics, geometry

The Greek Polis

The Greek Polis

A self-governing city-state Not large cities Plato thought ideal city

should have 5,000 citizens

Athens at its peak had a bit over 100,000 citizens -- about the size of Waco

Questions: What are the odds of Waco

producing a great thinker like Plato or Aristotle?

A great dramatist like Sophocles, Euripides, or Aeschylus?

Need I continue?

How were the Greeks able to do what they did with such small cities?

Source of Greek Creativity

Each citizen was expected to participate in the polis in regard to its: Political life Economic relations Spiritual worship Social events (e.g. dramatic performances)

Was this asking too much of people? Would we appreciate these duties?

Greek Democracy

Decentralization of power was a throwback to village governance

Separation of church and state was indicated by distance between the agora and the acropolis

Imperfect democracy: citizens constituted only about 10% of the total urban population

Approximate mix of citizens & non-citizens

citizens

citizens' wives

citizens' children

slaves

foreigners &merchants

Agora and Acropolis

Agora Gathering place and

market On the road from the

harbor Bordered by temples,

workshops, vendors’ stalls, statues

Place for public event

Acropolis Elevated temple district Contained various

temples Architectural “vocabulary”

used well into the 20th c. for banks, courthouses, town halls, etc.

Periodic processions to Acropolis also celebrated the polis