Hellas

city, who, in order to live together, adopting shared laws. If the Greek Polìs therefore appears to be homogeneously composed of people of the same kind, the Roman Civitas is based instead on common interests, resulting of people gathering from different origins under the same laws. This distinction influences not only the development of different social rituals, but also the urban form itself, and especially the technological approaches developed so that these cities could survive and prosper.

Hellas

In Hellenic culture, the city is much more than just a place of assembly and defence. Founded by gods or heroes, guarding venerated sanctuaries, trading posts and wonders of the world, Hellenic cities were to all intents and purposes a place of confrontation and dialogue. The heart of those cities was the square (Agorà, ancient Greek: ἀγορά, from ἀγείρω meaning ‘gather’), a place for the exchange of goods and ideas, to which a new concept of the people was ascribed, and whose interaction was the mother of modern democracy. In spite of its sometimes mythological origins, the city from now on no longer constitutes a symbolic materialisation of the divine plan44, and the inspiring design principle becomes the Nòmos (Νόμος)45, or the law that governs the city. And thus the plan of the city:

44 Barbera F. 2017, Ippodamo da Mileto e gli inizi della pianificazione territoriale, FrancoAngeli, Milano, p. 357. 45 In ancient Greek religion, Nomos is the daemon of laws, statutes, and ordinances. By one account, Nomos’ wife is Eusebia (Piety), and their daughter is Dike (Justice).

Fig. 10 Plan of the city of Miletus. (Source: Wikimedia Commons ®)