A classical city-state did not resemble a large metropolis of the Hellenistic or Roman world. The population of Athens, the largest of the city-states, was never more than fifty thousand. A decisive contribution to the change in the layout of the Classical city was made by an architect from Miletus called Hippodamus. For the roots of the causes that led to the evolution of a different town planning model, we must look to the differentiation of social structures and state institutions. Once a large number of the citizens took part in public affairs, there was an immediate need for public buildings to hold meetings in and to accommodate administrative services and dignitaries. These buildings took on sizable dimensions in the town centres. In cases like that of Athens, they became model administrative complexes. As for private dwellings, the andron (men's quarters) - the area where the symposium took place - acquired special importance. For it was there that discussions about public business went on. Most newly-built cities and most newly-built districts of older cities followed Hippodamos' system. This system comprised not only layout of housing in rectangular blocks, but serial construction of 'standard' dwellings.

Athens was badly knocked about in the Persian wars. Themistocles had already in 479 B.C. seen to new fortifications for the city and its port. Other public buildings, however, and particularly temples, were not rebuilt. This was so as to keep Persian sacrilege fresh in people's minds. In the middle years of the century, nevertheless, Pericles went ahead with rebuilding temples, not all of which were as splendid as those on the Acropolis. By another modification of the city plan of Athens, the town marketplace was transferred westwards from its previous site north-east of the Acropolis, to a much more spacious site going all the way up to the hill of Colonos-in-the-Agora. The city's central axis was the road running from the Dipylon Gate and the Pompeum, up between the stoas and public buildings, through the middle of both the new Agora and its predecessor, and finishing at the Street of the Tripods. This avenue was embellished with fountains, monuments, altars, and statues. The effect was one of brilliance and grandeur. This civic ostentation contrasted with the relative simplicity, for many years, of private dwellings.

Public feeling was significantly altered by the events of the Peloponnesian war. Private displays of wealth became a more common phenomenon. The houses of the well-to-do were, both in this period and in the 4th century, composed round a central court framed by columns. In certain cases there was a whole wing reserved for symposia and feasts.

The Piraeus owed its organization and town plan to Hippodamus of Miletus; and for this he was held in special esteem by its inhabitants. The plan combined eight 'standard' dwellings, each of 250 square metres, into a unified block of buildings. The houses had a large courtyard with two small rooms on one side of it and two halls on the other. One of these halls, the andron, was larger than the other, and spacious enough to accommodate seven reclining couches. These houses also had an upper storey, where the thalamos (bedroom) must surely have been.

Roadbuilding, gateways and port connections in the Piraeus obviously required a functional planning scheme right from the very start. Functionality of this sort, which can be seen from the choice of site for the Agora, seems to have been a prime consideration for architects, even in the 4th century. One very typical instance is the Arsenal attributed to the architect Philon. To build the theatres of the Piraeus, natural contours were exploited, just as at Athens. And once again, elevated sites were chosen for temples - the temple of Artemis on the Mounichia hill is one example - so that they could be conspicuous from every point.

Many other Classical cities followed the system of Hippodamos: most notably Miletus, Olynthus, Priene and Rhodes.

| introduction | arts | literature | education | religion |	Classical period
Note: Click on the icons for enlargements and explanations. Underlined links lead to related texts; those not underlined ones are an explanatory glossary.