The course examines the evolution of urbanization in the famous cities of the Greek and Roman world, starting from the cities of the Archaic period, founded by colonization, under the influence of eastern Mediterranean models. The urban planning of the colonies, which served the practical needs of the new settlements, was crucial for the consolidation of a zoned urban space, often much earlier than the emergence of similar processes in the mother-cities (metropoleis). Emphasis will be placed on the study of public architecture in the context of the building policy of the tyrants, especially the public building projects they carried out in Greek cities (e.g. Corinth, Athens, Samos), in combination with the attribution of colossal size to temples of the same period (e.g. Olympieion of Athens, Heraion of Samos). The political physiognomy of the ancient city, the forging of civic identity and the collective defence of the territory will be defined.
The cities of the Archaic and Classical periods were in a coherent relationship with the wider geographical territory through roads, ports, rural towns, and sanctuaries. With the reform of Cleisthenes, new administrative buildings were inaugurated in Athens, highlighting the area of the Agora as the centre of isonomy, while the territorial division of Attica reflected the new territorial layout of democracy. During the Classical period Hippodamus established the orthogonal city plan (Piraeus, Miletus, Thourion, Rhodes), which re-systematized the functional needs of the cities, while valuable evidence of its understanding is provided by the cities of Olynthus, Cassope and Priene. The new cities founded in the Hellenistic world were larger in size and population and were more multi-cultural in character. The number of public buildings and the splendour of the luxurious villas and palaces demonstrate the power of each monarch and the new wealthy classes that emerged in the new cosmopolitan environment of the kingdoms.
Through the highly populated Roman cities there was the transition to the cities of Late Antiquity (see Constantinople), in which we can observe the challenge of the continuity of existing structures and the obvious differentiation, resulting from a new civilisational perception. The course will study ancient Greek housing, as well as basic building types of Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman cities. The city of Athens, Priene, Ephesus, and Rome will be examined as case studies of historical topography, while other important cities of Greece, Magna Graecia and Asia Minor (e.g. Delos, Pompeii, Aphrodisias) will be studied case by case, using historical sources and excavation data. The course will conclude with a discussion of the revival of the Hippodamian urban system in European and Greek Neoclassicism and the influence it could have on contemporary social organization through the study of the ancient city and urbanization in antiquity.