Theory and practice: socio-political and philosophical dynamics in the evolution of the grid-plan in Ancient Greek cities

Date

2008

Author

Işık, Özgür Emre

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Social, political and philosophical dynamics which supposedly played an important role in the formation of the grid-plan in ancient Greek cities are explored in this thesis. In this respect, the thesis aims to expose the socio-political and philosophical matrix of Greek society in which the grid was implemented with an emphasis on the concepts of “equality,” “rationality” and “geometric harmony.” Having formulated a theoretical framework, it concentrates on several cases from different regions and contexts in the Mediterranean in order to confirm this framework. The thesis investigates the nature of the Greek grid-plan within three main parts; first the grid-plans of non-Greek cultures with which ancient Greeks had close contacts; second the relationship between the grid-plan and political power in Greek poleis with special attention to the formation of ‘egalitarian’ ideals in society; third the physical expressions of the philosophical concepts of “perfection,” “mathematical regularity” and “geometrical equality” in the cosmos on urban pattern.

Subject Keywords

Architecture., Urban Planning in Antiquity., Greek Polis.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12609643/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/17859

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis