The Ancient Greek Cities

The built-up district, that is to say the city, had a smaller population than the state, and of course, a much smalle r area. The average population of the ancient Greek city, that may have ranged between 5,000 and 50-60,000 inhabitants, was possibly in the neighborhood of 20,000 inhabitants- and I say possibly because we do not know for certain how many were small and how many were large cities. If, however, we judge from the fact that we know the population of a good number of large cities did not exceed 30,000, we can say that the average population of all cities probably did not exceed 10,000, for there must have been a large percentage of small cities with 5,000 population.
The built-up city was very small. Even if we examine some of the most important ancient cities, such as Athens, Corinth, Delos, Priene, Miletus, Piraeus, Olynthos and Selinus, of which we have more accurate plans and information, we can draw the conclusion that the average area of the ancient city was hardly 1.8 sq. km., that is to say a square whose side was 1.3 km. We might perhaps say that the size of the actually average ancient Greek city was a square whose sides did not exceed 800 meters.

2 thoughts on “The Ancient Greek Cities

  1. shinichi Post author

    The Ancient Greek City and the City of the Present

    by Constantinos A. Doxiadis

    From Ekistics, v.18, no.108, November 1964, p. 346-364

    https://www.doxiadis.org/Downloads/the_ancient_greek_city.pdf

    Greece is divided by mountains into small plains. It is in these plains that the major part of land cultivation takes place and we can roughly say that these do not exceed 22% of the ancient Greek peninsula. The physical boundaries of the small plains form the boundaries of the city-state. These areas range from fairly small states with an area of 100 sq. kms., such as the state of Aegina, to fairly large states, such as the states of Arcadia and Laconia which spread over an area of about 5,000 sq. kms. Diagrammatically, we can thus visualize the ancient Greek states as squares of 10 by 10 km., which could be crossed from end to end in 2 hours or so, to squares of 70 by 70 km., which one needed 14 hours to cross on foot.

    We might perhaps say that the average dimensions of an ancient Greek state were 40 by 40 km., which means that one needed an 8 hours’ walk to go from one end to the other and that, as a rule, one did not have to cross mountains, which in almost all cases divided one city-state from the other.
    If we now consider that the city was placed in the center of each state, we find that in a state of average size the city would be a 4 hours’ walking distance from its edges; in the case of the smaller state it would be an hour’s walking distance and, in the larger states, 7 hours’ distance from the borders. This means that within a day, between sunrise and sunset, one could set forth from the central city and reach the furthermost point even of the largest state, whilst in the case of an average size state one would be able to set forth from the most distant point, go to the central city and return before sunset.

    Man could dominate in his state, with all his human dimensions, not only because he could walk easily from the city to the borders in one day, but also because he could climb up any summit and view the whole state, appreciate the whole vital space of the city, and even because he could very easily receive news of what was happening throughout the state by cry or torch and othe r signals, from hill to hill, in a few minutes.

    The vital space of the whole state had human dimensions. The population of these states started with a few tens o f thousands, perhaps around 30,000, and reached a figure of some hundreds of thousands- perhaps up to 300,000whilst the average population was perhaps in the neighbourhood of 100,000.

    The built-up district, that is to say the city, had a smaller population than the state, and of course, a much smalle r area. The average population of the ancient Greek city, that may have ranged between 5,000 and 50-60,000 inhabitants, was possibly in the neighborhood of 20,000 inhabitants- and I say possibly because we do not know for certain how many were small and how many were large cities. If, however, we judge from the fact that we know the population of a good number of large cities did not exceed 30,000, we can say that the average population of all cities probably did not exceed 10,000, for there must have been a large percentage of small cities with 5,000 population.

    The built-up city was very small. Even if we examine some of the most important ancient cities, such as Athens, Corinth, Delos, Priene, Miletus, Piraeus, Olynthos and Selinus, of which we have more accurate plans and information, we can draw the conclusion that the average area of the ancient city was hardly 1.8 sq. km., that is to say a square whose side was 1.3 km. We might perhaps say that the size of the actually average ancient Greek city was a square whose sides did not exceed 800 meters.

    If we now examine the dimensions of the cities, we shall see that, in fact, they did not tend to be square but were adapted to the landscape. They are of circular shape when developed around an Acropolis, as in Athens, o r rectangular if they are built on a peninsula, as in Piraeus or Miletus. Their average maximum dimension was equal to 2 km., which means that one could cross the city from end to end by walking 20 to 25 minutes, or that no function or dwelling in the city was more than 800 meters distance from the center or a 10 minutes’ walk.

    The density in the cities was fairly uniform, averaging 194.2 inhabitants per hectare, which means that nearly 35 families corresponded to 10,000 sq. meters or some 330 sq. meters to each family. We can realize this if we imagine that each family had a plot of 10 by 20 meters, that is to say 200 sq. m., and corresponding public spaces, roads, squares, sanctuaries that were equivalent to about 130 sq. m. We can say that this is a normal density, because it allows one house of 100 sq. m. per family, with a corresponding garden and a sufficient area for public spaces.
    Ancient cities are divided in two categories: those formed through a natural growth and those created on the Hippodameian system.

    Reply
  2. shinichi Post author

    (Google translate)

    古代ギリシャの都市と現在の都市

    by コンスタンティノス・A・ドクシアディス

    ギリシャは山によって小さな平野に分かれています。 耕作の大部分が行われるのはこれらの平野であり、大まかに言うと、これらは古代ギリシャ半島の 22% を超えないと言えます。 小さな平原の物理的な境界が、都市国家の境界を形成します。 これらの地域は、エギナ州のような 100 平方キロメートルのかなり小さい州から、約 5,000 平方キロメートルの面積に広がるアルカディア州やラコニア州のようなかなり大きな州までさまざまです。 図式的には、古代ギリシャの州を 10 x 10 km の正方形として視覚化することができます。これは端から端まで 2 時間程度で横断でき、70 x 70 km の正方形は横断するのに 14 時間かかりました。

    古代ギリシアの国家の平均的な大きさは 40 x 40 km であったと言えるかもしれません。つまり、端から端まで歩くのに 8 時間かかるのですが、原則として歩く必要はありませんでした。 ほとんどすべての場合、1 つの都市国家を別の都市国家から分離する山を越えます。
    都市が各州の中心に置かれたと考えると、平均的な規模の州では、都市はその端から徒歩で 4 時間の距離にあることがわかります。 小さい州の場合は徒歩で 1 時間、大きい州の場合は国境から 7 時間です。 これは、日の出から日の入りまでの 1 日のうちに、中心都市から出発し、最大の州の最遠点に到達できることを意味します。 遠方の場合は、中心街に行き、日没前に戻ります。

    人間は、街から国境まで一日で簡単に歩けるからだけでなく、どの頂上にも登って州全体を見渡すことができ、重要な空間全体に感謝することができたので、人間のすべての次元で彼の州を支配することができました。 たとえそれが、州全体で起こっていることのニュースを、丘から丘へと数分で鳴き声やたいまつ、その他の信号によって非常に簡単に受け取ることができたからです。

    州全体の重要な空間には人間の次元がありました。 これらの州の人口は、数万人、おそらく約 30,000 人から始まり、数十万人、おそらく最大で 300,000 人の数字に達しましたが、平均人口はおそらく 100,000 人前後でした。

    市街地、つまり市は州よりも人口が少なく、もちろん面積もはるかに小さかった。 古代ギリシャの都市の平均人口は、5,000 人から 50,000 人から 60,000 人の間だったかもしれませんが、おそらく 20,000 人近くの住民でした。 都市。 しかし、かなりの数の大都市の人口が 30,000 を超えなかったという事実から判断すると、すべての都市の平均人口はおそらく 10,000 を超えなかったと言えます。 人口 5,000 人の小都市。

    建設された都市は非常に小さかった。 アテネ、コリントス、デロス、プリエネ、ミレトス、ピレウス、オリュントス、セリヌスなど、より正確な計画と情報を持っている最も重要な古代都市のいくつかを調べたとしても、その平均面積は 古代都市は 1.8 平方キロメートル、つまり一辺が 1.3 キロメートルの正方形でした。 実際の平均的な古代ギリシャの都市のサイズは、一辺が 800 メートルを超えない正方形だったと言えるかもしれません。

    都市の寸法を調べると、実際には、それらは正方形になる傾向がなく、景観に適応していたことがわかります. それらは、アテネのようにアクロポリスの周りに開発された場合は円形であり、ピレウスやミレトスのように半島に建てられた場合は長方形です。 それらの平均最大寸法は 2 km に等しかった。これは、20 分から 25 分歩くことで街の端から端まで横断できること、または街の機能や住居が中心から 800 メートル以上離れていないことを意味する。 徒歩10分。

    都市の人口密度はかなり均一で、1 ヘクタールあたり平均 194.2 人の住民が住んでいました。つまり、35 世帯近くが 10,000 平方メートルに相当し、各世帯は約 330 平方メートルに相当します。 各家族が 10 x 20 メートル、つまり 200 平方メートルの区画を持ち、対応する公共スペース、道路、広場、聖域が約 130 平方メートルに相当すると想像すると、これを実現できます。 これは、100 平方メートルの家が 1 つできるため、通常の密度であると言えます。 家族ごとに、対応する庭と公共スペースに十分な面積があります。

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *