ANCIENT GREEK CITY OF PRIENE, TURKEY

Physical Planning
Dinika Thomas
1RV13AT025

LOCATION
It was formerly on
the sea coast, built
overlooking the
ocean on steep
slopes and terraces
extending from sea
level
Today, after several
centuries of
changes in the
landscape, it is an
inland site. It is
located at a short
distance west of the
modern village
Gllbahe Turun
in the Ske district
of Aydn Province,
Turkey

CITY PLANNING
The city was arranged
into FOUR districts:
1)Political district
Contained the
Bouleuterion and the
Prytaneion
2)Cultural district
Contained the theatre
3)Commercial district
Contained the Agora
4)Religious district
Contained sanctuaries
dedicated to Zeus and
Demeter and the Temple
of Athena

Remains of the Bouleuterion in Priene

POLITICAL DISTRICT
Bouleuterion (Council / Senate House)

Priene, Turkey

Theater at Priene, c. 300 B.C., seats 6000

CULTURAL DISTRICT
Theater

Priene, Turkey

COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
Agora

acropolis
high city

AGORA

agora

RELIGIOUS DISTRICT
Urban temples
Stoas

Priene, Turkey

Stoas
Urban
temple
Stoa

Agora

Remains of the Ionic Temple of Athena Polias

FEATURES OF THE HIPPODAMIAN PLAN

1.
2.
3.
4.

Streets at right angles

Quarters divided into blocks
Blocks subdivided into housing lots
Public buildings set into the system
without interfering with traffic
5. Plan laid over any terrain

Priene, Turkey

GOVERNMENT
The mechanism of democracy was similar to but simpler than that of the Athenians (who
had a greater population)
An assembly of citizens met periodically to render major decisions placed before them
The day-to-day legislative and executive business was conducted by a boul, or city council,
which met in a bouleuterion like a small theatre with a wooden roof

SOCIETY
Priene was a wealthy city, as the plenitude of fine urban homes in marble and the
private dedications of public buildings
One third of them had indoor toilets, a rarity in a society typically featuring public banks
of outdoor seats in urban environments
Indoor plumbing requires more extensive water supply and sewage systems They
captured springs and streams on Mycale, brought them in by aqueduct to cisterns and
piped or channeled from there to houses and fountains
Most Greek cities, such as Athens, required visits to the public fountains (the work of
domestic servants), but the upper third of Prieneian society had access to indoor water

REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priene
http://www.museumofthecity.org/project/hippodamus-and-early-planned-cities/
http://www.newtowninstitute.org/newtowndata/newtown.php?newtownId=421