Features of the city plan of Ancient Egypt (Thebes, Kahuna, Giza, Akhetaton). Problems of the symbiosis of art and architecture.

In Egypt, the most difficult stages in the development of European (art) culture were passed. Here, for the first time in the history of mankind, such problems as: the problem of the image of residential and public buildings, the problem of monumentality, the problem of proportion and rhythms, the problem of ensembles including works of architecture, sculpture and painting were solved. In Egypt back in the 20th century BC. There are picturesquely planned and regular cities with a geometrically regular grid of streets and distinct urban centers, including palace and temple complexes. The methods of planning these cities, their improvement and development, inclusive, were studied and creatively reworked by the Greeks and Romans, who created a solid foundation for the development of art in the future. The entire period of Egyptian history is divided into 3 kingdoms - Ancient (2780-2550 BC), Middle (2160-1788), New Kingdom (1590-725 BC). In the era of the ancient kingdom - pyramids, the middle - cave temples, the new - above-ground temples. Here is an idea of ​​the ways of development of the steel cities of Egypt: in each new reign, the pharaohs created new residences i.e. Thebes and Memphis had several centers. Thebes, unlike Kahun and Akhetaten, had an irregular layout as the city moved to a new location. Kahun had a regular layout and was more of a village than a city due to its small size. Akheteton (the temporary capital of Egypt) on the southern side has a chaotic layout: large houses of rich Egyptians alternate with residential buildings of the poor. But in all the cities of ancient Egypt, there was a main street that led through the entire city. zoning of city development based on social and property characteristics. Free type of layout. Summing up the millennium-long existence of Ancient Egypt, it should be noted the constancy and durability of urban planning traditions, explained by the natural and historical conditions of the development of this country. The improvement of the same architectural types over many centuries, be it pyramids, temple ensembles or entire cities, led to the fact that in certain periods Egyptian architects created true masterpieces, which to this day can serve as unsurpassed examples of world architecture. Pyramids, obelisks, pylons, sphinxes, the contours of which seemed to fit into the radii of the sun's rays, testified to the deep relationship of architectural images with the philosophical and religious ideas and scientific observations of the ancient Egyptians, while columns with capitals in the form of blossoming lotus flowers growing as if from the ground or papyrus inflorescences spoke of a deep understanding and artistic interpretation of the surrounding natural reality. As for the typology of ancient Egyptian cities, there was a gradual development of cities of various types. If initially urban settlements were small and had a predominantly round shape in plan, then later fortified cities appeared not only round, but also rectangular in plan. Cities also appeared to accommodate construction workers and slaves, built according to regular plans, as well as sanctuary cities that had their own patterns of architectural and spatial development. Capitals occupied a special place in ancient Egyptian urban planning. Capital cities, usually consisting of the city itself and an extensive necropolis, were a complex conglomerate of palaces, temples and residential buildings, which was based on the social hierarchy of the ancient Egyptian slave society.

1. Features of urban planning in Ancient Greece (Athens, Piraeus, Silenunta) Artistic and compositional techniques in solving the organization of spaces.

The history of ancient Greece is usually divided into 1) ancient (Homeric) 2) archaic 3) classical 4) Hellenistic. The settlement of the Balkan peninsula began in ancient times and was marked by the emergence of. Information about their urban planning is poor due to the fact that they were at the stage of decomposition of the ancestral layer. IN archaic era 8-6 centuries the aristocracy comes, which significantly expands the construction of temples. Cities of the Archaic era had an irregular layout and consisted of an acropolis and an agora. Back in the archaic era, the first orders were created - Ionic and Doric. The 5th century was characterized not so much by the construction of new cities as by the restoration of old ones after the war. Restoring cities such as Piraeus, the Greeks did not repeat irregular urban planning techniques; they began to use a new regular planning system (Hippodamian). In architecture classical period characterized by: 1) the perfection of proportions in temple architecture, 2) the synthesis of arts, 3) the flourishing of ensembles, for which agoras and acropolises (turned from fortresses into publicly accessible temple complexes) became the main architectural objects, and 4) the development of a regular (rectangular) city layout. Another major architectural event dates back to the classical period - the creation of the first Corinthian capital. Thus, already in the 5th century. BC e. There were three main architectural orders. Urban planning Hellenistic era combined the techniques and forms characteristic of the indigenous culture of ancient Greece with the archetypal heritage of the Ancient East. Plumbing, communications and street paving have become firmly established in construction practice. The layout of later periods received the most complete coverage. Distinctive feature Cretan cities were that they did not have defensive walls due to the presence of a fleet. Cities of the archaic era were characterized by an irregular, picturesque layout. The period of regular planning occurred at the time of the restoration of cities. The plan of Piraeus gives us an example of highlighting one compositional axis (the main street) against the backdrop of a rectangular network of urban streets. In Salenunte there was a crossroads of 2 direct highways, according to the location of the archaic temples that survived the Carthalenian invasion. Hood - compositional techniques: If the temples of Silenunta were located in the form of row buildings (they stood parallel to the coast), then in the Acropolis of Athens the temples stood at angles to each other.

Features of urban planning of Ancient Rome (Rome, Aosta, Pompeii, Lambesis, Timgad) 6-4 centuries BC. Spatial organization of the Roman forum. Roman culture in the light of the influence of Greek art and religion.

At the beginning of the republican era, Rome was a typical city state with an ordinary aristocracy in power (patricians) and plebeians making up the majority of the population. The economic basis of the Roman state was agriculture. Roman cities received one or another layout depending on the purpose of the city, its location and the territory occupied. In the Composition of military camps and small towns such as Aosta or Timgad, a regular layout prevailed, but large cities and those that were located at the intersection of terrain did not have a regular layout. The plan of a Roman military camp was almost always a square or rectangle along the axes of which there were 2 main streets, one running from north to south, and the second from west to east (cardo and decumanus). These streets either crossed the entire camp, connecting opposing gates, or rested like a T. There are several stages in the history of the territorial development of Rome: “Roma of the square” - the first city enclosed within a hill, resembles a beveled square; The development of the outskirts of other left-bank hills is associated with the construction of the walls of Servia Gullia, which covered a significant area that included 7 hills; Construction of suburban strategic roads Pompeii also does not have a geometrically ideal planning structure. The composition was determined not by the geometric scheme, but by the picturesqueness of the surrounding landscape. The centers of ancient Roman cities were forums (squares). IN small towns the forum was a miniature square that served for gatherings of military personnel and citizens. Trade was carried out either outside the city walls or on forums. In metropolitan cities, several forums were built and divided according to their purpose. The camp-type cities of Lambesis and Timgad were built like military camps. Such cities were characterized by a regular street layout, limited territory, and connections to main transit and strategic roads. Cities of recreation and entertainment - Pompeii. The coast of the Gulf of Naples has long been a favorite vacation spot for the Romans. The city walls, about 8 m high, date back to the pre-Roman period. The city had eight gates, of which the main ones were the Marine, Herculan, Stabian, Vesuvian, etc. Four main streets organized the city plan: the streets of Mercury and Stabian, directed towards Vesuvius, and the streets of Abundance (Abondanza) and Nola, perpendicular to them. Secondary streets duplicated the direction of the main ones. During the period of the Tarquin dynasty, immigrants from Etruria (616-510 BC), residential buildings with atriums and temples on high podiums became widespread in Rome. The Tuscan order began to form. During the period of further development of Roman urban planning, Hellenistic influences increased significantly. From the Greeks, the Romans borrowed such types of structures as the theater, stadium, palaestra, and peristyle of residential buildings. For many centuries the Romans followed in the footsteps of the Greeks. However, the time came when Roman culture acquired its original features, but even in this case, contact with the urban art of Greece did not stop. A very special section of Roman urban planning art consists of the additions by Roman architects of Greek ensembles, which were carried out by the Romans in almost all cities of Greece. In all cases, the Romans treated ancient Greek architecture with care and built not so much leading, but rather ordinary buildings, sincerely believing that they did not spoil, but improved the “unfinished” ensembles of the past. The desire for completeness and integrity of the architectural and planning composition was one of the main artistic principles of Roman urban planning. The significance of ancient Rome in the further development of urban culture was enormous. It is no coincidence that the revival of ancient traditions in the XV-XVI centuries. happened first in Italy. Later, the ruins of ancient Rome turned out to be the breeding ground in which the urban planning principles of European classicism of the second half of the 18th century grew and were defined. In addition, the high level of engineering and improvement of urban areas subsequently served as an example for many cities in Western and of Eastern Europe. All this suggests that ancient Roman urban planning contained great potential, which was further developed in subsequent periods.

The planning difference between the cities of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom and the cities of Egypt (round, rhombic). Varieties of planning structure.

Compared to Egypt, the cities of Mesopotamia have been thoroughly studied, but their study is quite difficult, due to the fact that in Mesopotamia they were built from mud brick, and also as a result of destructive wars. A wide valley irrigated by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers stretches from the foothills of modern Kyrgyzstan and ends with the Persian Gulf. The settlement of Mesopotamia began simultaneously with the settlement of the Iil Valley. There were constant wars and civil strife. But periodically, the southern and northern half of the country united and during this period massive construction took place. Of the entire existence of Mesopotamia, 3 periods can be distinguished: 1) Sumerian-Akkadian 2) Assyrian 3) New Valonian. Excavations have proven that the cities, common in Mesopotamia, are divided into 2 parts: the citadel and the residential area. The existing Citadel included temples, palaces, court chambers and other general buildings. In contrast to the citadel, the residential area spread along the ground due to the fact that the buildings had 1 floor. Comparing the cities of Sumer and Akkad with ancient Egyptian cities, one cannot help but note the differences between them: the circular shape, unlike Egypt, of palaces and temples in old places, due to the fact that the buildings were denser. A characteristic feature is construction on terraces to avoid flooding. In Babylon, a regular layout, geometrically correct, was firmly established, just like in Egypt, but considering these 2 countries, it cannot be said that Babylon borrowed the planning structure from the Egyptians because there was no economic or cultural connection between them. The rectangular cities of Babylon differed in many ways from similar cities in Egypt: they were oriented according to the cardinal directions. As for the role of the cities of Mesopotamia in the development of world urban planning, it was very significant. Many generations of city builders in Assyria and Babylonia decided on such large urban planning for the main building of the city (in the form of a ziggurat ), the use of color as one of the compositional means in the formation of urban ensembles, the use of planning modules when dividing urban areas and much more. Summing up the millennium-long existence of Ancient Egypt, it should be noted the constancy and durability of urban planning traditions, explained by the natural and historical conditions of the development of this country. As for the typology of ancient Egyptian cities, there was a gradual development of cities of various types. If initially urban settlements were small and had a predominantly round shape in plan, then later fortified cities appeared not only round, but also rectangular in plan. Cities also appeared to accommodate construction workers and slaves, built according to regular plans, as well as sanctuary cities that had their own patterns of architectural and spatial development. Capitals occupied a special place in ancient Egyptian urban planning. Capital cities, usually consisting of the city itself and an extensive necropolis, were a complex conglomerate of palaces, temples and residential buildings, which was based on the social hierarchy of the ancient Egyptian slave society. A feature of capital cities was their enormous size, which suggests that the urban planning thinking of ancient architects was characterized by geographical scales. All this suggests that of all the ancient urban cultures, Egyptian culture was the most original and artistically rich, which is confirmed by its strong influence on the further development of urban planning in both European and Asian countries.

Features of the architecture of Ancient Greece. Parthenon Temple in Athens

1.2 Features of city planning

In addition to temples, all ancient Greek masters erected a huge number of other architectural structures that had a public purpose: palaestras, stadiums, theaters, and so on. As for theaters, they were located on the slopes of the mountains (Fig. 5). At the same time, special stages were made across the slope, intended for spectators. In front of them, a stage was being erected below for the actors to perform. Typically, the largest theater was able to accommodate more than 25 thousand people.

As for residential buildings, in the center they had a rectangular courtyard, into which the windows and doors of the premises opened. The main thing was intended for meals and feasts, and top floor usually belonged to representatives of the fair half of humanity.

There was a special period in Ancient Greece that was marked by urban planning. At this time, numerous shopping centers and buildings for various purposes were erected, and all this was carried out at a very fast pace and on a large scale. Based on this, it became necessary to develop certain technical techniques, as well as theoretical foundations, in order to quickly carry out construction processes.

New developments of that time were combined in special architectural treatises. Their authors worked to create the most rational construction methods, both in technical and architectural planning terms. Around the same time, a basic layout of the city was developed, which was divided into equal blocks by a rectangular grid.

As a rule, public buildings were located in the city center: the city council, the people's assembly, the basilica, schools, gymnasiums and temples. The central city square of that time had the character of a market or agora. During the construction process, the square itself and the streets were specially bordered by porticos that created shade, and along the contours of the city they were surrounded by walls that performed defensive functions.

Mesoamerican culture

Listed problems- this is just the surface layer of the iceberg of the secrets of the Mayan civilization, which create a special mystical aura around them. The history and culture of the Mayan people are usually divided into three main periods...

Pina Bausch - genius of gesture

Pina Bausch German choreographer In the late 80s, Pina begins a series of performances dedicated to countries around the world. They are also called “portraits of countries and cities.” However, they have an indirect relationship to reality...

The modern development of socio-cultural activities and its social institutions occurs against the backdrop of fundamental transformations in all spheres of life of the Russian state - from economics to ideology. There is a change in values...

Development of a concept for the socio-cultural development of the city

The creativity of the impressionists as a manifestation of inconsistency historical era

Post-Impressionism, this term was first used by the English critic Roger Fry in relation to various movements in art that arose in France in the period from 1880 to 1905 as a reaction to impressionism...

Funding for culture

Currently, the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation finances federal institutions and organizations. Their list is determined by the government of the Russian Federation. It includes libraries, museums, theaters, educational institutions...

Harappan culture

The existence of large cities and the presence of a strict system of urban planning and construction indicate the high degree of development of the Harappan civilization. As a result of excavations, several large cities were discovered...

Harappan culture

After several centuries of prosperity, the “decline” of the Harappan civilization came. The researchers traced internal development Harappan culture and determined that there were several periods in the life of cities...

Adoption of the Budget Code in 1998 Russian Federation meant a transition to a qualitatively new stage in the development of the budget system and the beginning of the implementation of budget reform: the transition from cost management to results management...

Targeted programs in the field of culture: goals, mechanisms for development, financing and implementation in the Vologda region

The legal regulation of relations between program-targeted budget planning at present, according to a number of authors, is disjointed [See: 101, 83-84]. There are no normative legal acts in the Legislation of the Russian Federation...

URBAN PLANNING OF ANCIENT GREECE

The history of Ancient Greece is divided into three periods:

a) archaic VIII-VI centuries BC. b) classical V-IV centuries BC.

c) Hellenistic (second half of IV middle I in BC)

Natural conditions are varied. Urban development areas are isolated from each other by mountain ranges. The main factor is the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek city-polis consisted of an urban settlement and a rural district.

Forms of management:- oligarchic (Sparta) - democratic Athens

Policy sizes different: Sparta - 8,400 sq. km Athens - 5,550 sq. km

6 policies on the island of Euboea 3,700 sq. km 22 policies of Phocis 1,650 sq. km (every 75 sq. km)

Social composition:

1) hereditary - clan nobility: landowners, traders, artisans

2) foreigners (did not enjoy the right of citizenship): – metics

From the nearest villages - Periethecus

3) slaves up to 1/3 of the inhabitants

The cities of the Archaic period consisted of a fortified acropolis and a lower city with a public (market) square, the Agora, located at its foot.

in the VIII - VII centuries. BC. the cities did not yet have external fortress walls (the city of Selinunte on the island of Sicily. The city was located on a flat rock, bounded on the west by a river valley, and on the east by a sea bay.

On the acropolis, the main temples were located parallel to each other (VI century BC). The regular layout of the acropolis dates back to the Archaic era, when two intersecting streets were laid in a north-south and west-east direction. The width of the north-south street = 9 m, it was fronted by blocks 30 m long with cross passages of 3.6 - 3.9 m.

Archaic ensembles had polychrome (red metopes) gold shields.

Pan-Greek cult centers: Olympia and Delphi.

Olympia. First Olympic Games, associated with the cult of Olympian Zeus occurred in 776 BC. every 4 years. During the Olympic Games, internecine wars ceased and the entire male population went to Elis, where a sanctuary (Altis) was located at the foot of the wooded Mount Kronos. The main temple of the sanctuary was the Temple of Zeus (460 BC), decorated with a statue of Zeus (sculptor Phidias) with an altar in which fire was maintained during the Olympic Games. Opposite the temple of Zeus and the altar there was a multi-columned portico - stoa - “Echo”. The space surrounded by these buildings was a prototype of future city squares - agoras.

Next to the sanctuary there was a stadium for 40 thousand spectators. The gentle slopes of the hill were used for seating. In the valley of the Alfea River there was a hippodrome for equestrian competitions.

The sanctuary was surrounded by numerous buildings: a gymnasium, a palaestra, etc. and public buildings - bouleuterium.

The size of the city is small. Residents: priests and judges, and artisans.

Slaves were not allowed at the Olympic Games.

The sanctuary of Olympia was formed in the archaic era, but it already had features inherent in ensembles of a later time.

1. lack of strict symmetry,
2. picturesque balance of architectural volumes,
3. harmonious unity of architecture with the surrounding nature,
4. co-scale with a harmoniously built (monumentalized) person.

During the process of Greek colonization, methods were developed for the placement of cities: 1) the proximity of a convenient sea bay for parking and repairing merchant and military ships,

2) availability of clean drinking water,

3) the presence of fertile lands,

4) favorable conditions for the defense of the city and wind conditions,

5) the presence of natural rainwater flow

In the 5th century BC. In the city of Miletus lived Hippodamus, a theoretician and practical urban planner who developed urban planning concepts of a regular plan with new functional and aesthetic principles.

New and common characteristics (Miletus and Piraeus)

1) Zoning of the territory (commercial, public, residential)

2) Orientation of main streets from southwest to northeast

3) harmonious proportions of quarters, 7: 6; 7:4

4) street width: secondary. streets – 3.5 m; main streets - 7m, leading road 15m, i.e. The width of the streets was successively doubled.

5) streets, squares and large public buildings organically fit into the planning grid of the plan.

The center of Miletus developed along two spatial coordinates. Along one there was a gymnasium with a stadium and a city park, along the other there were shopping and public squares.

These squares consisted of a southern agora, intended for trade, with shops located around the perimeter and porticoes. The southern agora had three entrances (size 166 x 128 m). The northern agora (smaller) was intended for trade in luxury goods. Between the agoras was the civic center of the city community: bouleuterium - i.e. city ​​council building. In front of the bouleuterium there was an altar for the taking of the oath by the citizens of the community.

The planning composition was “open” in nature. The fortress walls did not have geometrically correct outlines; they did not hinder the growth of the city.

The main planning unit was a block consisting of 2, four or more houses. The city developed by increasing residential units from the center to the periphery.

The Rise of Greek Culture and Architecture (Classics) coincides with the elevation of the city of Athens. The length of Athens from west to east is 1.5 km. On the territory of the city there was a ridge of hills, among which the most massive was the Acropolis hill, 300 m long and 150 m wide, 60 m above sea level.

In the 5th century BC. Construction of the Athens Acropolis began. The first structure is the statue of Athena the Warrior (sculptor Phidias). A year later, the architects Ictinus and Callicrates began construction of the temple of Athena - the Virgin - Parthenon (447 - 438 BC) on the highest point of the hill. The dimensions of the Parthenon are 30.89 x 69.54 m.

In 437 BC. the architect Mnesicles began the construction of the Propylaea (finished in 432 BC). In 421 BC. - construction of the Erechtheion, at the same time there was a small Ionic temple of Nike (Wingless Victory, architect Kallicrates).

The large-scale and figurative contrast between the Parthenon and the Erechtheion suggests that there were different compositional plot zones on the acropolis. The area of ​​the Parthenon, which was intended not as a receptacle for a deity, but as a monument to the military and civil glory of Athens, addressed the entire Greek world. The northern zone, facing the agora, appealed to Attica and Athens. The compositional role of the Propylaea was to combine two plot-compositional principles.

Artistic unity was achieved due to: a single proportional structure of the architectural orders of the Parthenon, Erechtheion and Propylaea, as well as due to the unity of architecture and sculpture.

Each of the sculptures: Athena the Warrior, Athena the Virgin (in the Parthenon),

Athens patroness of the city (in the Erechtheion), Athens Hygeia (patron of health), Athens Ergana (patron of crafts)

had its own scale and was located in a certain place.

The Athenian Acropolis was designed to be perceived as it moved along a certain trajectory, which was associated with the famous Panathenaic holidays. The order of the solemn procession was captured by Phidias on the Ionic frieze of the Parthenon. The procession moved synchronously with the movement of the sun across the sky.

On other hills of Athens, temples were later built (Temple of Theseus).

The city was supplied with water, which was delivered by an aqueduct (VI century BC). The city was surrounded by fortified walls with gates. The Athenian agora was landscaped along the contour with plane trees. Separate residential areas were identified: Limny, Melite, Keramik.

Residential buildings are built of wood and mud brick. The dwellings were very modest, which corresponded to the democratic principles of the time.

The Classical period is associated with the rise of Athens.

Hellenism is associated with the rise of Macedonia.

in the 6th and 5th centuries. BC. Macedonia was the outskirts of the Greek world.

Hellenism is associated with the name of Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC). This is the period when, with the merging of Greek culture with the local traditions of the peoples of the East, a qualitatively new art was born.

The purpose of the campaigns of Alexander the Great was the desire to expand the borders of the state, colonize vast spaces, turning them into sources of slaves, seize the wealth of eastern cities, find markets for constant trade and turn the conquered countries into a colossal multilingual monarchy.

All campaigns of Alexander the Great were accompanied by active urban planning activities. Alexander the Great either built new fortified settlements, or provided funds for the restoration of destroyed cities, or made contributions to the construction of local sanctuaries.

The first city to which Alexander the Great granted funds for the construction of public buildings was the small Ionian city of Priene. Priene is located on the southern slope of the Mykalian Mountains, terraced down to the valley of the winding Meander River. The city was convenient for people to live. The mountains protected him from the northern winds. Water from mountain springs was distributed throughout the city through ceramic pipes. The city is surrounded by a fortress wall, which covered the territory taking into account further growth. The size of the community center and numerous entertainment facilities are designed for a larger city.

The city plan was regular. The only passable street (west - east) was called Western Gate Street. The remaining streets parallel to it were pedestrian. The streets (north-south) were stairs. The main street had a width of 7.36 m, the rest 3-4.4 m. The city is divided into residential quarters, the sides of the quarters were proportioned as 3: 4. The proportions of the “golden ratio” were used in many buildings and spaces. Each block consists of four residential buildings. Each house consisted of a small paved courtyard surrounded by residential and office premises. In some cases there was a small garden behind the house. Only the walls of houses and fences with entrance openings faced the street.

The public buildings of Priene were located on three terraces.

At the lower level there was a large gymnasium with a square internal peristyle and a stadium. On the second terrace– the main social and shopping center. The center consisted of a food market agora and a sanctuary of Zeus. The agora itself consisted of a southern trading part, surrounded by a colonnade, behind which there were shops, and a public part, facing the Sacred Stoa. The sacred stoa (Orophernes stoa) was a gallery with two rows of external and internal columns that supported the roof. Behind the gallery were located city institutions, among which the ecclesiasterium (hall for public meetings) and the prytany stood out for their size.

On the third terrace the main sanctuary of the city was located - the temple of Athena Polyada, the patroness of the city (architect Pytheas). The Ionic peripter of the Temple of Athena is clearly visible from the agora, especially along the diagonal, which was typical of the best ensembles of the classical period.

Thus, Priene is a unique example of Hellenistic urban planning, combining two directions in the development of urban planning art in Greece: an improved regular spatial system and the ability to create monumental ensembles located at different levels.

During the campaigns of Alexander the Great, over 70 Alexandrias were founded.

The largest was city ​​of Alexandria Egypt(331 BC).

The city is oriented almost exactly according to the cardinal points. The main street ran parallel to the sea, its length was 7 km, width 30 m. The street had colonnades along its entire length. The building height is 20 m. The city had extensive parks. Particularly famous were the Museion garden, the sacred grove at the Dicasterion pipe production building and the Paneion park, in the center of which there was an artificial hill with a temple at the very top.

After the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), the empire split into a number of separate Hellenistic states: the Ptolemaic kingdom, the Seleucid kingdom; Greco - the Bactrian kingdom, the Pergamon kingdom and Macedonia.

Followers of Alexander the Great continued to found new cities. King Ptolemy founded 75 new cities, one of them was city ​​of Ptolemyada(near Thebes).

Among the cities Seleucid kingdom stood out Dura – Europos on the river Euphrates. It was oriented according to the cardinal points, like most cities of Mesopotamia, the city was surrounded by fortified walls, had three gates, and a citadel in the northeastern part. In the center is the agora. The street system is rectangular. The width of the main street is 12.65 m, 2 transverse ones are 8.45 m, the rest are 6.35 m.

City blocks occupied areas of 70.5 x 35.2 m, i.e. had proportions of 1:2.

Capital The kingdom of Pergamon was the city of Pergamum. It did not have a regular layout, but developed freely at the foot of the Acropolis. Streets 10 m wide

had stone paving and gutters. The city was surrounded by walls on several sides, the main one being the southern gate. The city had two squares - the Upper and Lower Markets, three gymnasiums, and a library. The main street from the South Gate led to the Acropolis. Having passed the market of the lower city and the gymnasium, located on three terraces, it rose to a height of 250 m to the upper agora, then, after a rise of 40 m, it approached the entrance to the acropolis and led along the royal gardens.

On the left side of the road was the sanctuary of Athena with a monumental entrance in the form of propylae. The Library of Pergamon adjoins the sanctuary of Athena to the north.

The sanctuary of Athena is surrounded on three sides by two-tiered white marble porticoes, and on the fourth side it is open to the city. The Temple of Athena (Doric order) is moved to the edge of the sanctuary terrace. Below the relief to the north was the Great Altar of Zeus (1st half of the 2nd century BC). A sculptural frieze 120 m high, 2.5 m depicting the battle of the gods with the giants (dedicated to the victory of the Pergamon troops over the Galatian tribes). From the sanctuary of Athena one could get into a theater carved into the rock. Later, a gallery was added to the theater stage.

Thus, the Pergamon Acropolis consists of several ensembles isolated from each other, but due to the possibility of viewing, the illusion of spatial integrity of these ensembles was created. The western façade of the acropolis from the sea side was especially impressive. A fan-shaped composition unfolded - picturesque and balanced.

Thus, urban planning of the 4th – late 2nd centuries. BC. characterized by the following main features:

1) urban spaces become an independent architectural theme;

2) the use of colonnades, porticoes, galleries in the formation of spaces in city squares to give them geometric correctness and uniformity;

3) the increasing role of the peristyle in residential architecture, sanctuaries, gymnasiums and other public buildings;

4) the development of a tendency towards closed urban spaces;

5) development of techniques for creating unified architectural and spatial compositions at different levels of complex terrain;

6) high level of improvement: paving of streets and squares, water pipelines;

7) experience in the construction of multi-storey buildings for renting out premises;

8) construction of villas;

9) an attempt to develop a cosmopolitan artistic language:

Introducing oriental elements into Greek art;

Increasing the scale of architectural ensembles;

Increasing the formal-compositional side to the detriment of the ideological-artistic

Lush decoration of buildings.

The urban environment is a complex functional-spatial system of inextricably linked parts of the city. In this system, both buildings and structures and the spaces of streets, intersections and squares interact equally. In addition, this system includes many other components: from unique works of monumental and decorative art to standard elements of urban equipment and landscaping.

The space of the city is the strict lines of avenues and cozy alleys, giant enterprises and shady parks, granite-clad embankments and old cozy courtyards. All this represents the current appearance of the city, towards which humanity has been moving for millennia.

The most ancient urban-type settlements, which arose in the 7th-6th millennia BC, were not yet cities in the modern sense. The village of Çatalhöyük, located in the mountains in what is now Turkey, consisted of hundreds of thick-walled stone houses pressed against one another. There were no streets in the village, not even a tiny square. The entire village was a single dwelling compressed into a single unit.

Streets and squares in settlements appeared much later. The largest and most compact of them began to be called cities. The spatial organization of cities was formed by the relative position and interconnections of streets and squares, i.e. a system that forms the planning structure of a city.

Centuries-old experience of urban planning shows that under the most diverse conditions for the formation of cities, the spatial structure of their planning has a fairly limited number of types. From the point of view of geometric design, urban structures can be reduced to three main types.

The evolution of the spatial environment of cities over more than two millennia is reflected in the alternation of these three types of planning structures.

The appearance of the rectangular layout dates back to the most ancient periods of urban planning, associated with the development of the civilizations of India, Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. The Indian city, as described in the treatise of Manasara, had a rectangular plan, surrounded by a wall with eight entrances and divided into equal blocks with mutually perpendicular streets. The quarter was built up with a group of residential buildings, fenced off from the streets by a wall. It was recommended to change the width of city streets depending on their purpose: pedestrian intra-block streets were narrow and had a natural outline, and the main network of wide streets (today we call them highways) was rectangular and clearly oriented according to the cardinal points. The city center occupied an area of ​​four blocks, in the middle of which was the main building.

In India, in ancient times, urban planning principles were formed on the basis of “sacred diagrams called “mandalas”.

Plan of Jaipur (India). Square #3 replaced the existing mountain and moved to the square. Next, squares No. 1 and 2 connected, giving space to the palace

The earliest description of rectangular plans is associated with the Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro (translated as the city of the dead), whose heyday dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. The precision of the plan expresses an urban planning concept that meets the needs of a highly organized society for that time. Streets are straight, parallel and perpendicular to the bottom of another. Individual elements and quarters of the city are interconnected and create a single structure.

The correct geometric outlines of the city plan are also characteristic of small ancient Egyptian cities. Large cities that were being built up. as a rule, they took a long time and spontaneously, more often they had an irregular layout. Small towns can be considered using the example of Kahuna, built

Kahun (Egypt). Plan of the northwestern part of the city at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. It had the shape of a rectangle, oriented strictly along the cardinal points. Its territory of 10 hectares consisted of two parts: the first was filled with equal-sized quarters for slaves, the second with houses of the highest administration. This is how the eastern region of Akhetaten (Tel El Amarna) was built up.

Chinese city, mentioned in a treatise of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC, Zhou-li-Kao-Gongzi was also founded using a modular square grid with a much larger block size (with a side of about 200 m), representing a fairly large complex of residential or public buildings. The plan is central, without highlighting the main directions of movement from the periphery to the center.

An analysis of the spatial structure of the ancient cities of India, Egypt and China suggests that during this period two primary elements of the city had already been formed: space (settlement) and communications (roads). In addition, the centricity of urban space was clearly demonstrated. The focal point, the center of gravity of the space, was occupied by the temple - a symbol of the settlement. A large area was left undeveloped around it, which had not yet received independent architectural significance, but played an important social role. In ancient cities, the architecture of each object, as a rule, was formed independently, independently of other neighboring objects.

The rectangular layout was brilliantly developed in the cities of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. In ancient Greek culture, cities generally occupied a very special place, since they were independent units not only economically, but also in military and political terms, i.e. were actually city-states.

Even in the archaic period, the characteristic structure of the ancient city developed, the core of which was a sacred site - the acropolis, which housed the main temples and was located, as a rule, on a rock or the top of a fortified hill. At the foot of the acropolis, which served as a citadel for the city's population, residential areas were built - the so-called lower city with a shopping area (agora) and public buildings. The city was protected by walls along the entire perimeter.

At first, Greek cities had an irregular, free layout, subordinate to the natural topography of the area. However, which began in the 5th century. BC. The reconstruction of Greek cities, which were destroyed during the many years of Greco-Persian wars, was already carried out on the basis of regular plans. The modular structure of ancient cities is being improved, acquiring the outlines of the so-called Hippodamian grid (system). Piraeus, Thurii and the cities of Rhodes are believed to have been built on this grid. Since the rectangular modular grid was known to ancient city planners, Hippodamus (5th century BC) is not responsible for the discovery of this system, but for its improvement and dissemination. Despite the rigidity of the rectangular. The Greeks freely placed blocks on the city border, which gave the layout extreme flexibility and contributed to the dispersion of zones to accommodate the city's public functions. These were the first attempts to use a polycentric structure. The use of the Hippodamian system allowed the residential areas of the lower part of the Greek city to take the form of squares or slightly elongated rectangles, separated by an equal grid of streets. The introduction of the Hippodamian grid was facilitated by the tendency of Greek society towards democratization, which led to a standard in the distribution of urban territory.

It should be especially noted that Greek city planners managed to fit rigid planning grids into the complex terrain. At the same time, the port cities, whose outline followed the complex coastline, were organized comfortably, diversely and harmoniously inside. The Hippodamian grid in them resembles not so much a rigid lattice of a planning structure, but rather a canvas, using which the architect creates exquisite “embroidery” without any interference. The amazing ability to combine regularity of plan and picturesque nature was later lost.

The famous historian of urban planning A. Bunin explained this by the fact that Greek cities were small, the population of the largest of them was no more than 50 thousand people. Of course, with such dimensions, the Hippodamian grid did not threaten to bore you with its mechanistic monotony, which is inevitable in large cities. Be that as it may, the plans of Greek cities forever remained the pearls of world urban planning, in which the organic nature of nature’s creation was miraculously combined with the rational will of man.

Regular structure of Greek cities of the V-II centuries. BC. became the prototype of many urban planning solutions of the next two millennia, including projects of the so-called ideal cities.

Being a creative continuation and development of ancient Greek architecture, Roman urban culture, under the conditions of the same ancient slaveholding formation, made a significant step forward. The layout of numerous cities and military camps, founded throughout the territory of the gigantic empire, was based on the use of a standard that allowed saving effort, money and time. The significance of the Roman urban planning experience also lies in the fact that for the first time significant measures were taken to engineering equipment and urban improvement.

The planning principles of Roman cities, built of stone and marble, are very similar to the structure of the military camps of the same Romans, which consisted of portable tents, that is, the purely military requirements of that period left a major imprint on the layout of Roman cities.

A typical example of rectangular modular solutions is the plan of Timgad (Roman colony in Africa, 1st century BC).

Comparing the regular plans of ancient cities in many countries, one can notice many common features, which is caused not only by possible influences and continuity, but also by objective patterns that determined the emergence of planning solutions that are very similar in meaning.

The fate of European cities in this period - iW-X centuries. AD) developed differently. Some of them were revived by those ancient Roman settlements. Looking at the plans of cities such as Florence or Milan, it is not difficult to recognize fragments of a regular ancient Roman layout in the central core. Most of the medieval cities arise in a “pure place”, being for their time what we call today new cities. Often such a city is formed near a well-defended castle of a feudal lord or a monastery, which served as a refuge for the surrounding population during periods of frequent wars and civil strife. Along with this, the most important factor in the emergence, especially of ancient Russian cities, such as Moscow, Novgorod, Rostov the Great, etc., were natural conditions: topography of the area, river bend, etc.

At first, the medieval city was scattered, consisting of several relatively isolated areas, separated by areas of natural landscape or agricultural land. However, defense requirements forced the city to be surrounded by well-fortified walls. Vacant lands within the city fortifications were quickly built up - the city became compact.

Thus, regardless of where the medieval city began its development (from the remains of a Roman camp, from a feudal castle, or even “from scratch”), in a relatively short time, in most cases, it arrived at the stereotypical radial form of a compact plan.

As the city expanded its borders, radial connections alone became insufficient. Transverse, ring connections appear. The most suitable reserve for their creation was the rings of city fortifications, which were gradually losing their defensive significance. Subsequently, this happened in Paris, Milan, Vienna. This was the case in Moscow, where the Boulevard Ring lay in place of the walls of the White City, and the Garden Ring in place of the earthen ramparts.

The naturally formed radial-ring plan of a medieval city is a curved lattice, which, in contrast to the uniform orthogonal lattice, is folded into its most compact form near the main center. The growth of settlements around one center can be compared to the formation of annual rings in a tree trunk.

In the 12th century. originates in northern France Gothic style, “who created a system of forms and a new understanding of the organization of space and volumetric composition.” Urban planning of that time can also be called spatial. Any new building was linked to the conditions of the existing environment, and the desire to solve the ensemble became an integral task.

Indeed, the city in the Middle Ages developed not in some predetermined style and not on the basis of a two-dimensional plan recorded on paper, but on the basis of the three-dimensional picture that was presented to the architect in his imagination. From the point of view of aesthetic perception of urban space, this was the best way to design.

The centric composition of the medieval city was determined not only by the configuration of the plan and its small size, but also by the entire history and internal logic of its formation. It was reflected, in particular, in the pyramidal silhouette of the city, since the number of storeys of the building increased towards the center, which was emphasized by the dominant features of the town hall and the main cathedral. At the same time, the top of a hill or a bend of a steep river bank was often chosen for the center.

The relatively small size of medieval cities further enhanced the spatial effect of the naturally developing organic monocentric layout. Ten, five, even two thousand people - this is the population of not the smallest European cities of the 14th-15th centuries. Nuremberg, one of the largest cities in Germany, had only 20 thousand people. And only such world centers of crafts and trade as Venice and Florence had a population of about 100 thousand. The largest Russian cities of Kyiv and Novgorod were not inferior in area to European capitals, but their development was less dense: since ancient times, people in Rus' were more spacious and wider. But even in such cities, the diameter of the territory built up within the walls did not exceed 2-3 km, and in most cases it was less than 1 km. With such a size, the city was convenient for pedestrians, easily and organically fit into the natural landscape and was perceived as a single architectural whole both from inside the city itself and from the outside.

Ancient engravings have captured for us the characteristic appearance of a medieval city - a semblance of an artificial hill formed by a dense cluster of houses stuck to each other, above which the majestic and graceful towers of the town hall and cathedral rise. The contours thus formed are very characteristic of each city. This picture is called a city silhouette.

The Middle Ages gave a powerful impetus to the development of cities, essentially reshaping them. It was in the Middle Ages that cities received a rational, comprehensive layout and, very importantly, a spatial approach began to be used in their design. Among urban planners of medieval cities, a point of view gradually prevailed that opposed the separate consideration of architectural and planning tasks.

The improvement of the urban appearance, its saturation with prestigious buildings and public spaces was a consequence of the growth of the economic and political power of cities, which they achieved in Europe by the beginning of the 14th century.

On the basis of profound changes in the economic and political structure of society, progressive changes took place in public consciousness. A new worldview was born, a new attitude to life, faith in the limitless possibilities of a person who creates his own destiny. All this was in tune with the spirit of ancient philosophy and culture. The cult of a harmoniously developed person, characteristic of antiquity, corresponded to the mood of modern times, when the full development of personal initiative, and therefore a certain emancipation of individual consciousness, became the most important factors social and economic progress. This unique period in the history of culture is usually called the Renaissance (Renaissance).

The principles of humanism were served by the rediscovered heritage of antiquity. The rediscovered treatise of Vitruvius (1st century BC) “Ten Books on Architecture” became an irreplaceable source on the history of ancient culture. In the study of ancient architecture, this work played no less, and sometimes even greater, role than architectural monuments.

The first cities to become the scene of architectural renewal during the Renaissance were the cities of northern Italy - Venice and Florence. They gained political independence earlier than others and became the largest centers of international trade, handicraft, and then manufacturing production.

The economic and political status of a prosperous city made it necessary to take care of architectural prestige: magnificent cathedrals and palaces (palazzos) were built. Spread along the banks of the river. The Arno, surrounded by green hills on one side and the spurs of the Apennines on the other, Florence looks restrained and monumental. The skyline of Florence is dominated by the huge dome of the main cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the construction of which began in 1296 and was completed by the architect F. Brunelleschi in 1436.

Venice is located on a completely flat place, in a lagoon, on sandy islands separated by narrow channels and cut by canals. The silhouette of Venice is dominated by the slender verticals of the bell towers, which are clearly visible on the flat relief. If in Florence architectural volumes suppress and subjugate the urban space, then in Venice the architecture seems like a ghostly, fictitious decoration, framing a dense network of canals and narrow pedestrian passages.

Despite the fact that these cities are considered the pearls of Italian Renaissance urban planning, they remained medieval in their planning structure. They are characterized by an intricate network of narrow streets that unexpectedly lead to random squares that are in no way connected with each other and do not play a significant role in the layout of the city. At the same time, it should be noted that the squares in these cities are beautiful in themselves, not only for the unmistakable proportions of the main structure and open space, but also for the immortal creations of Italian sculptors with which they are decorated. Their silhouettes especially emphasize the medievalism of these cities: the vertical lines of cathedrals above the picturesque, compact array of urban buildings.

2. Ancient world

Ancient Greece

The next period, even more important for the entire further development of human culture, was the period of ancient slave society. Characterizing this period, Engels said: “... without the foundation that was laid by Greece and Rome, there would be no modern Europe. We should never forget that all our economic, political and intellectual development has as its prerequisite such a system in which slavery was as necessary as it was generally recognized. In this sense, we have the right to say: without ancient slavery there would be no modern socialism" ( Engels F. Anti-Dühring. - In the book: K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, ed. 2nd, vol. 20, p. 185, 186). Ancient Greece played a particularly progressive, creative role in the development of European peoples. Indeed, there is not a single area in human creative activity where the Greeks did not leave a most valuable heritage. In Greece, a unique mythology was created, closely connected with the beautiful nature, which was then almost unchanged by man, which folk imagination populated with a whole host of humanoid deities. Greek mythology served as a source of epic, lyricism and drama. Greece was the birthplace of a number of sciences, from rationalist philosophy to history and medicine. The ancient Greeks reached unsurpassed heights in the field of fine arts, also associated with mythology. Images of gods and legendary heroes were embodied in marble and bronze sculptures, in reliefs and paintings of temples, in the ornamentation of artistic utensils, fabrics, coins and jewelry.

At the same time, it should be noted that the ancient Greek epic not only provided plots and images for fine art, but also developed a sense of beauty in artists, enriching them with an ever-young and fresh folk imagination.

During the heyday of Greek slave-owning democracy, the arts and sciences did not experience the limiting and suppressive influence of religion and the state apparatus that took place in Egypt and other eastern despotisms. The absence of the constraining influence of the priestly caste and the peculiar conditions of slave-owning democracy left a certain freedom for creative thought, and perhaps that is why the arts and sciences reached unheard-of heights in Greece.

In the construction of Greek peripteral temples, an order system with three main orders developed: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. In Greece, theaters, stadiums, gymnasiums and other public buildings first appeared, which became part of the construction practice of other European nations. During the Hellenistic period, urban planning developed highly and that rectangular planning system was born, which combines rectilinear streets with beautifully arranged regular squares. These squares, as well as the temples that stood high on the acropolis platforms, never represented isolated complexes - physically and optically separated from the city. Unlike the cities of Mesopotamia and Egypt, where temples and palaces were hidden inside citadels and temple fences, the central ensembles of Greek cities belonged entirely to the city and formed a single inseparable whole with its layout and development.

What were the specific features and the very character of ancient Greek architecture? In his remarkable work “The Year of Siegfried,” Engels says: “Greek architecture is a bright, joyful consciousness, Moorish architecture is sadness, Gothic architecture is sacred ecstasy; Greek architecture is a bright sunny day, Moorish architecture is a twilight permeated with starlight, Gothic is a morning dawn.” ( Engels F. Homeland of Siegfried. - In the book: K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, ed. 2nd, t. 41, p. 113). Using comparisons of contrasting stylistic features of architecture, Engels in an excellent artistic form highlights cheerfulness as the main feature inherent in ancient Greek architecture. And in fact, anyone who observed ancient monuments in their natural environment under the hot rays of the southern sun clearly felt the life-affirming character of Greek art. The Greeks took a lot from the cultural treasury of the peoples of the East, but they left aside the overwhelming colossality and mysticism of architectural images. All Greek buildings evoke a cheerful, high spirits. A person who finds himself on the site of the Athens Acropolis feels light and free, and this feeling could never have arisen without taking into account a living person as a measure of the surrounding architectural situation. “There are ill-mannered children and senile smart children. Many of the ancient peoples belong to this category. The Greeks were normal children.” With these words K. Marx characterizes the ancient Greek artistic worldview ( Marx K. Introduction (from economic manuscripts of 1857-1858). - In the book: K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, ed. 2nd, vol. 12, p. 737). And this characteristic contains a deep philosophical meaning, for the Greeks in their artistic creativity avoided extremes and created an art that was bright, cheerful, realistic and human in its essence. These qualities, reflected in urban planning, make the art of the ancient Greeks one of the main sources for the development of the artistic heritage.

General characteristics of ancient Greek urban planning

The culture of the peoples of the Aegean world, which embraced the archipelago and the coastal strip of the Aegean Sea, was in undoubted connection with the culture of the ancient eastern despots. And at the same time, its influence on the later emerging culture of the ancient Greeks cannot be denied. Understanding the origins of the development of ancient Greek urban planning would be difficult without first considering the cities created in Crete, and especially in the Mycenaean region. This circumstance forces us to highlight the urban planning activities of the peoples of the Aegean world as an introduction to the history of Greek urban planning art.

The settlement of the Balkan Peninsula began in very distant times. Probably, the Aegean archipelago was developed first, serving as a natural “bridge” between Europe and Asia. The island of Crete, the largest of the Aegean islands, due to its geographical position in the center of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, acquired a dominant role, and on its territory already at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The so-called Minoan culture was formed. The centers of Minoan culture were Knossos, Festus, Gournia and a number of other little-studied cities. In the 15th century BC. e. The town-planning activities of the Cretans ceased, and the old cultural centers of the Aegean world were replaced by new ones that arose on the continent - in the northeastern region of the Peloponnese. Here, among the cities adjacent to the Argolid Gulf, Tiryns, Mycenae, Nauplia and Argos, which were the centers of the so-called Mycenaean culture, especially stood out. The heyday of the Mycenaean culture, which left cities fortified with walls of Cyclopean masonry, dates back to the 15th-12th centuries. BC e., after which (probably under the influence of the movement of tribes coming to the Balkan Peninsula) the Mycenaean cities began to gradually fade away.

The history of ancient Greek artistic culture is usually divided into four eras: 1) the most ancient (or Homeric); 2) archaic; 3) classical; 4) Hellenistic.

The beginning of the ancient period (which ended in the 8th century BC) was marked by the appearance on the territory of the Balkan Peninsula of several successive tribal waves of conquerors (Aeolians, Ionians and Dorians), who were at a much lower stage of cultural development and belonged to the Greek tribes. Seeping from the north, they gradually destroyed the Mycenaean culture and, having settled after the struggle on the Balkan Peninsula, islands and the eastern (Asia Minor) coast of the Aegean Sea, mixed with the indigenous inhabitants and began to assimilate their culture.

These tribes were still at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system, due to which their urban planning activity was extremely insignificant. Without creating cities, the conquerors only used the fortified acropolises of the Mycenaean era, turning them into centers of domination over the surrounding rural communities. Information about the cities of the Homeric era is so poor that we are not able to imagine their layout and development. It is only known that in the Homeric era, residential buildings were built primarily from wood and mud brick; At the same time, the first temples appeared, possibly having connections with the megarons of the Mycenaean era.

In the archaic era, which occupies the 8th-6th centuries in the history of Greece, the decomposition of the clan system ended. It is being replaced by the dominance of the aristocracy, separated from the clan community. The aristocracy took control of religious cults, and from that time on, the construction of temples expanded significantly.

However, the development of the country's productive forces creates new social strata in Greek cities (artisans and traders), who, in the fight against the aristocracy, put forward a specific form of political power - tyranny.

The period of domination of the tyrants was already marked by significant urban planning work, in particular the construction of ports, temples, squares, water pipelines and defensive walls. The archaic period ended with the formation of the Greek slave-owning urban republic, the so-called polis, which was the most advanced form of statehood for that time.

VII-VI centuries BC e. were marked by the ever-increasing colonialist activity of the Greeks. It should be noted that the emergence of numerous colonies played a progressive role in the development of Greek culture, since the Greeks interacted with the most advanced peoples ancient world. Colonization broadened their horizons and turned the Greeks into a seasoned and enterprising people. And if Greece at that time did not have a single statehood, but was a system of politically disunited small city-states, then the Greeks still felt themselves to be representatives of one great tribe.

In the 9th and especially in the 8th, 7th and 6th centuries. BC e. Many new cities were founded, mostly in remote areas of the Mediterranean basin. So, for example, in 754 BC. e. immigrants from Corinth founded the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, and in the middle of the 7th century. BC e. Selinunte arose on the same island (as both Thucydides and Diodorus Siculus speak about); around 600, the city of Massilia (Marseille) was built on the southern coast of modern France; in 650, Naucratis was built on the territory of the Nile delta, and finally, moving to the northeast, the Greeks created Byzantium in 658 at the entrance to the Black Sea, and in the 6th century. - Olbia, Feodosia, Phanagoria and Chersonesos on the northern coast of the sea. Already from this short list it follows that the sphere of distribution of ancient Greek cities, as well as the sphere of influence of Greek culture, expanded enormously during this time.

Cities of the Archaic era had an irregular layout and consisted of two main parts: the acropolis and the residential area. The vital center of the residential area was the agora, adjacent to the shopping districts. In the archaic era, stone architecture developed, manifesting itself in the construction of peripteral temples, while they continued to be used in residential buildings wooden structures in combination with mud brick.

At the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. Greece was invaded by the Persians. Moving from east to west, the Persians destroyed the cultural centers of the Ionian and Dorian colonies along the way. In the fire of the raging fires, Miletus was one of the first to perish; even Athens suffered severely from the Persian invasion. However, the patriotic enthusiasm of the Greeks, who defended their homeland and its political order, turned them into a worthy military force, and after a series of victories (near Marathon Bay, off the island of Salamis, and Plataea), the threat of complete destruction of Greek culture passed forever.

During the Greco-Persian Wars, Athens played a leading and unifying role among the Greek city-states, and this primacy position was retained by Athens even after the expulsion of the Persians. In Athens, the capital of the Athenian slave-owning democracy, the economic resources of all Greece were concentrated; The best creative forces began to flock to Athens, and within a short time art here reached that high flowering, which received the name classics.

Even in the archaic era, the first orders were created - Ionic and Doric; now they have reached artistic perfection and are complemented by a new, previously unknown Corinthian order. In a short period, measured in just one human life, the Athenian Acropolis with the most beautiful of the peripteral temples, the Parthenon, was built from beginning to end. It was during this era that all the best creative forces united, and under the leadership of Phidias, architecture and monumental sculpture formed unified synthetic compositions. For the 5th century What was typical was not so much the construction of new cities as the restoration of old ones damaged or destroyed by the Persians. However, when rebuilding cities such as Piraeus or Miletus, the Greeks did not repeat old, irregular urban planning techniques. On the contrary, they begin to apply a new regular planning system ( Hippodamus was a native of Miletus. The name of Hippodamus is associated with the layout of Thurii, Miletus and Piraeus, which is permissible due to the coincidence of the dates of the architect’s life with the time of reconstruction of these cities. Aristotle in his “Politics” (Book II, Chapter 5) attributes Hippodamus with authorship in a unique project of an ideal political system). This so-called “Hippodamian layout” received in the 4th century. widespread among the Greeks, and at a later time influenced the planning activities of the Romans.

The relatively well-studied city of the classical era (i.e., V-IV centuries BC) was an architecturally organized planning whole. The acropolis gradually became "sacred places"; theaters appeared on the mountain slopes of the acropolis, while the significantly grown lower city now received extensive centers consisting of squares for various purposes, near which there were bouleuteriums, gymnasiums, piers, warehouses and other structures that served public life and commercial shipping.

In the history of Greece V-IV centuries. were marked by an increase in class struggle that undermined the foundations of the city-state. In the Hellenistic era (III-I centuries BC), city-states gave way to large Greek-Eastern monarchies, formed as a result of the expansion of the Greeks to the East.

Back in the second half of the 4th century. one of the northern Balkan states - Macedonia - as a result of the victorious campaigns of Alexander the Great, subjugated the huge Persian monarchy, and after it Egypt, the Central Asian countries and even remote regions of northwestern India. Alexander's path from the Hellespont to Egypt and Central Asia was marked not only by the destruction of cities, which included the magnificent Persepolis, destroyed by a terrible fire; moving to the East and dreaming of a worldwide empire, Alexander the Great simultaneously created strongholds of the new state. Passing through Priene, he generously endowed this city; in the Nile Delta, by order of Alexander, the new capital of Egypt was founded - Alexandria (331 BC); Nikephorium and Alexandria (on the Tigris) were built in Mesopotamia; in Central Asia - Alexandria Dalnyaya (present-day Leninabad); Nicaea arose on the territory of the Indus Valley, and the port of Alexandra was built at the mouth of the Indus. The death of Alexander the Great led to the collapse of his huge empire, which was based on military force, but the centers of Greek culture nevertheless moved to the East. In the III and II centuries. BC e. Alexandria, Antioch and Pergamon achieved such great development that they could compete not only with Miletos, but also with Athens.

The town planning of the Hellenistic era combined the techniques and forms characteristic of the indigenous artistic culture of Greece with the architectural heritage of the Ancient East. Under the influence of the grandiose architectural structures of eastern despotism, urban ensembles acquired a much greater scope. At the same time, the Greeks mastered during this period the improvement that had a centuries-old history in the cities of Mesopotamia. Water supply, sewerage and street paving are now firmly established in construction practice. The architecture of the peristyle residential building has developed significantly; temples lost their leading role in architecture, their place was taken by public buildings: theaters, stadiums, libraries. The destruction of Carthage, which led to the establishment of Roman rule in the Mediterranean, predetermined the fate of the Hellenistic states. In 146 BC. e. Greece itself finally lost its political independence, becoming the Roman province of Achaia. But, despite the brutal defeat of Piraeus, Athens and other cities during the uprisings under Sulla and Caesar, Greece still continued to remain the promised land of sciences and arts. Up to the 1st century. n. e. Greek architects were the main builders of Rome, and with the proclamation of the empire, many Greek cities, favored by the emperors of the Flavian and Antonine dynasties, were decorated with magnificent temples, baths, stadiums and theaters. However, during this period, Greek art was subordinated to Roman art, which had its own understanding of architectural forms and used its own special types of cities.

Population and size of cities

When characterizing the social composition of the population of Greek cities, it should be noted that information relating to the most ancient periods of Greek history is not only extremely poor, but also unreliable. Only starting from the VI-V centuries. Based on references in historical, philosophical, legal and geographical works, one can get an idea of ​​the economy of the ancient Greek city-states and the social and professional composition of the urban population.

Handicraft production in the largest cities of mainland and colonial Greece in the 5th, 4th and 3rd centuries. has received significant development. The majority of the artisan population was engaged in the manufacture of ceramics, weapons, textiles and jewelry. In the 5th century There were already craft workshops, which were staffed primarily by slaves. For example, about 100 slaves worked in the Athenian workshop owned by Lysias, and 55 slaves were employed in the leather and furniture workshops owned by the father of the famous orator Demosthenes. Along with slaves, they also worked in handicraft production. free people, carrying out mainly government construction orders. Both of them, according to their professional affiliation, inhabited craft areas that lay either near markets or on the outskirts of the city, as can be seen in the large pottery production area in Athens known as “Ceramics”.

The widespread development of international trade has turned traders into one of the most influential social groups. In the largest trading cities, which included Miletus and Piraeus, there were specific trading districts located near market agoras, marinas and warehouses.

In addition to the listed social groups, professional military personnel, students of gymnasiums and academies, artists, actors and a number of other representatives of intellectual labor constantly lived in ancient Greek cities. Thus, in comparison with the cities of the Ancient East, the social and professional composition of the urban population in Greece was much more diverse, which corresponded to a higher level of development of its productive forces.

It is extremely difficult to judge the population of ancient Greek cities, since the reports of ancient authors are not always reliable ( As inaccurate information from ancient authors, we cite the message of Diodorus Siculus, who claimed that the mythical founder of the Assyrian kingdom Nin had an infantry numbering 1.7 million and a cavalry numbering 210 thousand. According to Diodorus, 2 million people were employed in the construction of Babylon under Queen Semiramis, and, in addition, Semiramis had at her disposal an army of 3.5 million fighters. The hyperbolic nature of these figures is quite obvious, since in order to remove 5.5 million male population from productive labor, Babylonia had to have at least 50 million inhabitants, and this figure was unlikely to have been present in all countries of the ancient world taken together. three continents).

The capacity of temples, theaters, stadiums and other public buildings also does not resolve the issue that interests us, since many Greek cities were centers of national cult of certain deities or points where athletic competitions and theatrical performances took place, attracting a large number of out-of-town spectators. Such cities were the sacred Delphi, where the famous oracle of Apollo was located; Cnidus, who was the center of the cult of Aphrodite; Eleuskin, famous for the cult of Demeter, and a number of other religious centers in Greece. Olympia, which attracted a huge number of spectators during the Olympic Games, fell into complete desolation for four whole years between the games, and, in fact, it cannot even be considered as a city, since only priests were the permanent residents of Olympia.

In our modern science of the city, certain population figures for large Greek cities have been established. For example, it is believed that Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Miletus and Piraeus had in the V-III centuries. BC e. 100 thousand inhabitants each.

The population of Agrigentum and Syracuse is usually estimated at 100 to 200 thousand people, and the population of Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia on the Tigris is estimated at 300, 400 and even 500 thousand inhabitants. To find out the reliability of the given figures, let’s calculate the total territory of Greek cities and derive the average urban population density per 1 hectare based on the mentioned figures.

In the Hellenistic period, Athens occupied an area of ​​220 hectares, and, therefore, with a population of 100 thousand inhabitants, the average density should have been 450 people/ha. Even higher densities are given by Piraeus (about 600 people/ha), Alexandria (about 700 people/ha) and Miletus, where, with a territory of 100 hectares, the density would have increased to 1000 people/ha. Is such a high population density plausible?

If we compare these figures with the population density of modern large cities, it becomes clear how exaggerated the information about the population of Greek cities is.

Greek cities did not have multi-story buildings. Residential buildings of one or two floors made up the development of all Greek cities, including even the capital. If we take into account the abundance of courtyards-peristyles and the size of the acropolises and agoras, then the population of Greek cities needs to be reduced by at least 2 times. In Athens, where there were many areas not built up with residential buildings, the population could hardly exceed 50 thousand inhabitants, and only during the era of Roman rule, when the so-called Adrianople (the eastern suburb of Athens) appeared, the number of city residents could rise to 70 thousand as maximum ( It should be noted that most of the instructions from ancient authors about the population of Athens concerned only free citizens, the number of which was estimated at 20-30 thousand people. According to Bucher (who also took slaves into account), the number of inhabitants in the two largest cities of Attica - Athens and Piraeus - could be no more than 150 thousand). Equally, Piraeus, Ephesus, and Corinth did not exceed the indicated figure. Miletus undoubtedly had an even smaller population. As for such small cities as Priene and Assos, their population could range from 2 to 5 thousand inhabitants. These figures will be more in line with reality, but, of course, they cannot claim absolute accuracy, since in the absence of statistical data the question of the population of Greek cities cannot be resolved.

Selection of territory for the construction of cities

In the Mycenaean, and partly in the Archaic era, the choice of territory for the construction of cities was determined mainly by strategic factors. Mycenaean cities, which were fortified points, were usually located on rocky hills, isolated above the plain and located several kilometers from the sea, in order to protect the city from sudden attacks by pirates. The builders of Tiryns and ancient Athens looked for hills with a naturally flat top and steep slopes along the edges. It was necessary to further strengthen these slopes with sheer retaining walls in order to turn the acropolis into an impregnable fortress.

However, with the growth of the military power of the city-states and the development of trade, strategic interests began to recede into the background, and maritime navigation became decisive in the choice of territory. In the 7th, 6th and 5th centuries. the Greeks located their cities on trade routes, selecting convenient natural harbors for them.

Most ancient Greek cities were located either in the depths of long bays, such as Heraclea and Argos; or in the straits, like Messana, Byzantium and Chalkis; or on peninsulas jutting into the sea (Miletus, Selinunte and Piraeus); or on isthmuses like Corinth; either on islands like Syracuse; or under the protection of an island that weakens the sea surf. The latter category includes Alexandria, Assos and Cnidus. But whatever the location of the city, the Greeks always looked for a well-protected harbor with wide sandbanks, and this is quite understandable, since the construction and equipment of rowing ships was carried out right there on the shore, as well as routine repairs after a long voyage. Each more or less large city had at least two harbors: military and commercial. The trading harbor was usually more spacious than the military one, but the latter was necessarily surrounded by walls to protect warships from surprise attack during the fleet's stay.

The Greeks carefully selected the most convenient location for the city in order to achieve the best results with minimal labor and building materials. Along with convenient harbors, they looked for favorable microclimatic conditions, as indicated by the location of Priene, Assos, Cnidus and other cities, protected from the north winds by mountains and raised above marshy areas. For the construction of the city itself, the Greeks chose a relatively flat place, giving preference to rocky areas with gentle slopes, since in these cases there was no need for paving streets and squares and, in addition, the city territory was freed from storm water naturally.

However, one should not think that, in choosing the location for their cities, the Greeks gave exclusive preference to utilitarian issues. Being an artistically gifted people, they never forgot about that natural setting that enhances the architectural expressiveness of the city. Greece, with its winding coastline, abounds in beautiful landscapes, but if you trace the location of Greek cities in connection with nature, you will find that they occupy the most beautiful places. The head of the excavations of Mycenae and Tiryns, Heinrich Schliemann, notes that the nature of the Argolid Gulf, where these cities are located, far surpasses the known landscapes of the Cordillera and the picturesque Sandwich Islands, scattered among the ocean like giant flowering flower beds. A brilliant example of placing a city in high mountain conditions is provided by Assos. The city itself was built along a steep mountain slope facing the sea. On the half-mountain we find a theater, a gymnasium and an agora, for which a trapezoidal ledge was conquered from the rock. From the theater and agora to the south, the eternal blue Aegean Sea opens up with the rocky island of Lesvos.

No less picturesque is the location of Messana, built at the foot of Etna in the Strait of Messina, as well as Aegina, standing on an island among groves. It should be noted that there are significantly fewer forests on the territory of modern Greece, since the export of construction timber to Egypt and other treeless countries of the ancient world continued for many centuries.

The picturesque pine and oak forests that covered the mountains gradually disappeared; the thin fertile layer has eroded and exposed bedrock calcareous rocks, now eaten away by karst and covered with sparse vegetation. It goes without saying that with the loss of forests, the landscapes of Greece have become significantly impoverished, and only a few places in the vicinity of Olympus, Epidaurus and Aegina remotely resemble the enchanting nature that the ancient Greeks considered an “earthly paradise” inhabited by gods who freely communicated with people.

City master plans

Excavations carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries revealed general plans of many ancient Greek cities. However, the planning of later periods, namely the classical and Hellenistic, received the most complete coverage, while the archaic and especially the Cretan and Mycenaean periods remain poorly studied.

Cretan and Mycenaean cities are known only from partial excavations of such small settlements as Knossos, Palekastro, Gournia, Argos, Tiryns and Mycenae, as well as from individual palaces and acropolises, and, therefore, modern science does not yet have sufficient data at its disposal to trace the development of planning techniques throughout Greek history. That is why we will limit ourselves to a brief general description of planning techniques, without pretending to provide complete coverage of the most ancient periods.

A distinctive feature of the Cretan cities during the heyday of Minoan culture was the fact that they did not have defensive walls, and this is quite understandable, since the island position of the country and the presence of a strong navy guaranteed the safety of the urban population.

Without an external belt of fortifications, Cretan cities could grow unhindered in all directions without experiencing suffocating crowding.

And yet, excavations of Gournia, Palekastro, Festus and even the Cretan capital - Knossos - show how dense the development of these cities was. The dwellings of the poorest artisans grew together, representing unique block houses, and only palaces and villas of the privileged population were freely located on separate plots. The streets of Cretan cities, designed for pack transport, although paved and even equipped with drains, never exceeded 2 or at most 3 m in width, and the main courtyards in the palaces, possibly serving for public meetings, barely reached 50 m in length. Such obvious crowding in urban planning and development is explained by the weak economic development of Cretan cities, on the one hand, and limited construction capabilities, on the other.

One can conclude almost without hesitation that the Cretan cities, with the exception of the palace complexes well studied at Knossos and Phaistos, did not have regular plans. It is difficult to imagine these cities as picturesque. Walls made of huge, almost untreated bedded stones, wooden conical pillars instead of columns, pressing low ceilings and, finally, continuous construction without breaks - this is what greeted and surrounded the viewer at every step. And if in palaces wall painting had undeniable artistic qualities, then in the city raw stone dominated.

The Mycenaean cities stood at almost the same artistic level, striking the imagination of spectators with the amount of labor spent on creating the Cyclopean walls, but did not arouse high artistic emotions in them. The question of the layout of Mycenaean cities remains open, since excavations have revealed only acropolises that served as residences of the basileus. If we take into account the relatively large size of the acropolis and the large number of storage rooms located within the thickness of the Cyclopean walls, then we can confidently believe that the acropolis served as a refuge for a large number of people during sieges. These, undoubtedly, were the acropolises of Mycenae and Tiryns. It is very possible that residents of surrounding settlements flocked to the acropolis, and first of all, those local residents who lived under the walls of the acropolis found protection in it. The Acropolis, at least by the end of the Mycenaean era, was surrounded by spontaneously emerging residential areas inhabited by a trade and craft population. This allocation of the acropolis and especially its mountainous location was a characteristic feature of Mycenaean cities. Note that the cities of Mesopotamia, Crete and Egypt were almost always located on a calm terrain and were flat cities, the silhouette of which was enlivened only by artificially created verticals. A ziggurat, a pyramid or a palace on a high terrace compensated for what nature did not have, whereas in the Mycenaean period even low palaces standing on the platforms of the acropolis, rising 40-50 m or more above the surface of the soil, probably made a strong impression. Actually, the decisive role in the silhouette of the Mycenaean city was played not so much by the palaces as by the rock itself and the retaining walls.

The layout of cities of the archaic period also remains unclear, although sacred sites and acropolises formed in the 7th and 6th centuries provide quite significant material for understanding it. BC e. By this time, the residential areas surrounding the acropolis had grown so large that they had become a city proper, with its own system of streets and square - the agora, usually located in front of the sanctuaries or along the main road. This so-called lower city was inhabited by a trade and craft population, consisting of both free citizens and a large number of slaves. With the growing economic importance of the lower city, the need arose to protect it, and then second, external city walls appeared, and the acropolis itself turned into a citadel, which simultaneously served as a receptacle for temples. Thus, during the Archaic period, Greek cities acquired a very characteristic two-part structure with an acropolis and a walled city. Such are Athens, Assos, Selinunte, ancient Pergamum, etc.

Cities of the archaic era were characterized by an irregular, picturesque layout, resulting from the natural course of development of the city, which was created without a pre-drawn up master plan. However, there is no reason to deny the presence during this period of some elements of the emerging regular hippodamian layout. Already the orientation of the entrances to the peripteral temples to the west and east introduced order into the arrangement of the main buildings, which can be exemplified by the archaic Selinunte, where five parallel temples predetermined the directions of the streets.

The transition to a regular layout based on a combination of mutually perpendicular axes occurred during the classical period during the restoration of cities destroyed by the Persians. The first cities to receive strict general plans were Piraeus, Miletus, Thurii and Rhodes, with which the name of Hippodamus is associated.

Piraeus, which served both as a commercial port of Athens and as a military base for the Athenian fleet, was located on a peninsula that had three natural harbors. In the north-west lay an extensive trading harbor, in the south-east were the well-defended military bays of Munichia and Zeya. In the middle of the 5th century. BC e. Piraeus was surrounded on all sides by walls, which were joined from the northeast by the so-called Long Walls, which connected this city with Athens.

Attempts to decipher the ancient Piraeus plan made by Curtius, Kaupert and Judaich ( Curtius E. Atlas pour servir a l "histoire grecque, Paris, 1885, as well as Iudeich W. Topographie von Alten, Munchen, 1931), have not yet led to the desired results, since excavations on the territory of every living city are almost impossible. However, from the location of the ancient water supply system, from the outlines of the walls enclosing the trading pier, and, finally, from the remains of the foundations of ancient houses, one can almost unmistakably assume that in Piraeus there was a system of rectilinear streets directed both along the peninsula and across it. One of the longitudinal streets had the greatest width and was located along the axis of the peninsula; on it, according to the reconstruction of Curtius and Kaupert, three agora lay, and, therefore, in the example of Piraeus we encounter a city plan with one unconditionally dominant planning axis.

Unlike Piraeus, Miletus demonstrates the use of two planning axes. In 479 BC. e. The restoration of Miletus, burned and destroyed by the Persians, began. The degree of destruction of the city was probably so great that a radical planning reconstruction became possible. Since ancient times, Miletus occupied a peninsula, indented by deep natural bays, but the area did not have high hills, due to which the use of a checkerboard layout encountered almost no obstacles. This kind of planning was carried out in real life throughout the 5th and perhaps even the 4th centuries. The general plan of Miletus, despite the standard nature of the quarters in the southern region, has undoubted artistic merit. The city received two main streets, running from south to north and from west to east. They stand out for their considerable width (7.5 m versus the usual 4.5 m) and, in addition, successfully connect the city center with the city gates.

However, the urban public center, subordinate to the same system of mutually perpendicular axes, had an even greater significance in the planning composition of Miletus. Starting from the main entrance to the city, i.e. from the deep military harbor, squares, temples and other public buildings stretched in a southern direction in a continuous line. Here we find the enclosed Northern Agora, intended for trade, and a public square in front of the Bouleuterium building, and a large trading Southern Agora, which had a through passage from north to south. Perpendicular to this complex of buildings and adjacent to Torgovaya (or Theater) Bay, a stadium and a gymnasium were located, and all together they formed such a large and vibrant ensemble that the monotony of the residential areas was undoubtedly softened, if not completely disappeared.

The technique of intersection of planning axes, used in Miletus, became widespread even in the classical period.

In addition to Miletus, we find a pronounced crossroads in Olynthos, Selinunte, Cnidus and other cities.

In 409 BC. e. Selinunte was destroyed during the Carthaginian invasion, but two years later planning work began on the acropolis. Applying to the location of the surviving archaic temples, the builders of Selinunte carried out a crossroads of two straight highways. The first of them ran from the main gate along the peninsula to the sea, and the second - perpendicular to it, between temples A and B. Thus, the temples of the acropolis were enclosed in incoming right angles.

We find an even clearer angular solution in the Dorian city of Cnidus, where the main west-east street was laid parallel to the coastline. This parallelism or perpendicularity of streets to natural boundaries reflected the art of the Greeks to connect their planning compositions with nature. One more significant circumstance should be noted, namely, that none of the Greek cities received a rectangular or round outline. On the contrary, all the external contours of Greek cities, limited by defensive walls, always had a free interpretation that corresponded to the picturesque broken and flowing lines that nature has. And perhaps that is why the geometric clarity of regular plans became a positive quality.

Architecture of the acropolises

One of the most studied Mycenaean castles is the acropolis of Tiryns. Tiryns ( Schliemann H. Tiryns. Der prahistorische Palast der Konige von Tiryns, Leipzig, 1886) was located on a single gentle hill, the longitudinal axis of which has a meridional direction. The main entrance to the Tirinthian acropolis was in the eastern wall, and the territory of the so-called Upper Fortress was occupied by the palace with its reception halls, living quarters and front courtyards, into which propylaea with wooden columns led.

Looking at the rough outer walls of the acropolis, which in some places reached 9 m in width ( The walls of Tiryns, made of huge bedded stones measuring 1X3 m, were rightly considered one of the “wonders of the world.” Considering the low level of construction technology of that time, it is difficult to imagine that these giant stones were lifted and laid at great heights by human hands, armed with only one lever. This is where the legend of the Cyclops who supposedly built the walls of Tiryns came from.), maneuvering through the cramped labyrinths of the palace, the viewer is convinced that the acropolis of Tiryns has archaeological, but not artistic value. However, in order to understand the composition of the later acropolises, it is necessary to study the acropolis of Tiryns, since it was from him and his contemporaries that the planning techniques and architectural forms that we find in the archaic Athenian acropolis originated. The oldest walls of the Athenian Acropolis are as rough and irregular in outline as those of Tiryns, the remains of the palace have the same intricate layout, and the propylaea in both cases represents a primitive design of entrances.

However, comparing the megaron of Tiryns with a hundred-foot temple can only be done with caution, for the first is a built-up room with blank walls and columns on one side, while the second is a free-standing building. Actually, the origin of the peripterus still remains not entirely clear, although the ant temple may be a connecting link between it and the megaron. Nevertheless, the central position of the peripteral temple in the acropolis and its parallelism to the longitudinal axis of the plateau indicate the influence of Mycenaean planning techniques.

The acropolises of the Mycenaean era can to some extent be likened to feudal castles that arose in the wild. The Acropolis served at this time as the residence of rulers, perhaps foreign conquerors, since the mighty walls surrounding the rocky plateau speak eloquently of the military danger that constantly threatened the rulers of the country. Actually, apart from the palace, there were no significant buildings in the acropolis; There were no squares as such; they were replaced by courtyards.

In the archaic era, as the policies developed, the outskirts of cities grew, and the acropolis itself turned into an internal city citadel. At the same time, a major event occurred that determined the architecture of the acropolises for hundreds of years, namely, the appearance of peripteral temples. Naturally, the peripterus, as a structure associated with religious processions that walked around the temple from the outside, received a three-dimensional interpretation and occupied a separate place in the acropolis. Thanks to this, and also due to its large size, the peripterus became the defining force of the ensemble, much more noticeable than the former megaron palace. At the same time, a rule was established to orient temples in the west-east direction. In Olympia, Delphi, Selinunte, Athens and all other Greek cities, peripteral temples were located along geographical parallels with even greater mathematical precision than Christian churches in Russia. However, while applying the established orientation of temples, the Greeks tried to reinforce it by matching natural boundaries, and if the main streets of Greek cities were parallel or perpendicular to the coast or mountain slope, then temples were also located. Over time, the importance of the acropolis as an internal fortress fell more and more, and with the establishment of democracy, it ceased to be a residence state power. Using the example of the Athenian Acropolis, rebuilt after the Greco-Persian wars, we already have the sacred reserve of Athens, almost devoid of civil buildings. It was during this (classical) period, on the basis of the high flowering of the arts, that a picturesque understanding of the ensemble of acropolises developed. If the temples of the archaic Selinunta were located in the form of a monotonous “line building”, then in the Athenian Acropolis the temples stood at angles to each other, as a result of which the overall composition was enlivened. If in Selinunte and even in Olympia we find temples of equal size or similar, then in the Acropolis of Athens all the temples were different. Only one of them, namely the Parthenon, received a colonnade on all sides and a main corner view from the Propylaea ( Research carried out by the American Acropolis researcher Stevens led him to the conclusion that the Parthenon was separated from the sacred road running along the Acropolis site by some kind of fence with a gate. However, an artistic analysis of the composition of the entire ensemble does not give us the opportunity to join this opinion, since the propylon, visible from the Propylaea, would be unsuccessfully superimposed on the corner of the Parthenon, thereby violating the clarity of its volumetric form). Examining the ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis, we discover that one of the main artistic goals of the builders was to highlight the Parthenon and make it the unconditionally dominant building. For this, the natural relief of the site was used with a rise of 10 m towards the temple. To highlight the Parthenon, the small temple of the Erechtheion received a fragmented composition, consisting of three parts, while the main temple had a single, laconic volume. And finally, to tie the whole ensemble together, a strong vertical was placed in the form of a statue of Athena Promachos. It is known that verticals and large horizontal structures begin to sound stronger when they are in close proximity, and in this case the contrast of a vertical statue and a horizontal temple with columns was especially sharp due to the juxtaposition of the bronze statue with the marble of the temples.

Since the 5th century. BC e. The architectural practice of the Greeks includes theaters. In the dry and warm climate of Greece, the theater did not require a roof, and the presence of convenient mountain slopes excluded walls, making it possible to cut seats for spectators into the rock itself. Similar theaters are found in Athens, Assos, Epidaurus, Priene and many other cities. But since the acropolises occupied hills, theaters began to be built on the slopes of the same hills. The emergence of large open theaters on the slopes of the Athens and Pergamon acropolises adorned these ensembles. The theater entailed the construction of galleries and terraces, which served as places for walks for the public, and all together changed the appearance of the acropolis so much that the mountain slopes and old defensive fortifications were almost completely obscured. Athens Acropolis IV-III centuries. It was an architecturally unified structure, as if growing out of the city, compositionally connected with it by buildings on the slopes of the hill and bearing precious temples. Of course, the difference between this acropolis and the harsh castles of the Mycenaean era was already colossal.

In the last centuries of artistic prosperity in Greece, the acropolises were influenced by Roman culture. In this regard, the Pergamon Acropolis is especially indicative. Being the capital of one of the significant Hellenistic states, Pergamum reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of Eumenes II (197-159 BC). Most of the architectural structures of the Pergamon Acropolis and the famous altar of Zeus, built around 180, date back to this time. The Roman conquest did not devastate the city, and until the era of Trajan (98-117) it continued to be decorated with new buildings, retaining the worldwide fame of the center of the Hellenic learning in the east of the empire.

The Pergamon Acropolis occupies a chain of natural terraces rising from south to north and forming a large arc, within which were the residential areas of the city. The rise of the rock above the city level reaches 100 m, and it can be assumed that the construction of the acropolis at such a high altitude was explained not so much by strategic as by artistic considerations, since from here a charming view of the city, valley and distant sea is revealed.

Comparing the acropolis of Pergamum with the classical Acropolis of Athens, one cannot help but note the different attitude towards the treatment of the relief and the interpretation of the entire composition as a whole. Indeed, the classical Greek accepted the site of the acropolis in its natural state, seeing it as part of the surrounding nature. He treated it like a sculptor treats a block of marble, which can be chipped, extracting the intended forms, but without adding anything alien to the given material. Phidias, Ictinus, Callicrates and Mnesicles were satisfied with the natural rough surface of the rock, contrasting with the delicate marble of the temples. But the masters of Hellenism and especially the Roman era were looking for other artistic effects. An ideally regular flat surface of the site (moreover, paved with stone), the dominance of symmetry and right angle were an immutable law for them. And if the site of the Athenian Acropolis has preserved its rises and depressions almost in its original form ( The site of the Athenian Acropolis was corrected only in some places and, in particular, during the expansion of the plateau to the south during the construction of the so-called Kimon Wall (mid-5th century BC). The depth of the bulk soil here reaches 14 m), then the site of the Pergamon Acropolis was divided into a series of geometrically correctly outlined and leveled terraces with amazing rationality. The composition of the Athenian Acropolis had a balance of parts, but was never symmetrical, while in Pergamon symmetry was cultivated. The altar of Zeus stands in the middle of the first terrace: the Trajanaeum is a symmetrical, purely Roman ensemble, and even the theater occupies a middle position, dividing the arc of the large ensemble into two symmetrical branches. Of course, to finally “overcome nature” by giving it strict geometric shapes, here it was not possible, despite all the power of engineering means. The Pergamon Acropolis in its silhouette remained an asymmetrical ensemble, and perhaps this circumstance preserved its picturesqueness inherent in Greek compositions.

Agora architecture

The origin of the ancient Greek agoras remains largely unclear. True, the public functions of city squares in the Minoan and Mycenaean eras were performed by courtyards located on the territory of palaces, but the trading areas of this time are completely unknown to us.

In the archaic era, places for public meetings were located on the territory of acropolises and sacred sites, while trade was carried out in special market agoras that arose outside the acropolis, among ordinary city blocks. The square as such at that time was not an independent architectural theme, and, apparently, none of the architects until the second half of the 5th century. did not receive assignments for the construction of areas. Nevertheless, squares arose, since in front of the main temples it was necessary to leave a free area intended for religious and civil meetings. Such free territories, which did not yet have geometrically correct boundaries, were left in front of the Hundred-Foot Temple in the Acropolis of Athens, in front of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, at Temples C and D in Selinunte and, finally, in Athens itself, where Peisistratus began the construction of a public square. However, this square, like all archaic agoras, did not receive an orderly plan, and only many years after the Persian invasion, Cimon gave the order to plant this square with plane trees. Thus, the first attempt was made to give the Athenian agora architecturally organized contours. It is natural that main role The temples themselves played a role in the composition of archaic agoras. Usually they cut into the square at an angle, as a result of which the colonnades of the peripterus were perceived from those most advantageous visual positions from where the temple gave the impression of a three-dimensional form.

During large public meetings, spectators were located on the stylobates of temples to watch solemn processions or performances of political speakers, philosophers and poets.

Later, in the era of Greek classics, they began to build multi-columned galleries intended for trade and public life of the urban population. These galleries bounded the area on at least one side and introduced elements of regularity into its architecture. Such a transitional area from archaic to classic was the large Athens agora we have already mentioned, the planning diagonal of which successfully runs towards the northern wall of the acropolis.

The geometrically correct Hippodamian layout left its mark not only on the street, but also on the square. Given the strict street network, a rectangular square seemed the most natural. And starting from the middle of the 5th century. BC e. in Miletus, Megalopolis, Cnidus, Priene and other cities, rectangular agoras appeared, surrounded by galleries not on one, but on all four sides. These circumstances decisively changed the architecture of agoras. And if in the ensemble of the archaic agora with its peripteral temples, sacred groves and smoking altars, picturesqueness prevailed, then in the architecture of the classical agora the decisive role was played by the relationships and proportions of a simple geometric composition. It is enough to imagine the Southern Agora in Miletus in its original form to be convinced of this ( The southern agora, like Miletus, received significant Roman overlays. During the empire, the entrance triumphal arch was built at the bouleuterium, as a result of which the agora turned into a completely enclosed square. However, in this case we are talking about the early (Greek) period in its history, which is reflected in the table below). The enormous size of this remarkable area, 166 m in length, was apparently explained by the nature of the trade. Here, in the southern part of Miletus, near the main street leading to the city gates, in all likelihood, trade in hay, firewood and livestock took place, while in the porticoes and shops surrounding the Southern Agora, food supplies and other non-bulky goods were sold. Free from any statues, benches or other small architectural forms, the entire square was illuminated by the rays of the bright sun and from any point was perceived as a simple rectangle framed by columns. The closely standing low columns stood out clearly with their whiteness against the background of the porticoes, immersed in deep shadow, and the red tiled roofs completed these colonnades and gave the silhouette of the square a strict horizontality. It can be assumed that the uniformity in the treatment of the facades of the square did not reduce the overall impression, since the excellent proportions of the galleries were complemented by a laconic and contrasting range of colors against the backdrop of an eternal blue sky with running white clouds.

Space planning techniques developed in the classical era remained viable in the 3rd - 1st centuries. BC e.

For example, the Lower Market of Pergamum resembled, with its rectangular outlines, the Southern Agora of Miletus; The agora in Magnesia on the Meander is almost similar to it, but the only difference is that inside this square there was a miniature temple (of Zeus Sosipolis).

The appearance of temples on the market square, which took place in the Hellenistic era, was extremely important event, for, as we will see below, the temple, placed in the depths of the extended square, will turn into the decisive force of the ensemble of all the early forums of Rome. In the Hellenistic cities of Asia Minor, market temples were not an isolated phenomenon. And if in Magnesia on the Meander the temple of Zeus stands perpendicular to the main axis of the square, then in the Upper Market of Pergamon it is oriented in the same way as the Romans, i.e. along the square. In this regard, the historically formed agora of Assos is especially interesting. It is quite possible that the agora site (formed by cutting into the rock, and partly by filling, reinforced with retaining walls) dates back to the Hellenistic era ( On the simultaneity of the construction of the northern gallery and the cutting of rock to expand the area, see: Clarke J. Investigations at Assos, London, Cambridge, Leipzig, 1902), and if this corresponds to reality, then the agora of Assos, with its two-story galleries characteristic of the Hellenistic era and the temple placed on the longitudinal axis, turns into a connecting link between Greek and Roman squares.

Prominent Ancient Greek Cities

The date of the founding of Athens is lost in ancient times. It is very likely that long before the migration of the Ionians to Attica, the rocky hill of the acropolis was fortified and served as the residence of local rulers of the Mycenaean era. And this is quite acceptable, since the upland plateau, which was about 300 m in length, could accommodate a considerable number of buildings, protected by rocky cliffs almost without any additional fortifications.

Unlike many ancient Greek cities, Athens is located among sparse nature. Bare hills rise separately here above the waterless plain; There are no forests refreshing the landscape with their lush green massifs to the very horizon, and only the blue stripe of the distant Gulf of Phalerum, the sparkling sky and the cone of Mount Lycabettus vaguely resemble the country of beautiful landscapes - Hellas. And yet the landscape of Athens was not monotonous. The hills of the Areopagus, Pnyx and Nymphs rise significantly above the plain. The Musaeus hill lying to the south already creates noticeable relief contrasts, while the rock of the acropolis in its natural outline is very expressive. Its silhouette stands out in the sky with its powerful form, as if created to become a pedestal for great works of architectural art ( The site of the Athens Acropolis rises above the foot of the hill to a height of 55 to 68 m).

It should be noted that the rock of the Athenian Acropolis, stretching from west to east, occupied a central location on the territory of ancient Athens. The Acropolis was well perceived from the south and southwest, since behind the valley through which the Ilissus stream carries its waters, the spurs of Hymettus stretch. From here, that is, at a distance not exceeding 600 m, the acropolis opens up, illuminated by direct or sliding rays of the sun. Visible from a height of 110-120 m, it is perceived almost in projection through clean and transparent air, making it possible to see not only the whole, but also the details.

That is why the acropolis was always “present” in the entire surrounding landscape, and on clear days the golden spear of Athena Promachos (Warrior) was visible even from the Phalerian roadstead ( The Gulf of Falero is located 4.5 km from the acropolis. The port of Piraeus is a little further away from it.).

The Mycenaean period in the history of ancient Athens left almost no material traces. It is believed that the city at that time was enclosed within the boundaries of the acropolis, along the contour of which cyclopean walls stretched, descending to the foot of the cliff only in the northwest in order to bypass and include a source of spring water within the fortifications. This source was of great vital importance for the acropolis, since the rocky hill was a waterless stone massif.

At the beginning of the Archaic period, the palace of the Basileus of Attica was built on the upper platform of the acropolis (and adjacent to the northern wall).

By this time, the city had already grown so much that it left the boundaries of the acropolis and began to spread in a southwestern direction - towards Ilissa and the Limnos valley. More Thucydides ( Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War in eight books, translation by F. G. Mishchenko, vol. 1, 2, M., 1887, 1888) noted that most of the ancient sanctuaries were located south of the acropolis; Among them, the sanctuary of Dionysus stood out, attracting many pilgrims. However, the busiest place in Archaic Athens, with the exception of the acropolis, was Limna, where the oldest market square was located. The political unification of Attica under the rule of Athens contributed to the expansion and beautification of the city. The cults of various Attic gods were concentrated in Athens, and with them numerous temples began to arise. Among them, the temple of Artemis-Brauronia and the large temple of Athena Polyada, more often called the Hundred-Foot Temple (or Hekatompedon), deserve mention. Both temples were built on the territory of the acropolis, with the first occupying the southwestern corner of the rocky plateau, and the second located in the middle, near the later Erechtheion.

Possessing its large size and advantageous central location, the Hundred-Foot Temple dominated Athens, being the main decoration of the Athenian Acropolis for a century and a half. Naturally, the reconstruction of this temple entailed the design of the main entrance to the acropolis. And in the same VI century. BC e. Ancient propylaea were built at the western end of the rock, the foundations of which are partially preserved at the southern corner of the modern Propylaea.

At the end of the 6th century, during the reign of the Attic tyrants - Pisistratus and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus, great construction was carried out. Athens by this time had expanded significantly, mainly in the northern direction. The city undoubtedly reached the Eridanus stream and included within its borders the southern tip of the Ceramics region, where artisan potters lived. Wanting to relieve the old agora from the accumulation of people and pack animals, Peisistratus founded a new trading area north of the acropolis, near which multi-columned galleries and various public buildings were located. At the same time, outside Athens, the grandiose temple of Olympian Zeus was founded, and the city itself received a defensive stone wall for the first time. The topography of this ancient wall, despite the archaeological research of Curtius and Judaikh ( Curtius E. Die Stadtgeschichte von Athen, Berlin, 1891, u Judeich W. Topographie von Athen, Munchen, 1931), is still far from clear, which is why we will limit ourselves to a laconic description of Herodotus, who called Athens a “wheel-shaped city.”

At the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. Athens experienced a series of upheavals. In 510, the power of the tyrants was destroyed, but the young republic faced the most difficult military trials in the fight against despotic Persia. Having captured the Thermopylae Pass, Xerxes invaded flourishing Attica. The outer walls of Athens did not prove an obstacle to the Persians, but the Acropolis of Athens was heroically defended for a long time. As punishment for this, the Persians destroyed all the buildings of the acropolis. The hundred-foot temple, as well as the relic of the Athenians - the sacred olive tree, was burned. With blind anger, the conquerors destroyed even those building materials that had been prepared for the newly founded Parthenon ( We are talking about the so-called old Parthenon, the foundation of which protrudes from under the stylobate of the now existing temple of the same name. The Old Parthenon remained unfinished).

However, they failed to completely destroy the acropolis, since the Salamis victory, won by the Greeks almost next to Athens (near the port of Piraeus), returned them freedom in the same 480.

The restoration of Athens is of exceptional interest both in terms of the construction of strategic fortifications and in the sense of the construction of residential and public buildings. Unfortunately, almost no ordinary residential buildings have reached us, but defensive fortifications and public buildings, represented by the immortal ensemble of the acropolis, provide sufficient material to clarify the main intentions of the builders and determine the order of restoration work. The question of where to begin the construction of the destroyed capital arose before the leaders of the Athenian Republic and, first of all, before Themistocles, the organizer of the Salamis victory. Since the war with Persia was not yet over, and Sparta was only a temporary ally of Athens (and at the same time its potential enemy), the first and urgent action was the strategic strengthening of the city. Defensive construction began with the reconstruction of the acropolis. How important and urgent these works were can be judged by the fact that precious marble columns prepared for the construction of the Old Parthenon were used to fill holes in the northern wall ( These cylindrical sections of columns can now be seen near the Erechtheion in the so-called Wall of Themistocles).

Almost simultaneously with the strengthening of the acropolis, namely in 479-478. BC BC, new city walls of Athens were built, covering a larger area ( The new walls of Athens, according to Thucydides, had 43 stadia in circumference, i.e. about 7 km. The completion of the walls within one year suggests the participation in the construction of not only the local population, but also a large number of prisoners and troops. It should be noted that the construction of the walls was carried out by Themistocles in secret from Sparta, which should explain the high pace of construction work). From the southwest, the walls passed along the strategically advantageous heights of Musaeus, Pnyx and Nymphs, and in the east they touched the site of the unfinished temple of Olympian Zeus. Following this, Themistocles began to fortify Piraeus and build the connecting Piraeus-Athenian Long Walls. When this grandiose structure, about 6 km in length, was completed, Athens and Piraeus united and formed a single strategic whole.

In the history of urban planning, as well as in military history, the Long Walls have not yet received due appreciation, and yet they were a very reasonable defensive structure. In fact, if you remember what a huge positive role it played in the defense of Leningrad in 1941-1944. a narrow zone connecting the heroic city with Kronstadt in the west and Lake Ladoga in the east, the strategic importance of the Long Walls will become clear, for they protected the most important road that gave Athens access to the naval station. And Themistocles understood well that as long as the connection between Athens and the Piraeus military base remained, until then Athens would be an impregnable stronghold. That is why he undertook the construction of fortifications that were more than 35 km in length ( The Piraeus-Athenian fortifications consisted of the following parts: the walls of Piraeus and Piraeus harbors with a total length of 13.5 km; Northern and Southern Long Walls - about 12 km; The Phalerian Wall, later replaced by the Southern Long Wall, 5.5 km, and finally the city walls of Athens itself, 5.5 km. If we compare these walls with the defensive fortifications of Babylon and Rome during the empire, the latter will turn out to be half as long).

In addition to the strategic importance, the Piraeus-Athenian Long Walls played an important architectural role, as they protected the shortest and main road to Athens. The perception of the acropolis from the Piraeus road was tested by the author of this work on location, despite the complexity of this task. After all, the ancient Long Walls are long gone, while the multi-story buildings of the merged cities fill the interval between Athens and Piraeus. What turned out to be the result of this check? Pedestrians heading from Piraeus to the capital could only at the very first moment see the tympanum of the Parthenon and the green half-figure of Athena with a gilded spear next to it. Thus, the audience was shown the final and very intriguing goal of the path. However, later the acropolis was hidden from view for a long time. But when the viewer, having crossed the stream, reached the tops of the famous hills, in front of him the ensemble of the acropolis began to rapidly rise from the bottom of the basin, and from the most advantageous side for it, namely from the main entrance. History has never seen such an effect in organizing approaches to outstanding architectural monuments.

However, they did not immediately move on to the construction of new temples in the acropolis, and this is quite natural, since the planning and residential development of Athens and Piraeus took up large amounts of money and effort. Since Piraeus was created in an almost uninhabited area, it was possible to carry out a regular layout, setting certain compositional tasks. Athens, partly due to its hilly terrain, and partly due to the impossibility of changing the old planning topography, did not receive a regular plan. As in the archaic period, in Athens in the 5th century. a chaotic web of narrow winding streets remained, skirting the hills and converging in clusters at the few city gates.

"Rider". Marble bas-relief from the second half of the 5th century. BC e. (probably from the Parthenon)

A significant development of this time was the transition from local tuff to the so-called poros, limestone, which was delivered through the port of Piraeus. Most of the public buildings of Athens during the classical and Hellenistic periods were built from this stone. Promoting the initiative of individual developers in restoring homes, Themistocles, and after him Cimon, continued work on the acropolis. IN short term The archaic Propylaea and cella of the Hundred Foot Temple were restored ( The loss of the outer colonnade by the Hundred Foot Temple is confirmed by the fact that the portico of the caryatids of the Erechtheion was built on the foundations of this colonnade, i.e. almost adjacent to the cella of the old temple), and only after the safety of Athens was guaranteed, and the local population received residential buildings, did a major reconstruction of the acropolis begin.

In the 40s of the 5th century. Pericles, an outstanding political figure and patron of the sciences and arts, became the head of the Athenian slave-owning democracy. Taking advantage of the advantageous political position of Athens, which had actually subjugated the allied Greek states, Pericles united enormous material resources in his hands and declared the construction of the Athenian Acropolis a pan-Greek undertaking ( The cost of the radical reconstruction of the Athens Acropolis amounted to approximately 38.5 million gold rubles, which was an extremely large sum for that time. According to the descriptions of Thucydides and Plutarch, Pericles had to make great efforts to obtain approval of the cost estimate in the National Assembly. Representatives of the right-wing aristocratic parties, as well as extreme democrats, reproached him for the reckless waste of the pan-Greek Delian treasury. Athens was called "a coquette, which is decorated with gold and jewels" due to the armament of the Greek federation. And only thanks to the authority of Pericles and the support of his friends (Socrates, Phidias, etc.) the construction was carried out according to the planned program. Plutarch left detailed descriptions of the construction of the acropolis in his "Biography of Pericles"). In 448, a bronze statue of Athena Promachos was placed opposite the main entrance to the acropolis. Athena, presented at full length, was draped in light clothes, and in her hands she held a shield and a spear. According to the reviews of ancient authors (Pausanias, Ovid, Zosimas, etc.), the statue was an outstanding work of monumental sculpture. But, unfortunately, along with the looting of the acropolis during the Byzantine period, it disappeared without a trace, and only images on ancient coins give a vague idea of ​​it.

The following year, 447, construction began on the main temple of the acropolis - the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena the Virgin. Phidias, Ictinus and Callicrates worked on the implementation of this building. Ictinus, in all likelihood, owned the composition of the Parthenon; Callicrates was the organizer and manager of the construction, and Phidias took over the leadership of all sculptural work and completed the statue of Athena, placed in the cella of the temple. For the Parthenon, as well as for the other temples of the acropolis, white Pentelic marble was chosen, which over time acquired a slight yellowish tint. The choice of material reflected the refined taste of the architects, because completely white buildings (or white with a bluish tint, like Hymmet marble had) would seem too contrasting against the background of the southern sky.

Analyzing the location of the Parthenon, one cannot help but be amazed at the art with which the site for this temple was chosen. It should be said that any place could be freed for the construction of the Parthenon as the main temple of the acropolis - right up to the destruction of the Hundred Foot Temple. However, this was not done and, of course, not at all because the old temple was especially valuable; on the contrary, the Hundred-Foot Temple was considered doomed even during the restoration period, but the choice of Ictinus and Callicrates fell on the southern part of the acropolis site only because it had undoubted artistic advantages. Indeed, the Parthenon was placed at the highest and most advantageous place in the sense of perceiving it as a three-dimensional form. He was provided with an angular perspective, thanks to which buildings of this kind make a particularly strong impression. Knowing that the main entrance to the acropolis could not be moved during the new reconstruction of the ensemble, Iktinus and Callicrates included the Parthenon in that optimal angle vision, which a subtle artist always senses in nature, without resorting to the help of book knowledge ( The optimal visibility zone, depending on the nature of the structure, ranges from 25 to 30°. The viewing angle of the Parthenon, as measured by accurate geodetic plans, is 27° 30").

Construction of the Parthenon was carried out at a very fast pace, and after 9 years, i.e. by 438, the building, which was 69 m long and 31 m wide, was completed (with the exception of the sculpture in the tympanums). On next year architect Mnesicles laid the foundations of the Propylaea, and in 432 the ceremonial entrance to the Acropolis of Athens was completed. The exterior of the Propylaea was decorated with a Doric order colonnade, but unlike the Parthenon order, the dimensions of the columns were reduced and the details simplified to provide the main building with absolute architectural superiority ( Note that the columns in the Parthenon are 10.43 m in height, while the height of the Propylaea colonnade does not even reach 9 m. Unlike the Parthenon, the frieze of the Propylaea did not have sculptural details, and the capitals were decorated not with five, but with three straps). In special works on the history of architecture, two opposing hypotheses appear: according to one of them, the Propylaea is considered an unfinished symmetrical structure, and according to the second, an asymmetrical design is attributed to Mnesicles. The last hypothesis, supported by Choisy, can be considered convincing, since in the classical period the Greeks did not yet strive for a symmetrical arrangement of buildings ( Choisy's point of view is shared by the authors of the General History of Architecture, Vol. II. M., 1949, p. 146). On the contrary, a relaxed, picturesque arrangement of buildings of various sizes and shapes was their guiding creative rule. And, undoubtedly, the southern wing of the Propylaea was conceived in the form of a small volume, completely unequal to the northern wing. Otherwise, the later built temple of the Wingless Victory (Niki Apteros) would have disrupted the symmetrical composition.

The place, which lay north of the old Hundred Foot Temple, was considered sacred from ancient times. Here they showed the imaginary mark left by Poseidon's trident on the rock, and here was the sacred olive tree, which sprouted new shoots after the expulsion of the Persians ( A sculptural group decorating the western tympanum of the Parthenon was dedicated to the mythical dispute between Athena and Poseidon over the possession of Attica. Some idea of ​​this lost composition is given by the testimony of Pausanias, sketches made by the artist Carrey before the explosion of the Parthenon, as well as the relief of a Hellenistic vase found in Kerch). It is not surprising, therefore, that a new temple, the Erechtheion, dedicated to two gods: Athena, the patroness of the city, and Poseidon, arose in this place. The Erechtheion was founded in 421 immediately after the completion of the temple of Nike Apteros, but the date of completion of this construction is considered to be 407 or 406, when construction on the acropolis stopped due to the Peloponnesian War, which was unsuccessful for the Athenians.

There is no doubt that the Erechtheion was created as a secondary temple, which was supposed to contrast with the Parthenon, highlighting its architectural features. This compositional purpose of the Erechtheion should explain the differences in the size of both temples, in the interpretation of their composition and, finally, in the use of different orders - Ionic and Doric. But these contrasts are especially clearly manifested when comparing the opposite longitudinal facades that lined the road of the Panathenaic processions ( The Panathenaic processions (that is, the ritual of offering clothes to the Virgin Athena) had not so much religious as political significance. Particularly solemn processions, like the Olympic Games, were held every four years. The road of the Panathenaic processions went from the Propylaea between both temples of the acropolis and ended at the main (eastern) entrance to the Parthenon).

The facade of the Erechtheion, facing the Parthenon, is made of rectangular marble blocks, so smooth and precisely fitted to one another that the slightest nuance of chiaroscuro becomes noticeable against the background of the wall. But the opposite façade of the Parthenon, facing north, was always immersed in a transparent bluish shadow. The cella of this temple, which also has smooth walls, is hidden by a colonnade, and, in fact, the role of the wall as an external enclosing surface is performed in the Parthenon by columns. Seventeen Doric columns form a line of monumental and powerful verticals. And only thanks to the continuous colonnade the Parthenon acquired that measured rhythm of divisions that is absent in the Erechtheion. Well understanding the intimate, feminine character of the small temple, the builders of the Erechtheion revealed the artistic essence of their building through plastic means - in the image of caryatids, again contrasted with the Parthenon. Unfortunately, the sculpture and small forms that once adorned the acropolis in abundance were gradually lost, but even what was preserved in the ruins of the Erechtheion, the Temple of Nike and the later sculptures of the Theater of Dionysus speaks eloquently of the living human feelings inherent in the artists of Greek art.

In the year of the completion of the last temple of the acropolis, the Erechtheion, the Hundred Foot Temple burned down. The remains of this building were dismantled, and the ensemble, located on the site of the acropolis, remained unchanged for many hundreds of years. In the 4th century. Quite extensive construction took place in Athens itself, however, with the exception of the stone Theater of Dionysus on the southern slope of the Acropolis and the stadium that arose among the Hymettus Hills, no large public buildings were built at that time. The reduction in the construction of public buildings was explained by two main reasons: 1) the consequences of the unsuccessful Peloponnesian War, which depleted state resources, and 2) the need to improve the amenities of the capital. It should be noted that until the beginning of the 4th century. Athens was a chaotic and polluted city. On the territory of Athens, along with the overdensified quarters of the artisan poor, there were empty spaces in the area of ​​the Acropolis; streets and squares, as a rule, were not paved; the number of wells was extremely limited, and sewage, especially abundant in the vicinity of markets and slaughterhouses, accumulated in the streets and vacant lots, causing stench, dirt and frequent epidemics. The unsanitary condition of the city worsened even more after the defeat of neighboring Attic cities by the Spartans, as refugees poured into Athens, seeking refuge behind the reliable city walls.

Wanting to avoid spontaneous development, Cleon set aside a new area for the newcomer population, enclosed between the Long Walls, southwest of the Musaeum and Pnyx hills. This area received an additional wall, known as the Wall of Cleon. However, the emergence of this wall, as well as the residential area that blocked the path from Piraeus, can be regarded as a negative fact, since Athens has now lost the main entrance to the city.

Probably realizing the mistake they had made, the Athenians then built a new road to Piraeus, which passed through undefended territory parallel to the Long Walls and merged with the “sacred” Eleusinian road at the western tip of Athens. Huge Double Gates (the so-called Dipylon) were built here. But moving the main entrance to Athens did not bring positive results, since the Piraeus road, which ran between the Long Walls, created a unique effect for the acropolis.

The main stages of the development of an antique residential building (according to E. I. Evdokimova): 1 - megaron; 2 - connection of megarons; 3 - the appearance of an enclosed courtyard and porticoes on three sides; 4 - development of the corners of the courtyard and the formation of a “pastad” type house (diagram of residential buildings of Olynthus of the 5th-4th centuries BC); 5 - Hellenistic house of peristyle type with a developed longitudinal axis (house (Trident on the island of Delos); 6 - diagram of Pompeian residential buildings

Construction of the 4th century. had a utilitarian meaning in the first place and an artistic meaning only secondarily. Pursuing practical goals, the Athenians switched to the more durable and affordable Hymettian marble; paving of streets began in various areas of Athens; new warehouses and shipyards appeared in Piraeus; The water supply and purification of both cities improved significantly, but the main achievement of the 4th century. there was widespread construction of residential buildings. Excavations carried out in Olynthos in the 20s of the current century showed that the peristyle residential building, which was previously entirely attributed to the Hellenistic era, originated in the classical era. It is very likely that the “pastad” houses typical of Olynthus were also widespread in Athens. In the 40s and 30s of the 4th century. The lowland areas of Athens were built up with extensive houses of wealthy merchants and owners of craft workshops. Unlike the quarters that belonged to the demos, there was no suffocating crowding here, and in this situation, greenery appeared naturally. Private gardens merged with the later suburban gardens of the Academy and Lyceum and formed large green areas on the outskirts of Athens.

The inclusion of Athens into the orbit of the great Macedonian monarchy in the position of an annexed city could not but have negative consequences even after the collapse of the empire. The economic potential of the Athenian Republic, shaken during the Peloponnesian War, was now so undermined that the construction of large public buildings had to seek patronage from eastern monarchs. For example, the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus was for a long time the main developer of Athens. At the expense of Ptolemy, a library and an extensive gymnasium were erected in Athens; the Pergamon kings Attalus I, Eumenes II and Attalus III decorated Athens with numerous statues, porticos and gardens. Among these buildings, the so-called Stoa of Eumenes stood out, built at the foot of the acropolis and served as a kind of foyer for the huge theater of Dionysus.

In the II century. BC e. A new formidable force emerged onto the European historical arena in the form of republican Rome. Well aware that Athens would not be able to regain its lost political dominance among the Greek states, the far-sighted rulers of Attica tried to preserve Athens's status as a major cultural center. This determined the policy of Athens throughout the entire period of Roman rule, and if the unequal friendship with Rome was disrupted by periodic uprisings, the successors of the rebellious Athenian leaders tried to make amends. The statue of Agrippa placed in front of the entrance to the acropolis, the temple of Roma and Augustus near the Parthenon and a number of Greek sculptures converted into portrait statues of Roman emperors and generals provide material evidence of this vassal policy of Athens. It should be noted that Athens, which still possessed high artistic charm, was able to find in Rome not only protection, but enlightened and generous patronage. Already with the construction of the Roman market and the Tower of the Winds, a noticeable construction boom began, and a century and a half after that, under Emperor Hadrian, construction reached a scale that had not been seen since the time of Pericles.

Being an outstanding architect and admirer of ancient Greek artistic culture, Emperor Hadrian decided to brilliantly rebuild Athens. Adrian lived in Athens three times and for a long time, which is why it is quite acceptable for him to participate in the construction of the city not only as a customer, but also as the author of a number of buildings. To the north of the Roman market, by order of Hadrian, a magnificent library was built with a swimming pool and colonnades on the sides of a rectangular courtyard. In addition to the library, the Pantheon, the Temple of Hera, a hundred-columned gymnasium and a number of other public buildings arose under Hadrian. However, the high density of buildings limited construction possibilities, and, in addition, with the growth of the population, the need for territorial expansion of the city was felt. Therefore, Adrian undertakes the construction of a new urban area. This area, known as Andrianople, or New Athens, adjoined the old city from the east and received its own special defensive wall. Wanting to formalize the grand entrance to New Athens, Hadrian built a triumphal arch near the old eastern wall and almost simultaneously began completing the unfinished temple of Olympian Zeus. The Temple of Zeus is one of the largest religious buildings of the ancient world. Measuring 108 m in length and 41 m in width, it far surpasses all the temples of Ancient Rome and is second only to such gigantic structures as the Temple of Bel in Palmyra and the Temple of Apollo in Selinunte. Columns play a decisive role in the composition of this temple. Even when the cella of the temple still existed, it was not perceptible, for two rows of giant Corinthian columns framing the side facades, and three rows at the ends completely hid the internal volume. Now, when the temple of Zeus has lost its cella and roof, the columns have been freed from the oppressive load and give the impression of petrified fantastic trees.

Along with Hadrian, a major builder of Athens was the local Athenian rich man Herod Atticus (Herodes Atticus). At his expense, the stadium located behind the Ilissus stream was lined with marble slabs, and the closed Odeon theater with a huge gallery for the public was rebuilt at the foot of the acropolis. Located south of the temple of Nike Apteros, this building balanced the Theater of Dionysus and completely completed the composition of the acropolis.

The buildings of Herodes Atticus were the last in the history of the development of ancient Athens. Already at the end of the 2nd century. construction stopped, and the beginning of the collapse of the worldwide Roman Empire completed the degradation of the city. Athens suffered especially hard in the 4th and 5th centuries. during the construction of Constantinople, when not only small works of art, but also huge statues were exported from Delphi, Athens and Olympia to decorate the new eastern capital of the empire. Probably, under Justinian, the acropolis lost the statue of Athena Promachos, but still the ensemble was preserved for many centuries, and even medieval reconstruction did not destroy the main treasures of the acropolis. The Venetian-Turkish War of 1687 had disastrous consequences for the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, during which a bomb that hit the Parthenon exploded a Turkish powder magazine located in the cella of the temple. The remains of the destroyed Parthenon were so little valued by the Turkish governors in Greece that the first “respectable buyer” of Athenian antiquities, Lord Elgin, was not refused and was able to transport to England all the surviving metopes and reliefs from the tympanums of the great temple ( The confiscation of sculptural parts of the Parthenon, which occurred in 1802-1812, caused deep indignation in the circles of enlightened European society; it even captured England, as evidenced, for example, by Byron's poem "The Curse of Minerva." In this poem, the goddess Athena curses Lord Elgin for plundering her artistic treasures.).

Excavations and work to restore the acropolis began in the 30s of the 19th century. Ross, Belais, Dörpfeld, Kawerau and a number of other archaeologists representing various archaeological societies took part in them. As a result of many years of work, especially widely carried out on the eve of the Second World War, the ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis was studied in detail, and all its buildings, as far as possible, were assembled from separate pieces. Particularly interesting was the restoration of the Parthenon, where each stone was replaced in its place with the addition of those lost intermediate blocks that were considered archaeologically certain. However, the Parthenon sculpture still continues to remain in the British Museum, eloquently indicating the predominance of predatory interests over the natural desire of artists from all countries to have the ensemble of the acropolis in its complete original form.

Priene

Compared to Athens, Priene, like all other ancient Greek cities, left an immeasurably smaller architectural heritage. And this is quite understandable, since Priene was a secondary and very small colonial city, the entire built-up area of ​​which could fit on the site of the Athenian Acropolis and the neighboring Limnos valley. Further, the history of the construction of Priene does not cover even two centuries, while Athens was created over 13 centuries. And, finally, Priene is more likely the fruit of Hellenistic rather than classical artistic culture, so fully reflected in Athens.

In terms of destruction, Priene approaches Pergamum, Selinunte and Assos. In Priene not a single intact column has survived, not to mention entire porticoes and temples; all the stones seem to have been moved from their places by some gigantic destructive force, and yet Priene is much better preserved than the above-mentioned cities. This is explained by the fact that after the destruction of the city by the Seljuk Turks in the 13th century. n. e. the entire region adjacent to the Gulf of Latmia was completely deserted. The destroyed columns, although they were covered with sand and overgrown with moss, were not used in new buildings. And, in fact, almost all the materials are available to recreate the appearance of the ancient city. That is why Priene received the name Pompeii of Asia Minor.

The location of archaic Priene remains unclear. New Priene was founded by the Ionians in the middle of the 4th century. BC e. and for the first 15-20 years it was under the rule of Athens. The site for the construction of the city was chosen at the foot of the rocky Mikal Mountains, protecting the valley of the river. Meander from the northern winds. Once upon a time, the Meander valley was covered with fields and groves, behind which the picturesque Gulf of Latmia stretched along the southern horizon. Already from the city a vast flat landscape bordered by mountains opened up, but if you climb to the site of the acropolis ( The Acropolis of Priene never had buildings specific to acropolises. It housed only a military patrol, so the name of the acropolis should be applied to it with reservations), lying 200 m above the level of the city, then from this enormous height Miletus and even distant Heraclea were visible. However, over time, the surrounding landscape has changed greatly. River sediments blocked the exit from the Latmian Gulf and turned it into a small salt lake Bafa with swampy shores. Heraclea and Miletus shared the tragic fate of Priene, and at present the deserted plain of Maeander is a meager natural pasture, over which herds of sheep and goats roam.

Unlike Athens, Miletus and other large Greek cities, Priene never played an independent political role. On the contrary, it had only a subordinate significance and passed from hand to hand, falling either under the authority of Athens, then under the rule of its neighboring Miletus, or under the rule of the Macedonian, Cappadocian and Pergamon kings. The economic opportunities of Priene did not correspond to the luxury with which the city was built, which is why the builders of Priene had to seek foreign patronage throughout its history. Of decisive importance in the construction of Priene, undoubtedly, was the short initial period when Priene was under the rule of Athens, for Alexander the Great, who invaded Asia Minor in 334 BC. e., had already found an established city that made a wonderful impression. Since Priene lay close to the Persian possessions, construction began with the fortification of the city. The city walls, which were more than two meters thick, described an irregular arc and adjoined a sheer cliff, on top of which a sentinel post was built. Probably, simultaneously with the construction of the walls, the city plan was also laid out, which subsequently did not undergo significant changes ( The sustainability of the general plan of Priene is confirmed by the coincidence of the “red lines” of development in all pre-Byzantine archaeological layers).

The builders of Priene used the Hippodamian layout, characteristic of the end of the classical era. With standard blocks, the city plan could turn into a meaningless and dull grid. However, this did not happen. Being wonderful craftsmen, the architects who created Priene made the city plan varied and contrasting. First of all, they designed the street network differently. The streets running from west to east, as intended for driving, received calm longitudinal profiles, while the perpendicular streets, which overcame ascents, almost as a rule turned into continuous stairs. And if the average width of road streets was 6 m, then the width of pedestrian streets ranged from 3 to 4 m. But the main role in enriching the master plan of Priene was played by its public center.

The center of Priene was a whole complex of buildings located on three terraces. On the lower, first, perfectly flat terrace, adjacent to the so-called Western Gate Street, there was a rectangular agora. To the west of it lay the food market, and to the east was the sanctuary of Zeus surrounded by galleries. The second terrace, only slightly raised above the lower one, was occupied by a large public gallery. This so-called Sacred Stoa (or Stoa of Orophernes) had a number of rooms located behind it, among which the ecclesiastery and gymnasium stood out. The third, highest terrace belonged entirely to the temple of Athena. The listed buildings, united by the agora, together occupied nine standard blocks, which amounted to V? from the built-up area of ​​Priene. Anyone for whom the above figures are not an empty phrase will understand that the center of Priene was relatively very large, and in this situation there was no need for planning axes, because a large, compact and well-located city center has enormous strength. It is capable of enlivening large spaces around itself and fully serving as the starting point of the planning composition of the entire city.

Analyzing the center of Priene, one cannot help but be amazed at the skill with which its composition was solved. First of all, the agora itself, surrounded on three sides by a slender and light Doric colonnade, was of great interest. Behind the colonnade were hidden trading premises that significantly expanded the agora; Thanks to this, the corners of the square crashed into the surrounding blocks, and Source Street received breaks and closed perspectives. There is no doubt that if the main square of Priene had been designed by an architect who thought elementary, it would have turned into an undeveloped quarter and the whole effect of a bypass street would have been irretrievably lost. Created back in the 4th century. BC e., the agora could not have an absolutely symmetrical composition, and if the middle of the southern gallery was marked by a staircase, then the Sacred Stoa located opposite completely violated the symmetry. The sacred site of the temple of Athena was equally asymmetrical, where the propylaea did not coincide with the axis of the peripterus.

Work on the planning of the city was probably nearing completion when the troops of Alexander the Great approached Priene. Priene offered no resistance to Alexander and even during the siege of Miletus was his residence. Fascinated by the elegance of the miniature Greek town, King Alexander decided to rebuild Priene and, first of all, contributed generous gifts to the completion of the founded temple of Athena. In this regard, construction in Priene greatly intensified. The Prienians were able to invite the architect Pytheas (who built the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus), and in a relatively short time the Ionic peripteral temple was completely completed. In gratitude to Alexander, the Prienians carved the inscription on the marble wall of the temple’s pronaos: “Tsar Alexander dedicated this temple to Athena Polias.”

However, the era of Alexander the Great was the last stage of the heyday of the construction of Priene. Later, even under the patronage of Rome and Byzantium, construction began to decline, and finally, in the 13th century. Priene was destroyed during the invasion of Muslim tribes.

In 1895-1899 under the leadership of Wigand and Schrader, an archaeological study of Priene was carried out ( Martin Schede. Die Ruinen von Priene, Berlin - Leipzig, 1934). In addition to the central ensembles, decorated with marble benches, pools and sculpture, excavations revealed a large number of residential buildings, as well as an open theater, a stadium and an adjacent lower gymnasium. The residential buildings of Priene provide an opportunity to trace the transition from residential premises of the megaron type to Hellenistic peristyle houses. Along with residential buildings, the improvement of Priene is of significant interest. Despite the insignificance of the urban population, which hardly exceeded 2.5 thousand inhabitants, Priene had both water supply and sewerage. Water coming from the mountains was purified in special settling tanks and supplied to almost every house using underground pipes. ceramic pipes. In anticipation of the summer months, the food market was equipped with cold cellars designed to store meat and fish, and finally, in Priene we find excellent stone pavements made of large rectangular slabs.

It was already mentioned above that in many cities of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Crete they also installed sewerage, water supply, and paved streets. However, what a huge path humanity has traveled from this primitive improvement to the high everyday comfort of Priene. Being a city of Hellenistic culture, Priene was created as a single work of art. There were no utilitarian structures in Priene that were not subject to architectural treatment. That is why the marble chairs in the theater, and the simple steps of the streets leading up the mountain, and the pavements near temples and altars were not only comfortable and durable, but also beautiful in appearance. full meaning this word.