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Classical period
Culture
During the classical period the wealth of experience Miletus gained by founding colonies, the explorations of "natural" philosophers, the development of astrology, geometry, geography and, finally, the animated political interactions, all created the conditions required for the development of architecture in Miletus, and formed the cultural milieu for Hippodamus, the most important innovator in city planning. Hippodamus gave theoretical and philosophical basis on the city plan. He is credited with the invention of the grid-plan system, in which the area of the city was divided by vertical and horizontal streets into rectangular building insulae of equal size, while the location of the agora, the cultural and political centre of the ancient cities was also defined. The plan was designed in accordance with the city’s functional needs. Hippodamian system was applied in Piraeus and Thurioi, while it flourished and was generalized in the planning of new cities at the Hellenistic years.
In the second half of the 5th century BC, Miletus saw a flourishing of neo-attic dithyrambs, amongst whom Timotheus was the most important poet. He was also well-known for the composition of "nomoi" -songs of worship in honour of Apollo, which were accompanied by flute or lyre. Towards the end of the 5th century BC, the "nomoi" shared a variety of rhythms and an obscure and pompous diction with the dithyramb. Some lines from a "nomos" by Timotheus entitled "Persians", inspired by the Aeschylean tragedy of the same name, have been preserved in a 4th century BC papyrus.
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The project “Mediterranean Harbors – Ships and the Sea: The Invisible Routes” was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and National Funds of Greece, Cyprus and Italy, in the framework of INTERREG ARCHIMED COMMUNITY INITIATIVE PROGRAMME INTERREG III B ARCHIMED 2000-2006. |
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