The Greek city of the classical age did not develop in isolation.

The Aegean world of the Bronze-Age Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations had a highly sophisticated architecture, known to us both from accounts that have come down to us, filtered through the folk memory of the Homeric poems, and from its excavated remains at Knossos, Mycenae, and elsewhere. Further afield there were the ancient civilizations of the Near East, in Mesopotamia and Egypt, to both of which BronzeAge and classical Greece alike owed a great deal. In marked contrast to classical Greece, the outstanding monuments are the palaces and the country residences of the ruling classes, and it was these that attracted the ingenuity and skills which a later age was to lavish on public architecture and planning. For anything comparable to the water supply and drainage systems of Knossos we have to turn to classical Etruria and later still to Rom By comparison with the palace, the ordinary domestic and artisan quarters of a small Late-Minoan town such as Gournia, in eastern Crete are mere agglomerations of rooms and courtyards ranged haphazardly along the winding alleyways that encircle the central residence, like a small medieval town clingin to the skirts of some baronial castle. ther afield, in Mesopotamia, the Assyrians were great builders of new cities, and these too were ordered, though not rigidly orthogonal, creations; one recalls Herodotus' description of Babylon as "intersected by straight streets, some parallel and some at right angles to the river." Ideas of orderly planning were in the air, and the Greeks would everywhere have found themselves exposed to the stimulus of notions which they could then develop in their own particular way. Already in the eighth century B.C., Oriental contacts and imports were everywhere shaping the emergence of the nascent classical civilization-metalwork, painting, sculpture, fabrics, handicrafts of every sort. The "Aeolic" capitals of the earliest Greek architecture in stone echoed a type that was widespread in Phoenicia and Palestine, while more generally the whole Greek architectural system of column, capital, and entablature represents the impact of masonry architecture of the ancient East, and in particular of Egypt, upon the primitive timber and mud-brick construction of Aegean Greece. Patterns of urban life tend to be more conservative than fashions in building, but when the time did come for change, the see was already sown. The Greeks themselves attributed the formal schemes of orthogonal town planning with which they were familiar to Hippodamos of Miletus, who lived and worked in the fifth century B.C. But first a general word about the political and social institutions for which the Greek polis was expected to make provision.
, Unlike the architects in the classical period, who thought in terms of individual buildings, the architects during the Hellenistic period planned larger units such as the agora or even the city. They frequently engaged in space and the balance between the space and mass of the structure, and developed ideas that were adopted later on by the Romans. Despite the interest in space, they were not interested in an impressive internal space. For them, the important space was outside.

Este statul n care domnete dreptatea (oikeiopragia), o virtute conform creia fiecare tip uman se ocup de ceea ce-i este ornduit prin funcia sufleteasc dominant: cei capabili de practicarea virtuii raiunii (nelepciunea) elaboreaz legi, cei capabili de practicarea virtuii prii pasi onale (curajul) se ocup cu aprarea, iar cei nzestrai cu posibilitatea practicrii virtuii corespunztoare prii apetente a sufletului (cumptarea) sunt responsabili de asigurarea resurselor. Exist astfel o ierarhie a unor clase sociale determinate natural: nelepii, militarii, respectiv agricultorii i meteugarii. O alt condiie a oikeiopragiei (n afar de practicarea de ctre fiecare tip uman a acelor activiti care i se potrivesc) este pstrarea ierarhiei claselor.

Scopul statului este realizarea binelui tuturor: Clasele sociale, ornduite ierarhic, corespund celor trei pri ale sufletului: clasa meteugarilor (demiurgii) corespunde prii apetente, clasa rzboinicilor (aprtorii, phylakes) corespunde prii pasionale, clasa conductorilor (archontes, filosofii sau nelepii) corespunde prii raionale. Comunismul aristocratic lupttorii i conductorii, pentru a nu fi ispitii de putere sau de preocupri care nu sunt proprii virtuilor lor, nu vor poseda nimic personal (propriet i, bani, femei) ci totul va fi n comun (cas, avere, femei, copii). Femeile au aceleai drepturi i obligaii ca i brbaii. Este o aristocraie a raiunii, neleas de unii exegei drept teocraie laic, dei statul raiunii i a contemplrii Ideilor la Platon are i un sens religios. Armonia statului se realizeaz numai cnd conductorii sunt filosofi, demiurgii i hrnesc pe aprtori i conductori, iar aprtorii se ocup numai de sigurana statului. Formele degenerate (imperfecte) ale statului: timocraia conducerea de ctre soldai oligarhia conducerea exercitat de cei bogai democraia conducerea poporului (periculoas pentru c ncurajeaz ignorana neleas de cei ignorani drept gndire liber, promovarea scopurilor personale, egal itatea cu sensul de prsire a oikeiopragiei, alegerea capricioas a conductorilor) despotismul cea mai rea form de corupere a puterii (un individ acapareaz puterea i conduce de dragul propriei mriri) Cetatea sau statul ideal conceput n dialogul Republica nu este un proiect politic, ci o analogie utilizat de Platon pentru a putea rspunde la ntrebarea ce indic tema dialogului: Ce este dreptatea?. Astfel, teoria facultilor i virtuilor sufletului, precum i proiectarea ei asupra ideii de stat, reprezint un model pentru identificarea formei dreptii ca oikeiopragia. Nici statul ideal, nici sufletul perfect armonizat n acord cu dreptatea, nu exist n lumea sensibil. n domeniul sensibil, al lucrurilor corporale, exist numai formele corupte ale Ideilor sau paradigelor (fie c este vorba de Ideea de Cetate, fie de altele).