PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

MADE BY : RAGHVINDER SINGH RAWAT 20/11

RAGHAV KUMAR 19/11


Hippodamus of Miletus
(498 408 BC)
Hippodamus was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician,
mathematician, meteorologist and philosopher and is considered to be the
father of urban planning, the namesake of Hippodamian plan of city
layouts.
He was born in Miletus and lived during the 5th century BC. His father was
Euryphon.

"Some people thought he carried things too far, indeed, with his long
hair, expensive ornaments, and the same cheap warm clothing worn
winter and summer."

His plans of Greek cities were characterised by order and regularity in
contrast to the more intricacy and confusion common to cities of that
period, even Athens. He is seen as the originator of the idea that a town
plan might formally embody and clarify a rational social order.

From Aristotle we learn that Hippodamus was a strange man, whose
fondness for personal recognition led him into eccentricity. According to
him, Hippodamus was the first non-statesman who made inquiries about
the best form of government.
According to Aristotle's description in Politics,
Peloponnesian War
Fifty years of Greek history that preceded the outbreak of the
Peloponnesian War had been marked by the development of
Athens as a major power in the Mediterranean world.

Its empire began as a small group of city-states, called the Delian
League from the island of Delos, on which they kept their
treasury that came together to ensure that the Greco-Persian
Wars were truly over.

After a time, though, Athens' influence began to dominate the
other city-states.

The city proceeded to conquer all of Greece save for Sparta and
its allies, and became known as the Athenian Empire.

Athens greatly increased its own power; a number of its formerly
independent allies were reduced, over the course of the century,
to the status of tribute-paying subject states of the Delian League.
This tribute was used to support a powerful fleet and, after the
middle of the century, to fund massive public works programs in
Athens, ensuring resentment.

The "Best State"
According to Aristotle (in Politics), Hippodamus devised an ideal city to be inhabited by 10,000 men

(free
male citizens), while the overall population including the correspondent women, children and slaves
would reach 50,000 people.
He divided the citizens into three classes (soldiers, artisans and 'husbandmen
Hippodamus himself planned Piraeus , the port city of athens, Thurri, Rhodes and Olynthus.

The land also divided into three (sacred, public and
private).

Soldier
Farmer
Husbandmen
Greek Villa
Temple Agora
It was a dual town , the earlier portion with an irregular
layout of streets. Agora and assembly was situated here.
The dwellings were small and irregular in form .
The original plan was given by the Boeotians and later by
Chalcidians .
The hippodamus plan developed after this time.




OLYNTHUS

The agora occupies the geographical center of the town, about it are
the temple shrines, public buildings and shops, and shops .The
dwelling blocks are planned to provide the appropriate orientation of
houses in a manner similar to Olynthus. Recreation and
entertainment facilities are provided in the gymnasium stadium and
theatre.

The principal streets laid north-south direction about 300ft apart and
connected by east-west streets of narrow width 129 feet apart .

The house was centered around a hearth and had minimunm rooms to
heat. The dwellings opened into a courtyard and faced to the south. The
north wall gave protrection from the winds. The houses were generally two
stories some were equipped with baths connected to drainage.


HIPPODAMUS PLAN


Piraeus-The Port city Of Athens
Piraeus was a rocky island consisting of the steep hill of Munichia, modern-day Kastella, and was
connected to the mainland by a low-lying stretch of land that was flooded with sea water most of
the year.
Themistocles initiated the fortification works in Piraeus and later advised the Athenians to take advantage
of its natural harbours' strategic potential.

After the second Persian invasion of Greece, Piraeus was rebuilt to the famous grid plan of
architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan, and the main agora of the city was
named after him in honour

Neighborhoods of around 2,400 m
2
blocks were constructed where small groups of 2-floor houses
were built. The houses were lined up with walls separating them while the main facets were towards
the south.

Thurri
Rhodes was laid out in 408 B.C., thirty-five years after the
planting of Thurii and seventy years after the approximate
date of the birth of Hippodamus. It is conceivable but not
altogether probable that Hippodamus was still planning
towns in his extreme old age, nor is it, on political grounds,
very likely that he would be planning in Rhodes.
Another town ascribed to Hippodamus is the colony which the Athenians and others planted in
443 B.C. at Thurii in southern Italy.
The town, he says, was divided lengthways by four streets and crossways by three. Plainly,
therefore, it had a definite and rectangular street-planning.
Rhodes
Thurri
From Hippodamus came the earliest notions of patent law. Hippodamus proposed that society
should reward those individuals who create things useful for society. Aristotle criticized this by
saying that by rewarding individuals for doing good, the individuals will do good for the reward
over the benefit of the state.
Patent Law
Bibliography
Peter Simpson, 1998 , A Philosophical Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle
, The univeristy of north carolina press ,104-228pp