Greek Polis

Question 1

Literary image of the urban space

Answer 1

• Cities = important
• Towering wall – defense & physical boundary of space
• Harbor on each side of the city
• Narrow causeway, leading to oar-swept ships
• Place of assembly (agora)
• Description of well-rounded city

Question 2

Shield of Achilles

Answer 2

Detailed description of city:

Ring 1 (rim): the Ocean

Ring 2-4: the Earth and the two poles:

     - Polis at peace (wedding scenes, banquets, songs, dances, private side of Greek family)
     - Polis at war (armies attacking polis and their riches)

Ring 5 (center of shield): the Sky

• Made by Hephaestus
  
  • Representation of cosmos- between the earth and the sky, people live
  • Through the weapons of Achilles we are told a story of cities and their importance

Question 3

Chora

Answer 3

The countryside

• Fields and the ploughmen
• Social moment like marriage scene
• Vineyard and vintage
• Cattle going to fields and attacked by lions; a grazing field and flocks of sheep
• Dancing-floor in the countryside

Question 4

Themes of the Shield of Achilles

Answer 4

Inside and outside the city (civilized, and not)

Common and private (agora vs private house)

Culture and nature (city is the highest level of culture while going to the outer rings is less cultured)

Question 5

Architecture in the Greek Polis

Answer 5

SPARTA: Village format, plaster huts, scattered along large plains, with political connections

ATHENS: looks rich (buildings), more important than the city was - Thucydides
- Didn’t have the opportunity to develop and completely plan their city because it had been settled since the 8th C

Megara Hyblaea: blocks longer, narrow, houses in blocks, agora in the middle