Sacred Topography, Streets, City Walls, and Gates of the City of Athens: Questions of Urban Development

Original title: Ιερή τοπογραφία, δρόμοι, τείχη και πύλες των Αθηνών: πολεοδομικά ζητήματα

Abstract The construction of the city walls of Athens in the year 479/478 B.C. is one of the most important measures in the urban development of the city. This article investigates the factors that may have influenced the planning of the Themistoclean Wall, namely, geomorphology, the street network, existing buildings, land use, and religion. The walls negated the existing street network, while the construction of gates reinforced certain communications axes, some of which possessed a religious function (processions). Pairs of streets are identified that converge on the city walls. Graves and a few houses are the more typical existing buildings that were destroyed in the course of building the walls. Sanctuaries and cult precincts located on or near the line of the walls were either (deliberately) integrated within the fortified area or left outside. The connection of these cults to the walls and the form of the walls itself (absence of religious structures or apotropaic decoration) are also investigated in comparison to the Acropolis walls.

Keywords Athens, streets, city walls, sacred topography, city planning