Hippodamus and the Piraeus

Author(s): David W. J. Gill

Source: Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Bd. 55, H. 1 (2006), pp. 1-15
Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4436795
Accessed: 03-05-2015 13:24 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Franz Steiner Verlag is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte
Geschichte.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

HIPPODAMUS AND THE PIRAEUS*

I. Introduction
The recent study of the Egesta decree has brought into question the widely held belief
that the three-barredsigma went out of use in Attica during the early part of the 440s. If
instead the three-barred sigma was in use until at least 418/7, inscriptions which
hitherto have been dated to the 450s and early 440s - among them the Nike Temple
Decree and the Eleusinian Epistatai Decree - may in fact be later. One series of
inscriptions using the three-barredsigma which deserves further attention comes from
the Piraeus. A reassessment of the date of the horoi from the Piraeus needs to be set
against the career of Hippodamus, the architect whose name is linked with the redevelopment. The traditional date for three-barredsigma has suggested that the work in the
Piraeus took place early in his career, whereas a revised date might indicate that the
harbourwas receiving attention during the 430s.

I am grateful to David Blackman,MortimerChambers,David Conwell, Bj0rn Loven, Eddie J.

Owens, Jari Pakkanen,Anton Powell, Boris Rankov, Tracey Rihll, Graham Shipley, A.J.S.
Spawforth,and Michael Vickersfor theirhelpful commentson earlierdraftsof this paper.
The following abbreviationshave been used:
G.V. Lalonde,Horoi (AthenianAgora 19; Princeton1991) 1-5 1.
Agora xix
Blackman,"AthenianNavy" D. Blackman,"The AthenianNavy and Allied Naval Contributions in the Pentecontaetia",GRBS 10 (1969) 179-216.
Bums, "Hippodamus"
A. Bums, "Hippodamusandthe PlannedCity",Historia25 (1976)
414-28.
Garland, Piraeus

R. Garland, The Piraeus from the Fifth to the First Century B.C.

Hill, "BoundaryStones"

(London 1987).
D.K. Hill, "Some BoundaryStones from the Piraeus",AJA 36
(1932) 254-59.

Hoepfner, GW I

Hoepfner-Schwandner

W. Hoepfner, ed., Geschichte des Wohnens, Vol. 1. 5000 v.Chr.500 n.Chr. Vorgeschic hte - Frihgeschichte - Antike (Stuttgart
1999).

W. Hoepfnerand E.-L. Schwandner(eds.), Haus und Stadt im

klassischen Griechenland (Wohnen in der klassischen Polis 1;

McCredie,"Hippodamos"
Meiggs, AE
Samons, Empire

Wycherley,"Hippodamus"

Munchen1994).
J.R. McCredie,"Hippodamosof Miletos", in Studies Presented
to G.M.A. Hanfmann (Mainz 1971) 95-100.
R. Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (Oxford 1972).
Loren J. Samons II, Empire of the Owl: Athenian Imperial Finance (Historia Einzelschriften 142; Stuttgart 2000).

R.E. Wycherley,"Hippodamusand Rhodes",Historia 13 (1964)

135-39.
Historia,Band 55/1 (2006)
? FranzSteinerVerlag, Stuttgart

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVIDW.J. GILL

Fig. 1. Plan of the Piraeus. The bold line round the harbour area of Zea was
probably marked out by the horoi. A possible area for the Hippodamian agora has
been highlighted north-west of the Arsenal of Philo ('Skeuothek'). (Plan based on
Hoepfner.) (Courtesy American School of Classical Studies at Athens.)
II. Hippodamus and the Piraeus
The redevelopment at the Piraeus, and specifically the work of Hippodamus, has never
been closely dated. The Scholion on Aristophanes' Knightsnoted that the Piraeus was
Hetpcnd 1cata developed'at the time of the PersianWars'(iccai7Ep6-o;aiYr6;TO6V
Mrj&ic oxv1yayEv).i1However importantthe harbourarea was at this time, there is no
indication that the main 'Hippodamian' development took place in the 470s, and indeed
campaigns against the Persians continued to the middle of the fifth century. The work
comes within the context for the linking of the harbourto the city of Athens by means
of a series of Long Walls. The redesign of the settlement was attributedin antiquity to
t tharchitectHippodamus of Miletus. Aristotle specifically observed that Hippodamus
'invented the art of dividing up cities and laid out the Piraeus' (... 6S iccd tiiv wav
I

Schol. Ar. Eq. 327. For the scholia: D. MervynJones, "Note",CR n.s. 8 (1958) 4-5. See Bums,
"Hippodamus"421. Hoepfner places the Hippodamiandevelopment in the 470s: HoepfnerSchwandner22; Hoepfner,GW 1, 213.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamusand the Piraeus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'4

-co

Fig.Plnsoing

th Long]Wal fomSrnon13)

the lexicographersHesychiusand Photius.3The purposeof the developmentwas at

least twofold:first,to increasethe militaryrole of the Piraeus,andsecond,to develop
the commercial facilities.4 The harboursettlement also provided space for the growing
number of metics who were choosing to live in Attica.5

Littleis knownof the sequenceof Hippodamus'career,thougha numberof cities,

apartfromthe Piraeus,werelinkedto his name.HippodamuscamefromMiletus,a city
redesignedafterthe Persianwars following its destructionin the wake of the Ionian
revolt.6This layingoutof the city duringtheearlyfifthcenturymayhavegivenhimthe
2
3

4
5
6

95-96; Bums,
Aristotle,Pol. 2.5.1267 b 22 - 1268 a 14. Furtheron this: McCredie,"Hippodamos"
"Hippodamus".
S.v. 'Inno8digovv a5t;. For similarterminologyon the horoi from the Piraeus,IG I3 1111 (12
893), aXptr P[;] hobo ?a8e TOdaTv X?16? vev4ierat (Hill, "Boundary Stones" 256 n. 3); IG I3
1113 (IG 12 894), [d]xpp r[9a]8e X?; ho86b ?t6e he Movqtia; ecaX v4uTat;. See also IG I3 1112.
For the association between the nemesis in the lexicographersand that recordedon the horoi:
McCredie,"Hippodamos"97.
Meiggs, AE 278.
See the observationsmadeby J.M. Camp,TheArchaeologyof Athens(New Haven2001) 296-97.
17-22; Hoepfner,GW 1, 207-12; A.M. Greaves,Miletos: a
For Miletus: Hoepfner-Schwandner
History(London2002) especially pp. 79-82 on its town-planningwith commentson Hippodamus.
1-9; Hoepfner,GW1,148-56.
Plannedcities go back to the archaicperiod:Hoepfner-Schwandner
See also the case of Euesperidesin Cyrenaicawhich dates back to the late seventh centuryBC:
D.W.J.Gill, "Euesperides:Cyrenaicaand its Contactswith the OutsideWorld",in K. Lomas(ed.),
GreekIdentityin the WesternMediterranean:Papers in Honourof Brian Shefton(Leiden2004)
391-409; D.W.J.Gill andP. Flecks,"DefiningDomesticSpaceat Euesperides,Cyrenaica:Archaic
Structureson the Sidi Abeid",in R. Westgate,N. FisherandJ. Whitley(eds.), BuildingCommuni-

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVIDW.J. GILL

training in the way that a planned city would look although there is no reason to
suppose that Hippodamus was in any way associated with this project. Hippodamus
was, however, certainly associated with Athens' panhellenic foundation of Thurii, on
the site of Sybaris in southern Italy, which should probably be dated to 443.7 At the
probable end of his career can be placed the foundation of Rhodes City following the
synoicism of the cities of Rhodes in 408/7.8 In the case of Thurii there had been a
previous city, but on Rhodes the site was new as the residents were moved from
Camirus, lalysus, and Lindus.

Archeptolemos son of Hippodamus

A furtherpiece of evidence that some have used to date Hippodamus' career in Athens
is a comic reference to Archeptolemos son of Hippodamus who was in favour of peace
in 425.9 This was the year when the Spartans were negotiating a peace with Athens in
response to the capture of Spartansat Pylos.10 In Aristophanes' Knights, performed in
early 424, there is a reference to 'the son of Hippodamos' who wept at what Kleon was
doing to the city.11 Later in the play the Sausage-Seller spoke to Kleon:
&F~'povto;
'ApXencToX4_ou
t'
anXmaUveg;
tag;lpEaOfiac;
ir; nO5x(o pOaaxuyixov, itiaz; anov&a'; RpoKaxoiivTat.

TflV EipfVlV
?K

e eK&6aca;,

Archeptolemus brought peace and you tore it to ribbons; the envoys who come to
propose a truce you drive from the city with kicks in their arses.12
In the first of these two passages the scholiast linked 'the son of Hippodamos' to the
architect of the Piraeus. The identification between this Archeptolemos and the son of
ties: House, Settlement and Soc iety in the Aegean and Beyond (London,in press);D.W.J.Gill, "Early

Colonisationat Euesperides:Origins and Interactions",in G. J. Bradleyand J.-P. Wilson (eds.),

Greek and Roman Colonisation. Origins, Ideologies and Interactions (Swansea, in press).

7 Hesychius (s.v. 'tIno&itou v loit;) suggests the Hippodamuswas ci; Oouptapcoi). For Pericles' foundationof Thurii:Plut. Per. 11.5; see too K. Freeman,"Thurioi",Greece & Rome 10
(1941) 49-64; V. Ehrenberg,"The Foundationof Thurii",AJP 69 (1948) 149-70; McCredie,
50. For an ancientdescriptionof the city: Diodorus12.
"Hippodamos"98; Hoepfner-Schwandner
10. 7. For a reconstructionof the plan based on Diodorus:D. Mertensand E. Greco, "Urban
Planningin MagnaGraecia",in G.P. Carratelli(ed.), TheWesternGreeks(Venezia 1996) 259. For
421.
reservationsaboutthe link between Hippodamusand Thurii:Burns,"Hippodamus"
8 Strabo14.2.9. See J. Bradford,"Fieldworkon AerialDiscoveriesin AtticaandRhodes:Part1. The
Town Plan of Classical Rhodes", AntJ 36 (1956) 57-69; McCredie, "Hippodamos"98-99;
51-67; Hoepfner,GW1, 292-309.
Hoepfner-Schwandner
9 See Ar. Eq. 327. A.W. Gomme,"Noteson GreekComedy",CRn.s. 8 (1958) 2-4; Meiggs,AE 279;
see also Bums, "Hippodamus"415, 422, 425-27. Wycherley("Hippodamus"139) had reservations aboutthe identification.
10 See Thuc. 4.16-20.
11 Ar. Eq. 327. See also the Scholia on the passage: D. Mervyn Jones and N.G. Wilson (ed.),
Prolegomena de comoedia scholia in Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes II (Groningen/ Amsterdam
1969), 81-82.
12 Ar. Eq. 795-796. See also Ar. Pax 665-667, performedin 421: "She says that afterthe affair of
Pylos she came to you unbiddento bringyou a basketfull of trucesandthatyou thricerepulsedher
by your votes in the assembly".

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamusand the Piraeus

the architect is not straightforward.13A Milesian would be Hippodemos, rather than

Hippodamos.14 Moreover, if the Archeptolemos mentioned by Aristophanes was the
son of the architect, Archeptolemos is unlikely to have held Athenian citizenship as the
son of a metic. 15This Archeptolemos came from the deme Argyle, and was condemned
to death in 411 as a member of the 400.16 This evidence would suggest that Archeptolemos son of Hippodamus was bom before 455.17
Burns has suggested a possible explanation.18 A strategos of the name Hippodamas, of the tribe Erechtheis, appears in a casualty list for the campaign in Egypt of the
early 450s.19 He proposed that the scholiast had confused the metic architect Hippodamus of Miletus with an Athenian with a similar name who came from the tribe
Erechtheis.20The Aristophanes reference would seem no longer pertinentto the discussion of the architect Hippodamus at Athens.

III. Horoi in the Piraeus

Although our knowledge of the archaeology of the Piraeus remains uneven,21 we do
know that key parts of the harbourtown were marked out by the erection of horoi. A
number of these horoi have been discovered in the area of the Piraeus, though few have
been found in situ; at least two of the Piraeus horoi have been discovered in the city of
Athens.22It has been suggested either that these horoi belong to the phase of the laying
out of the Piraeus by Hippodamus, or that a handful predate Hippodamus, perhaps
13 Gomme, "Notes on GreekComedy"(as in n. 9) 3: "The identificationof the Hippodamusin Eq.
with the Milesian is ... probably wrong".

14 Burns,"Hippodamus"426.
15 Gomme,"Notes on GreekComedy"(as in n. 9) 3: "he was surely no Athenian".
16 Plutarch,Mor. X. 833d-834d. See Gomme, "Notes on Greek Comedy"(as in n. 9) 3. See also
LGPN1I,69, no. 3.
17 Burns,"Hippodamus"
422.
18 Burns,"Hippodamus"
427.
19 LGPN11,237, no. 5, 459 BC; ML 33, 63 (460 or 459 BC); IG I3 1147, 63. Burns("Hippodamus")
notes a problemwith the genitive, '1Ino&dgavroq,
if this is the father.
20 A furtherAthenianHippodamaswas eponymousarchonin 375 (LGPNII, 237, no. 2).
21

W. Judeich, Topographie von Athen2 (Munich 1931) 430-56; J. Travlos, Bildlexikon zur Topogra-

phie des antikenAttika(Tubingen1988) 340-63 (with earlierbibliographyespecially for the I9th

century activity); K. von Eickstedt, Beitrdge zur Topographie des antiken Piraus (Athens 1991);
G. Steinhauer, Ta MvqpEla cai tO ApXaioAoytr6 Movaeio roi3 Tlcipaui (Athens 1998), esp.
12-13 (map);G. Steinhauer,"Apcraio;f7Elpaidg
H r6A) rov
oOepiroxArj
cai sov lhrodupov",

in G. Steinhauer,M.G. Malikoutiand B. Tsokopoulos (eds.), Piraeus, Centre of Shippingand

Culture(Athens2000) 9-123. Key summaryreportscan be found in H.W. Catling,"Archaeology
in Greece, 1983-84", AR 30 (1983/4) 11; Id., "Archaeologyin Greece, 1984-85", AR 31 (1984/5)
9-10; Id., "Archaeology in Greece, 1985-86", AR 32 (1985/6) 13-15; Id., "Archaeology in
Greece, 1987-88", AR34 (1987/8) 9; Id., "Archaeologyin Greece, 1988-89", AR35 (1988/9) 1516; E.B. French,"Archaeologyin Greece 1990-91", AR 37 (1990/1) 12; Ead., "Archaeologyin
Greece 1991-92", AR 38 (1991/2) 9; Ead.,"Archaeologyin Greece 1992-93", AR 39 (1992/3) 11;
Ead., "Archaeologyin Greece 1993-94", AR 40 (1993/4) 11; R.A. Tomlinson, "Archaeologyin
Greece 1995-96", AR42 (1995/6) 6-7; D.J. Blackman,"Archaeologyin Greece 2000-2001", AR
47 (2000/1) 12-13; Id., "Archaeologyin Greece 2001-2002", AR48 (2001/2) 13-14; J. Whitley,
"Archaeologyin Greece 2002-2003", AR 49 (2002/3) 9-10.
22 Hill, "BoundaryStones".See SEG x, 376-384. To these add:Agora xix 28, no. H29; SEG xiv, 27.
See also Burns,"Hippodamus"417; Garland,Piraeus 225-26.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID

W.J. GILL

belonging to a Themistoclean phase.23The presence of horoi needs to be seen against

their wider use in Athens to delineate key areas of the city, probably from the late
archaic period: the agora,24the Kerameikos,25sanctuaries,26and other features.27It is
likely that the Piraeus horoi were used to define and designate boundaries of specific
zones of the city prior to the construction of key facilities.
Other features of the Hippodamiancity may have included: "the Dionysiac theatre
at Mounychia"28which lay on the north-west slopes of Mounychia, and the Dionysion,
marked by a horos and probably close to the theatre.29There were also leschai, marked
by a horos in the western part of the Akte peninsula.30

The agora
The agora of the Piraeus was specifically associated with the name of Hippodamus.31
Pausanias places this public area to the north-west of Zea on the north-easternside of
the city, and away from the Kantharos,the main western harbour.32The agora lay close
to, and south-west of, the hill of Mounychia and near to the road leading to the
sanctuaries of Artemis and Bendis.33This area, to the north-west of the harbourof Zea,
is where a horos for the agora was found:34

ay[opaI; hopo;
23 Garland,Piraeus 140. Hill ("BoundaryStones"254) linkedthe horoi to "Hippodamusof Miletus
and his followers".For the possibility of a Themistocleanphase:Meiggs, AE 598; S. von Reden,
"The Piraeus- a World Apart",Greece & Rome 42 (1995) 26; Thuc. 1. 93. S. Hornblower,A
Commentaryon Thucydides,Vol. I. BooksI-III (Oxford1991), 138-39. Forthe earliersuggestion
that Hippodamuswas linked to this earlierphase, see the reservationsof Wycherley,"Hippodamus" 137. Bj0rnLoven remindsme thatthe 200 triremesbuilt as a resultof the majorsilver strike
in the Laurionwould have requiredship-sheds with the result of possible reorganisationof the
harbourarea.
24 Agora xix 27-28, nos. H25-28.
25

E.g. U. Knigge, The Athenian Kerameikos. History-Monuments-Excavations (Athens 1991) 10,

fig. 2; Agora xix 28, nos. H30-31.

26 E.g. Agora xix 7-10, 22-27, nos. H1-24.
On
27 E.g. Knigge,AthenianKerameikos(as in n. 25) 150, fig. 146, hopo; te; 06o? te; EXevntvao8e.
the use of horoi as markersfor roads:Agora xix 13-14.
28 Thuc. 8.93. 1. Garland,Piraeus 161.
29 Garland,Piraeus 161-62. Horos:IG 12 868; Garland,Piraeus 225, no. 1.
30

IG 12 888 = SEG x, 377.

31 E.g. Xen. Hell. 2.4.11. See also Andok. 1.45: "those [resident]in Peiraeus[shouldreport]to the
Agora of Hippodamus";[Dem.] 49.22: "Inthe monthMaimacterionin the archonshipof Asteius,
Alcetas andJasoncame to visit Timotheusto be presentat his trialandgive him theirsupport,and
they arrivedat his house in Peiraeusin the Hippodameiawhen it was alreadyevening";Photius:
toi5 MtXTjoiou
I'iro&igtaea 6yopas; r6io; KaXo-4tEvo; oi3Twq?v Hetpatcet din6I7'Ilo8gov
cai r&; Tj; 6k6eo5; 68o60;. Harp., and Sud.,
dpXvr6c-rovo; toi3 tov fltpatcxi Kaaoice-odav?o;
s.v. See also G.E.M. de Ste. Croix, The Origins of the Peloponnesian War (London 1972) 275;

43.
Hoepfner-Schwandner
32 Paus. 1.1.3.
33

Xen., Hell. 2.4.1 1.

34 Piraeus2171. IG 12896; SEG x, 383; IG I3 1115; Hill, "BoundaryStones"257; Garland,Piraeus

226, no. 17;

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamusand the Piraeus

A further horos from the agora is known:35

I

ayopa;
ho6po;

Fig. 3. Horos of the Agora, Piraeus Museum. (? David Gill, 2003.)

In 404, during the time of the Thirty Tyrants, a force gathered in the agora of Hippodamus and advanced on the hill Mounychia to the east. Xenophon described the attack:
And for a time the men from Phyle tried to prevent their coming up, but when they
saw that the line of the town wall, extensive as it was, needed a large force for its
defence, whereas they were not yet numerous, they gathered in a compact body on
the hill of Mounychia. And the men from the city, when they came to the agora of
Hippodamus, first formed themselves in line of battle, so that they filled the road
which leads to the temple of Artemis of Mounychia and the sanctuary of Bendis;
and they made a line not less than fifty shields in depth (Kait?yvovro 06ao; oiKic
a'anti8wv);then, in this formation, they advanced up the
Xatt0ov f"?ir' irev-rinKCOVTa
hill (trans. Brownson LCL). 36
The hoplite formation seems to have moved east from its assembly point in the agora
across land that had probably been designated for building - perhaps private homes but not yet developed.37 A key topographical clue for the location of the agora is
provided by an inscription recording the mid-fourth-century BC construction of the
35

G. Steinhauer, Ta MvquEla ,cai r6 Ap%alooyli6

Movaclo roi3 7elpaid (Athens 1998) 24 (ill.).

36 Xen. Hell. 2.4.1 1. The road itself led to the temple of Artemisand the sanctuaryof Bendis (see
420).
Garland,Piraeus 162; Bums, "Hippodamus"
37 If the body of troopswas containedto the road,then the formationis unlikelyto have been more
than 10 hoplites across: a hoplite shield is approximately1 m in diameter.See also Garland,
Piraeus 144. A recentlyidentifiedroadin the Piraeusat Odos Botsariwas 7 m wide (Tomlinson,
"Archaeologyin Greece, 1995-96" [as in n. 21] 6-7), though some were some 14-15 m wide
25, StreetJ, which ran
(Judeich,Topographievon Athen2[as in n. 211431; Hoepfner-Schwandner
up the mainspine of the city). It has been estimatedthatthe widest streetsin
north-east/south-west
the city of Rhodes were around 16 m wide (McCredie,"Hippodamos"99), though the average
57).
width was much less (Hoepfner-Schwandner

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVIDW.J.GILL

Arsenal of Philon which lay between the propylaion of the agora (xponriXatoVTn e
ayopa;) and the shipsheds (Vex)OoiiKcV).38
The inscription shows that the Arsenal
itself would have been 400 Doric feet long and 55 feet wide, though it is not clear how
it fitted into the existing grid-pattern.39Part of the arsenal was located in 1988.
Excavation confirmed that the Arsenal appears to have been built parallel to existing
roads, but not in a precise alignment with the housing blocks to the west.40 Its location
also confirms that the agora must lie to the north of Zea.
The propylaion for the agora mentioned in the inscription for the Arsenal of Philon
should refer to a gateway that would have faced the harbourat Zea. 41 This structure,
the Demosion Propylon of the agora, was defined by at least five horoi.
Athens,
EM 10075.42

Piraeus
Museum43

Piraeus
Museum44

Athens,
EM 182245

npon'A-

n]poin6X-

nppo7n5Xo

npo[TEIrioj

0 65s0ooio hopo;

0 5FeOCo[iI-

5epoatio

5j[ooio]

8e0o[aio]

o hopo;

hopo;

ho'[po5]

h6po[s]

Athens,
Agora I362446
7Epo7E[t?Xo]

38 IG II2 1668.5= SIG3969. See T.W. Ludlow,"TheAthenianNavalArsenalof Philon",AJP 3 (1882)

317-28; J.A. Bundgaard, Mnesicles, a Greek Architect at Work (Copenhagen 1957) 117-32; K.

Jeppesen,Paradeigmata(1958) 69-101; D.J. Blackman,"The Ship-Sheds",in J.S. Morrisonand

R.T. Williams(eds.), GreekOaredShips 900-322 BC (Cambridge1968) 189; J.J.Coulton,Greek
Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design (London 1977) 54, fig. 14; A.W. Lawrence /

1983) 341-42,
R.A. Tomlinson,GreekArchitecture4(The PelicanHistoryof Art;Harmondsworth
(fig. 14) remove the agora from the
fig. 333; Garland,Piraeus 156-58. Hoepfner-Schwandner
immediateproximityof the Arsenal.Theireast-westroad29 was widerthannormalat 8.20 m and
theysuggestthatthis formedthenorthernedge of the agora,whichwas boundedon the westby street
25, 29, fig. 19). Bj0rnLoven drawsmy attentionto V.N.
J, 14-15 m wide (Hoepfner-Schwandner
Marstrand,Arsenalet i Piraeus og Oldtidens Byggeregler (Kobenhavn 1922).

39 For a discussion of the inscriptionand the measurementsof the building itself: J. Pakkanen,
"Deriving Ancient Foot Units from Building Dimensions: a Statistical ApproachEmploying
Cosine QuantogramAnalysis",in G. BurenhultandJ. Arvidsson(eds.), ArchaeologicalInformatics: Pushing the Envelope. CAA 2001. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in
Archaeology. Proceedings of the 29th Conference, Gotland, April 2001 (BAR Int. Ser. 1016,

Oxford 2002) 503, 505 table 4. For a discussion of the length of such measurements:M. Wilson
Jones,"DoricMeasureandArchitecturalDesign 1:The Evidenceof the Relief fromSalamis",AJA
104 (2000) 73-93; J. Pakkanen,"The Toumba Building at Lefkandi:a Statistical Method for
Detecting a Design-unit",BSA99 (2004) 257-71.
fig. 14. Forthe excavation:Steinhauer(as in n. 21) 19-21;
40 Forthe location:Hoepfner-Schwandner
44-50; Hoepfner,GW1, 217.
G. Steinhauer,"Die Skeuothekdes Philon,"in Hoepfner-Schwandner
For a preliminaryreport:Catling,"Archaeologyin Greece, 1988-89" (as in n. 21) 15;Tomlinson,
"Archaeologyin Greece, 1995-96" (as in n. 21) 6-7. Two partsof the buildinghave been found:
the north end, between Ipsilandouand Kountouriotou;and a mid-section, at the junctions of
Ipsilandouand Kountouriotouwith 2nd Merarchias.The projecteddimensionsare given as 131 m
long (400 x 0.327 m = 130.8 m), and approximately 18 m wide (55 x 0.327 m = 18 m).

41
42
43
44
45
46

Garland,Piraeus 158.
IG 12891; IG I3 1105; Hill, "BoundaryStones"255.
SEG x, 379, a; IG 13 1106; Hill, "BoundaryStones"255-56, fig. 4.
SEG x, 379, b; IG I3 1107; Hill, "BoundaryStones"256, fig. 5.
SEG x, 379, c; IG I3 1108; Hill, "BoundaryStones"256, fig. 6.
SEG xiv, 27; IG I3 1097;B.D. Meritt,"GreekInscriptions",Hesperia23 (1954) 259, no. 47, pl. 54;
AthenianAgora xix 28, no. H29, "Foundon February29, 1936, built into a pier in the Churchof
the PanagiaVlassarouwest of the Odeion of Agrippa".

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamusand the Piraeus

Two further horoi delineate all the space between a road and the harbour as being
public property.47If this road was the one that ran from the demosion propylon of the
agora, it will have defined a public area to the rear of those shipsheds to the west of
Zea.48 The long side of the Arsenal would have faced this road. Excavations in the
eastern part of Zea have shown that there was a continuous wall running behind the
shipsheds, and these may have adjoined a road.49 This wall would have provided
additional security for the sensitive military installations around the harbour.A further
horos found in situ near the hospital, on the promontory to the south-west of the
harbour, identified Zea as a public space:
[h]optso
6[elsooto
h6poq.50

The date of the horoi

The date for the redevelopment of the Piraeus has been derived from the letter forms
used on the horoi which were presumably set up prior to the construction work.51The
inscriptions use a three-barredsigma, a letter form which has long been interpreted as
going out of use by the mid-440s.52 The reading of the archon's name for the Egesta
decree has now, however, demonstrated the weakness of this chronological premise.53
47

Garland, Piraeus 225, nos. 12-13. IG 12 892; SEG x, 380; IG I3 1 109-1 1 10. it6 t(y&6 TE; ho86 t6
tp6; t6 Xtg?vo; nrv 5t416cr6v 6ri (Hill, "Boundary Stones" 254-55).
48 Hill, "Boundary Stones" 257. For the evidence of shipsheds: see Blackman, "Ship-Sheds" (as in n.
38) 181 (with references to the early excavations). For more recent explorations: Catling, "Archaeology in Greece 1979/80" (as in n. 21) 12-13; Blackman, "Archaeology in Greece 2001/2" (as in n.
21) 13-14; Whitley, "Archaeology in Greece 2002/3" (as in n. 21) 9-10. Bjorn Loven of the
Danish Institute in Athens has identified two slipways in Zea measuring 50.5 and 52 m in length
(Annual Report [2003 and 2004] available from the project website: www.zeaharbourproject.dk).
In the 320s there were reported to be 196 shipsheds (vedYotoKo)
in Zea, 82 in Mounichia, and 94
in the Kantharos (IG 112 1627 397); see Blackman, "Ship-Sheds" (as in n. 38) 187. A likely
candidate for this road was street N (Hoepfner-Schwandner fig. 14).
49 I. Dragatzes, FpaKTrK& Tf; ?V 'AHivat; 'ApXaOOXO-y1Kf;
'ETatpFia; (Athens 1885) 63-71;
Blackman, "Ship-Sheds" (as in n. 38) 182. David Blackman reminds me that "the continuous wall
behind the shipsheds followed the curve of the shore, and could never be fitted into a grid plan"
(pers. comm.).
50 IG 12 889; SEG x, 378; IG I3 1103; Hill, "Boundary Stones" 256. This horos may have been
associated with the east-west street 13 (Hoepfner-Schwandner fig. 14).
51 E.g. McCredie, "Hippodamos" 97: "the natural assumption is that these boundary stones reflect
part of his program". See also Agora xix 6: "most horoi can be dated only from their letter forms".
52 Garland, Piraeus 212. For dating by letter forms: R. Meiggs, "The Dating of Fifth-Century Attic
Inscriptions", JHS 86 (1966) 86-98. See also Burns, "Hippodamus" 425: "Since our knowledge of
history between the Persian wars and the Peloponnesian war depends to a large degree on
epigraphic evidence datable only on the basis of the letter-forms ... as R. Meiggs and others have
shown, there is clearly datable evidence for the use of three-stroke sigma as late as 445
McCredie, "Hippodamos" 97: "[the horoij seem to fit most happily around the middle of the
century, a date consistent with Hippodamos' activity", and at n. 11, "their consistent use of the
three-bar sigma makes it unlikely that they are much later than the middle of the century". Lalonde
(Agora xix 28) places the horos marking the propylon of the agora "ante me. Saec. V a."
53 M.H. Chambers, "The Archon's Name in the Athens-Egesta Alliance (IG I3 11)", ZPE 98 (1993)
171-74; Id., "Reading Illegible Greek Inscriptions: Athens and Egesta", Thetis 1 (1994) 49-52;

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

10

DAVID W.J. GILL

The laser reading of the archon name Antiphon demonstrates that the three-barred
sigma was in epigraphic use as late as 418/7. The Piraeus horoi also used tailed rhos
which have been taken to be chronological indicators. Inscriptions using this letter
form can, however, be dated well after the 440s.54 Thus there is no compelling reason
to keep the Piraeus horoi - and by implication Hippodamus' redevelopment - in the
450s or the early 440s, and a date in the late 440s or the 430s is equally possible.

IV. The historical context for the development in the Piraeus

Pericles was closely associated with some developments in the Piraeus. He was
responsible for the construction of the Middle Wall which ran from the city of Athens
to the harbour:Plutarch recorded that Kallikrates was in charge of the project.55The
reason for the project was to secure the corridor between the Piraeus and the city of
Athens.56 The original long walls left Phaleron open to any possible invader.57Kallikrates is known from other projects at Athens: the Parthenon, walls on the acropolis,
as well the development of the sanctuary of Athena Nike, a project which should now
be placed in the 420s.58
The Middle Wall is usually dated 'from the mid-440's'.59 A piece of evidence that
has been used to support this is Plato's presentation of Socrates making the claim that
he heard Pericles in the debate about the proposal over the Middle Wall. The anecdote
comes in Plato's Gorgias and is linked to dockyard facilities at the Piraeus:
Id., R. Gallucci, and P. Spanos, "Athens'Alliance with Egesta in the Year of Antiphon",ZPE 83
(1990) 38-63. For a dissenting view: A. Henry, "Througha Laser Beam Darkly: Space-Age
Technologyandthe EgestaDecree (I.G. i3 11)", ZPE 91 (1992) 137-46; Id., "Pourencouragerles
autres:Athensand Egestaencore",CQ n.s. 45 (1995) 237-40; Id., "TheSigmaEnigma".ZPE 120
(1998) 45-48. See also Samons,Empire 171.
54 The tailedrho,thoughoriginallyseen as significant,can now be datedto c. 430; Agora xix no. H8,
pl. 1, from the triangularsanctuaryto the south-westof the Athenianagora.For earliercomments
on its dating see H.B. Mattingly,"AthenianFinancein the PeloponnesianWar",BCH 92 (1968)
476, commentingon early reportsof the agora inscriptionpublishedin BCH 91 (1967) 625 (G.
Daux), andAR (1966/7) 4, fig. 3.
55 Plut.Per. 13.5. See IraS. Mark,The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens: Architectural Stages and
Chronology (AIA Monograph New Series 2; Hesperia Suppl. 26 11993]) 130-31. Plutarch's
mentionof architectsfor severalof the projectsmay reflecthis knowledgeof the decreespassedto
initiatethe work.
56 On the walls: RobertL. Scranton,"TheFortificationsof Athensat the Openingof the Peloponnesian War",AJA 42 (1938) 525-36. See D. Conwell, The Athenian Long Walls: Chronology.
Topography, and Remains (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1992). See also D.H. Conwell,
"Lost and Found: the Remains of the Athenian Long Walls", AJA 99 (1995) 339 (abstract).
57 See Garland, Piraeus 24. For the wall to Phaleron: J. Day, "Phalerum and the Phaleric Wall",
TAPA 59 (1928) 164-78; Id., "Cape Colias Phalerum and the Phaleric Wall", AJA 36 (1932) 1-1 1.
58 See D.W.J. Gill, "The Decision to Build the Temple of Athena Nike (IG I3 35)", Historia 50 (2001)
257-78 with IG I3 35. Further on the temple of Athena Nike: H.B. Mattingly, "The Athena Nike
Dossier: IG 13 35/36 and 64 A-B", CQ n.s. 50 (2000) 604-06; see also P. Schultz, "The Akroteria
of the Temple of Athena Nike", Hesperia 70 (2001) 1-48. For the Akropolis wall, which had to be
completed within 60 days: IG 13 45, and see Mark, Athena Nike (as in n. 55) 64-65. For an earlier
summaryof Kallikrates'career:Mark,Athena Nike 130-32.
59 Mark, Athena Nike (as in n. 55) 131. See also A.W. Gomme, A Historical Commentary on
Thucydides I (Oxford 1945) 311-13, on Thuc. I.107.1. Hornblower(Commentary on Thucydides,
Vol. 1. Books 1-111 [as in n. 23] 167) suggests thatthe wall was startedc. 458.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamus and the Piraeus

11

Gorgias: Well, I will try, Socrates, to reveal to you clearly the whole power of
rhetoric: and in fact you have correctly shown the way to it yourself. You know, I
suppose, that these great dockyards (ta ve6pta) and walls of Athens (c& TcitXl Ta
'AOilvaiwv), and the construction of your harbours (i' xxv X.tgvwv iccaraicssu),
are due to the advice of Themistocles, and in part to that of Pericles, not to your
craftsmen.
Socrates: So we are told, Gorgias, of Themistocles; and as to Pericles, I heard him
myself when he was advising us about the Middle Wall (nI?pt toiV 6ta p?0ou
TCiXou;) .60

The claim that Socrates heard Pericles proposing the Middle Wall has been discounted
by some as fiction, in partbecause some scholars believe that the decree concerning the
wall must have been moved in the late 460s, too early for Socrates.61 However if the
wall was not constructed until the 440s the account is not impossible, though not
necessarily true.
The juxtaposition of the walls, dockyards and harbourfacilities by Plato is reflected in other sources. The Middle Wall and the shipsheds are linked by Andocides who
specifically mentioned these projects in the wake of the Thirty Years' Peace agreed
with Sparta in 446/5:
We deposited 1000 talents on the Acropolis and passed a law that it could not be
touched; we built an additional 100 triremes, and voted to make them untouchable;
we laid out shipsheds (v?0o)aoicou

TE (pico6ognudggca),

we enrolled twelve hun-

dred cavalry and as many archers,and the Long Wall to the south was constructed.62
The reliability of Andocides as a source must however be questioned, not least because
some of the chronology is confused.63 The special untouchable fund of 1000 talents to
be kept on the acropolis, and the special force of 100 triremes in fact dated from the
first part of the Peloponnesian War.64It has been proposed that Andocides relied on a
source like the Atthis of Hellanicus.65 Wesley E. Thompson has suggested that the
Hippodamian developments in the Piraeus should probably be linked to the Middle
Wall mentioned by Andocides.66 In any case the safest conclusion might be to see the
60

Plato, Gorgias, 455d-e. See E.R. Dodds, Plato, Gorgias. A Revised Text with Introduction and

Commentary(Oxford 1959) 209-10.

61

Dodds, Plato, Gorgias (as in n. 61) 209-10. Dodds has suggested that the wall was built between
461 and 456 which would have meant that it was too early for Socrates. See Day "Phalerum" (as in
n. 57) 176, who dates the wall between 457 and 431.
62 Andoc. 3.7. See also Blackman, "Ship-Sheds" (as in n. 38) 188; Blackman, "Athenian Navy",
208-12. A passage from Aischines (2.174) is derived from Andocides: "We deposited 1000 talents
in coin on the Acropolis, we built 100 additional triremes, and constructed dockyards (veoico-o;cico8op.tiiadjiev); we formed a corps of 1200 cavalry and a new force of as many archers, and
the southern long wall was built."
63 For reservations about Andocides as a source: E.M. Harris, "The Authenticity of Andocides' De
Pace: A Subversive Essay", in P. Flensted-Jensen, T.H. Nielsen and L. Rubinstein (eds.), Polis &
Politics: Studies in Ancient Greek History, Presented to Mogens Herman Hansen on his Sixtieth
Birthday, August 20, 2000 (Copenhagen 2000) 479-506.
64 Thuc. 2. 23. See also J.S. Morrison, and R.T. Williams, Greek Oared Ships 900-322 BC (Cambridge 1968) 228.
65 W.E. Thompson, "Andocides and Hellanicus", TAPA 98 (1967) 485.

66 Thompson,"Andocides"(as in n. 65) 485.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

12

DAVID W.I. GILL

shipsheds, the Middle Wall and the development of Athenian naval and land forces as
part of the build up for war from the mid-440s.
The development of the Athenian fleet, the provision of shipsheds, and enhanced
security for the harbourarea would appear to be linked. Indeed Isocrates suggests that
Though
at least 1000 talents were spent on the Periclean shipsheds (vcooiKo;).67
this project is only provided with a terminus post quem of 446/5, it is perhaps
significant that in the financial decrees of Kallias - dated to 434/3,68 433/2,69 431,70
422/171 or 418/772 - the Athenians should use their remaining funds on the dockyard
and the walls (E;;to vs&'ptov
iatLaV

XEixa).73

It is perhaps also notable that one of the

sources of income for the Parthenon project in 443/2 came from the 'wall-makers'
([n]apaz nrFx[onoot6v).74This has been interpretedas the surplus fund after the completion of the Middle Wall75(though other 'walls' are possible) in the same way that in
the previous year the surplus from a trireme-building project was transferredto the
Parthenon project.76 Other sources of income for the Parthenon included xenodikai,
mines at Laurion, and baths.77The completion of a trireme-building programme and
the possible related strengthening of defences at the Piraeus would fit well together in
the mid to late 430s. It is perhaps significant that Athens could spend substantial sums

67
68

69
70

71

72
73

74
75

76

Isoc. 7.66. See Blackman "Ship-Sheds" (as in n. 38) 188. If 100 additional triremes each required
a shipshed, then the cost would be about 10 talents per vessel.
ATL 111.326-8; Morrison and Williams, Greek Oared Ships (as in n. 64) 226; Meiggs, AE 519-23,
601; Blackman, "Athenian Navy", 211 n. 90. Thompson ("Andocides" [as in n. 65] 485) supports
this position.
Samons, Empire, esp. 113-33. See also Loren J. Samons, II, "The 'Kallias Decrees' (IG I3 52) and
the Inventories of Athena's Treasure in the Parthenon", CQ n.s. 46 (1996) 91-102.
Lisa Kallet-Marx, "The Kallias Decree, Thucydides, and the Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War",
CQ n.s. 39 (1989) 94-113. Kallet-Marx argues that the two sides are not contemporary, with side
B slightly later.
H.T. Wade-Gery, "The Financial Decress of Kallias (IG 12, 91-2)", JHS 51 (1931) 57-85; A.B.
West, "The Two Callias Decrees", AJA 38 (1934) 390-407; H.B. Mattingly, "Athenian Finance in
the Peloponnesian War", BCH 92 (1968) 450-85; Id., "'Epigraphically the Twenties Are Too
Late"', BSA 65 (1970) 147-9; Id., "Athens and Eleusis: Some New Ideas", in W.D. Bradeen and
M.F. McGregor (eds.), Phoros: Tribute to Benjamin Dean Meritt (Locust Valley 1974) 94-97; Id.,
"The Mysterious 3000 Talents of the First Kallias Decree", GRBS 16 (1975) 15-22.
C.W. Fomara, "The Date of the Callias Decrees", GRBS 11 (1970) 185-96.
IG 1291 = IG I3 52. ML 58; Fornara no. 119. Dockyard facilities probably included shipsheds and
arsenals: see Strabo 9.1.15, where the Arsenal of Philon is included among the numerous vc6pta.
See also Samons, Empire 42 n. 68.
IG 13 440, 1. 127; see W.B.Dinsmoor, "Attic Building Accounts, I. The Parthenon", AJA 17 (1913)
66. See Samons, Empire 117.
E.g. Dinsmoor, "Attic Building Accounts, I" (as in n. 74) 78; Id., "Attic Building Accounts, V.
Supplementary Notes", AJA 25 (1921) 243; ATL III, 341, n. 64: "This item shows that the long wall
was finished in 443/2"; P.A. Stadter, A Commentary on Plutarch's Pericles (Chapel Hill 1989)
171.
In 444/3 at least 10,000 drachmas came from the trireme makers (naprpctp[tEponot6v ), IG 13 439,
1. 77; see Dinsmoor, "Attic Building Accounts, I" (as in n. 74) 64. Dinsmoor ("Attic Building
Accounts, I" 78; Id., "Attic Building Accounts, V" (as in n. 75) 243) interprets this as follows:
"The new fleet of triremes finished and the surplus money (90,000 dr.) turned over to the
Parthenon". See ATL III, 341, and n. 63. For observations on this entry: Blackman, "Athenian
Navy", 208. For the fleet at this time: S.K. Eddy, "Athens' Peacetime Navy in the Age of

Perikles",GRBS9 (1968) 141-56.

77

ATL III, 341-42.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamusand the Piraeus

13

on a cultural project like the Parthenon,while still keeping her eye on strengtheningher
maritime power. Did Athens expect war, but instead of spending income on warlike
projects, make a deliberate show of expending income on non-threatening building
projects?
If the shipsheds were constructed around Zea with a clearly defined public area
attached, the commercial facilities seem to have been focused on the area round the
main western harbour of the Kantharos. This was the area where the Emporion was
located,78 marked off by at least two horoi inscribed: ?tlOpio ica'thobo h6po;.79 One
of the horoi was found in situ 'behind' the church of Agios Nikolaos at the south-east
corner of the Kantharos.80At least five stoas were located within this area encircling
the harbour.81One of them was the Alphitopolis Stoa, possibly located on the north
side of the Kantharos and adjacent to the city wall.82 This was probably the stoa that
was walled off by the Council of 400 in 411/0: 'They also walled off the largest stoa
in Piraeus which was in immediate connection with this wall'.83 The construction of
this stoa has been attributed to Pericles; its function was to store the grain supply for
the city.84 This is probably the same stoa later known as the Makra Stoa by Demosthenes:
those who dwelt in Peiraeus were receiving their loaves at an obol each in the
dockyard (?v tjo v&opiq) and in the Long Stoa (E'ii Tfj; gaiKp&g atoa;), having
their meal measured out to them a half-ekteus [i.e. 1/12 of a medimnos] at a time.85
The other stoas probably ran along the eastern side of the Kantharos. Remains of two
have been identified, both facing the harbour.86This was presumably the area designated as the anchorage for transport boats, mapped out by horoi, inscribed, inopORiE'ov
h6pgo h6po;.87 The two known examples seem to designate the northem and southern
ends of the western harbour.The southern example was found in the harbournear the
Customs House, and the northernone not far from the Railway Station.
The traditional dating of the three-barred sigma has led to a high dating for the
redevelopment of the Piraeus. Scholars such as Ehrenberg, Freeman, Garland, Meiggs,
Muir, Owens, and Wycherley have seen Hippodamus' work, and the success of it, at the
78 Pausanias1.1.3.
79 IG 12 887a-b; Garland,Piraeus 225, nos. 2-3; Hill, "BoundaryStones"256; Agora xix 13.
80
81

Hill, "Boundary Stones" 256; Garland, Piraeus 225, under nos. 2-3.
Schol. on Ar. Peace 145, eixa mkkX roi- ktgivo; aToa 7?VTE. See Garland, Piraeus 152.

82 Garland,Piraeus 153. David Blackmaninforms me that G. Steinhauerhas found traces of the

MakraStoa "justsouth of the railwayterminus".
83

Thuc. 8.90.5.

84 Schol. on Ar. Acharn.548: "in which the city's corn supplywas kept",Tfi kXyog?vli; d0oirTonX60o;, fiv oKo68oMla? FIEptKXic;6inoi icat ltTo; in6cetTo Tf-; nr6Xe(oq.See M. Vickers, Pericles
on Stage: Political Comedy in Aristophanes' Early Plays (Austin 1997) 38.

85 Dem. 34.37.
86

Garland, Piraeus 153; J.J. Coulton, The Architectural Development of the Greek Stoa (Oxford

1976) 277, fig. 24 ("late fifth-earlyfourthcenturyB.C. 7?1").One was 15.5 m deep (apparently
includingdining rooms,5.90 m by 4.90 m, at the rear),the other9.6 m. For the preliminaryreports
of one on lasonos at the south-eastcorner of the Kantharos:Catling, "Archaeologyin Greece,
1984-85" (as in n. 21) 9-10.
87 IG I3 1104 (IG 12 890a-b); SEG x, 378. See Judeich 1931: 446; Hill, "BoundaryStones" 256;
Burns, "Hippodamus"417; Garland,Piraeus 225, nos. 6-7. For "ferry"charges in the fourth
centuryBC: Plato, Gorg. 51 ld (2 obols from Aegina).

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

14

DAVID

W.J. GILL

Piraeus as leading to his commission to join the Athenian colony at Thurii.88 A

different view, however, would be that Thurii was his initial commission, and that its
success led to the more significant commission to redevelop the Piraeus with both
military and commercial facilities, focussed on Zea and Kantharosrespectively.89The
allusion to work on the dockyards in the First Decree of Kallias might confirm that this
work was still in progress on the eve of war (or even in its early stages). At the same
time that the harbourwas being developed, Kallikrates was commissioned to link the
Piraeus to Athens by the Middle Wall that would strengthenthe existing defences. Such
a change in the sequence would mean that the work on Rhodes would fall some 35
years after the establishment of Thurii, a not impossible span for the career of an
architect.90Gomme even extended Hippodamus' career by suggesting - it must be said
implausibly - 'that his replanning of Piraeus was done when the walls were restored in
395-4'.91

V. Conclusion
The letter-forms on the Piraeus horoi have traditionally led to the conclusion that the
redevelopment of the port was in the 450s and 440s, prior to the establishment of
Thurii. It is more probable that during the 440s Pericles decided to develop the Piraeus.
New triremes were constructed and with them the dedicated facility of shipsheds; these
would have supplemented or replaced any structures constructed for the triremes
constructed under Themistokles. The Middle Wall was commissioned to secure a

Ehrenberg, "The Foundation of Thurii" (as in n. 7) 165-66: "The famous architect Hippodamus
who had previously re-planned the Piraeus, now designed the plan of the new city". Freeman,
"Thurioi" (as in n. 7) 53: "With the expedition sailed a famous town-planning expert, Hippodamus
of Miletus, who had already made his name by his replanning of the Peiraeus as a residential and
commercial district under Perciles". Garland, Piraeus 27: "Very possibly Hippodamos arrived in
Athens in the early 440s at the invitation Perikles and soon after completing this, his first
commission was called upon to design the layout of Thourioi"; Meiggs, AE 278-79: Hippodamus'
"success in replanning the Piraeus led to a further commission to make a plan for Athens' great
panhellenic colony in the west at Thurii"; J.V. Muir, "Protagoras and Education at Thourioi",
Greece & Rome 29 (1982) 18: "[Hippodamusl had already been responsible for planning the
Piraeus"; E.J. Owens, The City in the Greek and Roman World (London 1991) 57: "If the
Hippodamos known at Thourioi was the town planner, it is reasonable to suppose that as the only
known town planner on the expedition, who had already planned the port of Athens, he would have
been intimately involved in the design of this Athenian-inspired colony"; R.E. Wycherley, "Aristophanes, Birds, 995-1009", CQ 31 (1937) 23: "it is not likely that [Hippodamusi returned to
Athens after the foundation of Thurii"; Id., "The Ionian Agora", JHS 62 (1942) 22: "Hippodamus
came from Miletus to apply the new methods at Peiraeus in the middle of the fifth"; Wycherley,
"Hippodamus" 139: "[Hippodamus] came to Athens in his thirties, perhaps towards 460, in time to
place his stamp upon the development of Peiraeus ... In 443 B.C. he went to Thurii, where he
would find work to occupy him for some years ....The Rhodians ... called in the veteran architect to
advise them." Burns ("Hippodamus" 424) suggests that Hippodamus was born in 482. De Ste.
Croix, Origins (as in n. 31) 275 dates the "agora of Hippodamus" to "the mid-fifth century".
89 Burns ("Hippodamus"424-25) raised the point about Hippodamus' credentials if the Piraeus was
his first commission. He explained it in terms of a theoretical approach to city-planning.
90 See Wycherley, "Hippodamus" 135 and 136 for the rejection of the link between Hippodamus and
Rhodes City.
91 Gomme, "Notes on Greek Comedy" (as in n. 9) 3.

88

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hippodamus and the Piraeus

15

passage between the harbour and the city of Athens. The harbour town was then laid
out by the Milesian architect Hippodamus, perhaps newly returned from another
Periclean project, Thurii.92 He specified areas for the military dockyards, the agora,
and the commercial port or emporion. The provision of a major food storage facility in
the shape of a stoa was yet another part of the Periclean development. On the eve of the
Peloponnesian War these facilities were not yet complete, which is perhaps why the
Callias Decree (if it is pre-war) assigns money to the project. Hippodamus, after
making his name in Periclean Athens, ended his career by laying out the new city of
Rhodes.
University of Wales Swansea

92

David W.J. Gill

For other connections between Pericles and Miletus: P.J. Bicknell, "Axiochus Alkibiadou, Aspasia
and Aspasios", L'Antiquite c lassique 51 (1982) 240-50; see also Vickers, Pericles on Stage (as in
n. 84) 177-78.

This content downloaded from 193.227.1.43 on Sun, 03 May 2015 13:24:39 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions