A note on settlement numbers in ancient Greece

Abstract

In August 1968 the Athens Centre of Ekistics (ACE) launched a large-scale study of settlements within the territories of city-states in ancient Greece. The aim of the project is ‘to come to a better understanding of the problems of human settlements by the study of their past’, their evolution through time and their relationships with total space (physical, economic, cultural), so that solutions may be offered ‘to many of the problems related to human settlements, from which humanity is at present suffering’. A method is being employed which synthesises the researches of archaeologists and historians with the work of architect-planners and topographers in an attempt to test by sample studies the validity of eight hypotheses about ancient settlements which have been advanced by C. A. Doxiadis on the basis of ‘general ekistic experience’. Doxiadis, an architect and planner of wide experience and considerable insight, has formulated the inter-disciplinary scientific study of human settlements and called it Ekistics. His hypotheses about ancient settlements are given at length in the first annual report on the Ancient Greek Settlements Project, but they may be summarised as follows.