Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Aug 20, 2004 12:23:36 GMT -5
I wrote this last semester for my urban studies class. It was loads of fun to write :-)
Cities of the Mind - The City as Symbol and Metaphor in Myth
Ashley Cser
There is much to be learned about human endeavors from studying the cities of the world and their diverse histories, as there is much to be learned about the city itself. But studying cities that never were, that exist only in the human imagination tells us something fundamental about the concept of city and how it relates to human existence. This essay will look at one of these cities, Atlantis, and pick it apart to show what it was meant to represent and how this reflects how the culture felt about cities in general.
Atlantis. There are a few who say this city really existed, although there is not very much evidence for it, but there is no denying that the city, probably invented by philosopher Plato as a morality play, has captured the imagination of millions since he first described the city in a dialogue among his fellow philosophers. Why has this story captured the imagination? Did Plato just tell a really good tale? Or did his philosophical city touch upon something that Jung would say is part of the collective consciousness. Atlantis is the primal archetype of the city and in particular it embodies the Greek model of utopia.
According to Plato, Atlantis was a city situated on a large island just beyond the Pillars of Herecles (or just beyond the Mediterranean Sea, through the straits leading to the Atlantic Ocean.) facing the sea. This city included outside of its immediate wall, a large plain that was arable and surrounding the city on all sides were mountains, which served to shelter it.
The city itself was structured in concentric circles; three of land and two of water, the very center containing a temple and palaces for the ten ‘kings‘ of the city (an acropolis-like citadel at the center is not surprising, since this is a Greek tale). Connecting the rings of water was a canal built later in the city’s ‘history’ which allowed easy travel between the concentric harbors. Connecting the land were bridges with guard towers on each side. This port-city sported sheltered docks cut into the living rock of each zone. This was a seafaring people who, according to Plato’s writings, traded with many cultures, and brought civilization to places spanning from Europe to Northern Africa.
The city contained such amenities as hot and cold running water which generated from springs at the center of the island and was channeled into canals and aqueducts for distribution to the rest of the island (including it’s nearby hinterland). This water was used for such things as watering crops and animals, filling public bath houses, and plumbing.
Also available to the public were places of recreation. On the innermost ring (but not the center) was a racecourse for horses. And various places of exercise and other recreation (and as mentioned above, public bath houses, which were the nucleus of Greek social life.
The outermost ring, it can be inferred from Plato’s writings because of the din of people associated with it, was mainly devoted to commerce, ships from all areas would do business with Atlantis. The buildings were decorated with precious metals and made of marble and beautifully crafted stonework. It can be inferred through the writings of Plato that some of these were public works projects.
What does this cursory physical description of Atlantis recorded by Plato say about Greek cities and the concept of city in general?
The city was founded by Poseidon, the sea-god of Greek myth. This holds well with it being a port city and also with the city’s connection with water. The concentric circles of alternating land and water represent the desirability of a well integrated land/water interface. The concentric circles allow a lot of people to have access to the sea, serving a similar purpose as French long lots. According to a Greek model, the most prosperous cities have integrated themselves with their connection to the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea. This is mainly because much of Greece is not especially good for farming purposes because of it’s rocky landscape so the Greeks emphasized trade with other areas and the sea to sustain themselves. Because this city sprang from the mind of a Greek (even though he claims to have gotten the story from an Egyptian priest, I don‘t feel this follows the model of an Egyptian utopian city. This, as a side note, points to Atlantis‘ fictionality) the topography of the land follows the Greek expectations. The city is surrounded by mountains (although they are described as being very life sustaining) and adjacent to the city proper, there was what a Greek would consider a large flat plain of arable land which is big enough to feed the city in abundance. This is a utopian version of Greece’s own topography, probably an idealized version of Athens.
Another interesting thing about the concentric circle design; if you were looking at it from above, it would appear very similar to the Grand Manner design philosophy. In the literal center of the city was the acropolis, containing religious monuments and various buildings dedicated to Poseidon and his human Atlantean wife as well as the palace of the co-rulers of Atlantis. This is the focal center of the city. Symbolically Plato was saying that religion and the ruler should be at the center of everyone’s lives. The center was also located on a hill, further emphasizing it’s importance in their lives, not only should people look to their rulers and gods, they should look up to (respect) them as well. Plato was an advocate for social order and observance of religion.
Another symbol is contained in the life-sustaining hot and cold springs which start at the center of the city and are brought outwards up to the city’s hinterland. Man’s dependance on water brings up another metaphore. Since the springs originate on the center island where the temples and palaces are, this suggests that life is sustained by the gods and rulers. But the metaphor is much more detailed than that. The water from these springs is used to supply public bath houses, the social gathering places of the Hellenistic world, therefore the gods and rulers are also the givers of social consciousness, and finally the water is used for the plumbing, making the gods and rulers the ones who can take away the spiritual waste of the individual. In other words, all good things flow out from the gods and rulers. Plato was definitely interested in portraying a socially, politically and spiritually conscious society.
So what does Atlantis teach us about the city? The main purpose of a city is to pool resources, to find a way to work together to find a way to make life a little better. A city, and especially a port city contains some kind of economy and many well developed cities engage in trade with other cities. The city is also designed as a social and spiritual center for people, as well as manufacturing center (I did not stress it in this essay, but Plato mentions that the people h quarried marble and other minerals from the concentric circles of land, and that the hollowed out areas doubled as sheltered docks.)
But perhaps more important than what Atlantis tells us about cities, is what cities have to tell us about ourselves. The city itself is a metaphor, it is an achievement of human cooperation, integrating social, spiritual, political and commercial lives into a whole that is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
===========
| Bibliography |
===========
Plato's Critias and Timaeus - www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Atlantis/timaeus_and_critias.html
A physical description of the city -
www.auburn.edu/~downejm/sp/epsaas/epsaasPlato.html
Cities of the Mind - The City as Symbol and Metaphor in Myth
Ashley Cser
There is much to be learned about human endeavors from studying the cities of the world and their diverse histories, as there is much to be learned about the city itself. But studying cities that never were, that exist only in the human imagination tells us something fundamental about the concept of city and how it relates to human existence. This essay will look at one of these cities, Atlantis, and pick it apart to show what it was meant to represent and how this reflects how the culture felt about cities in general.
Atlantis. There are a few who say this city really existed, although there is not very much evidence for it, but there is no denying that the city, probably invented by philosopher Plato as a morality play, has captured the imagination of millions since he first described the city in a dialogue among his fellow philosophers. Why has this story captured the imagination? Did Plato just tell a really good tale? Or did his philosophical city touch upon something that Jung would say is part of the collective consciousness. Atlantis is the primal archetype of the city and in particular it embodies the Greek model of utopia.
According to Plato, Atlantis was a city situated on a large island just beyond the Pillars of Herecles (or just beyond the Mediterranean Sea, through the straits leading to the Atlantic Ocean.) facing the sea. This city included outside of its immediate wall, a large plain that was arable and surrounding the city on all sides were mountains, which served to shelter it.
The city itself was structured in concentric circles; three of land and two of water, the very center containing a temple and palaces for the ten ‘kings‘ of the city (an acropolis-like citadel at the center is not surprising, since this is a Greek tale). Connecting the rings of water was a canal built later in the city’s ‘history’ which allowed easy travel between the concentric harbors. Connecting the land were bridges with guard towers on each side. This port-city sported sheltered docks cut into the living rock of each zone. This was a seafaring people who, according to Plato’s writings, traded with many cultures, and brought civilization to places spanning from Europe to Northern Africa.
The city contained such amenities as hot and cold running water which generated from springs at the center of the island and was channeled into canals and aqueducts for distribution to the rest of the island (including it’s nearby hinterland). This water was used for such things as watering crops and animals, filling public bath houses, and plumbing.
Also available to the public were places of recreation. On the innermost ring (but not the center) was a racecourse for horses. And various places of exercise and other recreation (and as mentioned above, public bath houses, which were the nucleus of Greek social life.
The outermost ring, it can be inferred from Plato’s writings because of the din of people associated with it, was mainly devoted to commerce, ships from all areas would do business with Atlantis. The buildings were decorated with precious metals and made of marble and beautifully crafted stonework. It can be inferred through the writings of Plato that some of these were public works projects.
What does this cursory physical description of Atlantis recorded by Plato say about Greek cities and the concept of city in general?
The city was founded by Poseidon, the sea-god of Greek myth. This holds well with it being a port city and also with the city’s connection with water. The concentric circles of alternating land and water represent the desirability of a well integrated land/water interface. The concentric circles allow a lot of people to have access to the sea, serving a similar purpose as French long lots. According to a Greek model, the most prosperous cities have integrated themselves with their connection to the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea. This is mainly because much of Greece is not especially good for farming purposes because of it’s rocky landscape so the Greeks emphasized trade with other areas and the sea to sustain themselves. Because this city sprang from the mind of a Greek (even though he claims to have gotten the story from an Egyptian priest, I don‘t feel this follows the model of an Egyptian utopian city. This, as a side note, points to Atlantis‘ fictionality) the topography of the land follows the Greek expectations. The city is surrounded by mountains (although they are described as being very life sustaining) and adjacent to the city proper, there was what a Greek would consider a large flat plain of arable land which is big enough to feed the city in abundance. This is a utopian version of Greece’s own topography, probably an idealized version of Athens.
Another interesting thing about the concentric circle design; if you were looking at it from above, it would appear very similar to the Grand Manner design philosophy. In the literal center of the city was the acropolis, containing religious monuments and various buildings dedicated to Poseidon and his human Atlantean wife as well as the palace of the co-rulers of Atlantis. This is the focal center of the city. Symbolically Plato was saying that religion and the ruler should be at the center of everyone’s lives. The center was also located on a hill, further emphasizing it’s importance in their lives, not only should people look to their rulers and gods, they should look up to (respect) them as well. Plato was an advocate for social order and observance of religion.
Another symbol is contained in the life-sustaining hot and cold springs which start at the center of the city and are brought outwards up to the city’s hinterland. Man’s dependance on water brings up another metaphore. Since the springs originate on the center island where the temples and palaces are, this suggests that life is sustained by the gods and rulers. But the metaphor is much more detailed than that. The water from these springs is used to supply public bath houses, the social gathering places of the Hellenistic world, therefore the gods and rulers are also the givers of social consciousness, and finally the water is used for the plumbing, making the gods and rulers the ones who can take away the spiritual waste of the individual. In other words, all good things flow out from the gods and rulers. Plato was definitely interested in portraying a socially, politically and spiritually conscious society.
So what does Atlantis teach us about the city? The main purpose of a city is to pool resources, to find a way to work together to find a way to make life a little better. A city, and especially a port city contains some kind of economy and many well developed cities engage in trade with other cities. The city is also designed as a social and spiritual center for people, as well as manufacturing center (I did not stress it in this essay, but Plato mentions that the people h quarried marble and other minerals from the concentric circles of land, and that the hollowed out areas doubled as sheltered docks.)
But perhaps more important than what Atlantis tells us about cities, is what cities have to tell us about ourselves. The city itself is a metaphor, it is an achievement of human cooperation, integrating social, spiritual, political and commercial lives into a whole that is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
===========
| Bibliography |
===========
Plato's Critias and Timaeus - www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Atlantis/timaeus_and_critias.html
A physical description of the city -
www.auburn.edu/~downejm/sp/epsaas/epsaasPlato.html
Bah. 
I thought it was awfully coincidental....:-P