SPP 1209:  The Hellenistic Polis as a Living Space. Urban Structures and Civic Identity between Tradition and Innovation

• Subject Area: Humanities
• Term: from 2006 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13880606

Since its beginnings in the Archaic period the polis was a fundamental component of Greek culture. The polis was a particular type of community organisation enabling the maximum of self-governance, consensus and stability by means of a range of political, social and religious institutions. The Hellenistic period has often been considered as a period of decline, during which the formerly thriving Classical polis lost many of its characteristics as new systems of power and changing political contexts developed. The wealth of new polis foundations and the enormous expansion of Greek urbanism in the Hellenistic period, however, belie this thesis.
The strength and perseverance of the central political institutions are equally strong arguments for the vitality of the Hellenistic polis as are the architectural and urban developments that were associated with the institutional changes. The polis as a model of community structure did not lose its attraction despite the loss of its autonomy and despite the radically altered political circumstances.
This cooperative research project seeks to examine the changing variables that enabled the polis to continue to function effectively in the Hellenistic period. It starts from the assumption that the complexity and vitality of the polis can only be appreciated when the interrelated socio-political situation and urban structures are analysed together. Instead of the previously commonly accepted view that the civic communities and urban centres were essentially static, they will be regarded as developing dynamically in response to the changing conditions under which consensus was sought with respect to the new external framework of power. This will offer the opportunity to propose a fundamentally new understanding of the mutually interdependent relationship between the various factors, which will serve as a paradigm for future research.
The diverse types of community structure and urban form can only be understood adequately when the ancient textual traditions, the spatial arrangements and the evidence of the monuments are brought into a dialogue that takes into consideration the analytical expertise of different specialised fields of classical scholarship. The constellation of diverse historical and archaeological methods will provide the broad range of perspectives that is necessary to understand the complexity and dynamics of the development of the Hellenistic polis in all its facets.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Turkey

Projects

• Bürgerinnen und ihre Familien im hellenistischen Milet. Untersuchungen zur Rolle von Frauen und Mädchen in der Polisöffentlichkeit. (Applicant Günther, Linda-Marie )
• Das Gymnasion von Pergamon: die visuelle und funktionale Gestaltung eines urbanen Raumes in hellenistischer Zeit (Applicant von den Hoff, Ralf )
• Die Akropolis von Athen im Hellenismus. Die Ausstattung des zentralen Polis-Heiligtums im Vergleich mit anderen öffentlichen Räumen in Athen und Attika. (Applicants Krumeich, Ralf ;  Witschel, Christian )
• Die antike Siedlungstopographie Triphyliens (Applicants Heiden, Joachim ;  Rohn, Corinna )
• Die antike Siedlungstopographie Triphyliens (Applicants Heiden, Joachim ;  Rohn, Corinna )
• Die Bedeutung der Neuen Poleis für die Hellenisierung des kleinasiatischen und syrischen Binnenlandes (Applicant Mehl, Andreas )
• Die hellenistische Residenzstadt Lysimacheia: Feldforschungen in der Zentralsiedlung und der Chora (Applicant Salzmann, Dieter )
• Elala: Eine aiolische Polis als Subzentrum der hellenistischen Metropole Pergamon (Applicant Pirson, Felix )
• Funktion der Theater innerhalb der Poleis Apollonia (Illyrien) und der Städte in seinem Hinterland, vor allem Byllis, Klos und Oricum (Applicant von Hesberg, Henner )
• Funktionale Aufspaltung, Hierarchisierung und gesellschaftliche Funktion der spätklassischen und hellenistischen stadtstaatlichen Sakralbezirke in Knidos (Kap Tekir) im Kontext der dorischen Hexa-/Pentapolis (Applicant Boschung, Dietrich )
• Griechische Tempel im Hellenismus: Instrumente und Orte sozialer Kommunikation (Applicant Steuernagel, Dirk )
• Interdependenzen urbanistischer Veränderungen im hellenistischen Priene (Applicants Koenigs, Wolf ;  Raeck, Wulf ;  Rumscheid, Frank )
• Interdependenzen urbanistischer Veränderungen im hellenistischen Priene (Applicants Raeck, Wulf ;  Rumscheid, Frank )
• Koordination des SPP (Applicant Zimmermann, Martin )
• Landstädte, Dörfer und Gehöfte in der Umgebung des hellenistischen Pergamon (Applicant Zimmermann, Martin )
• Lissos. Urbanistik und sozio-ökonomische Strukturen einer hellenistischen Polis in Illyrien (Applicant Dally, Ortwin )
• Poleis in Koina. Untersuchungen zu den Auswirkungen von bundesstaatlichen Organisationsformen auf die politischen, ökonomischen, religiösen und städtebaulichen Strukturen in den griechischen Poleis der hellenistischen Zeit (Applicant Freitag, Klaus )
• Soziale Konstruktionen religiöser Funktionsträger in hellenistischen Poleis (Applicant Horster, Marietta )
• Soziokultureller Wandel im hellenistischen Priene (Applicant Wiemer, Hans-Ulrich )
• Sympolitien und Synoikismen. Gesellschaftliche und urbanistische Implikationen von Konzentrationsprozessen in hellenistischer Zeit (Applicant Schuler, Christof )
• Vom Karischen Bund zur griechischen Polis: Archäologischer Survey in Bybassos und Kastabos auf der Karischen Chersones. (Applicant Held, Winfried )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Martin Zimmermann