Hippodamus of Miletus
Hippodamus of Miletus (/hɪˈpɒdəməs/; Greek: Ἱππόδαμος ὁ Μιλήσιος, Hippodamos ho Milesios; c.480–408 BC)[1] was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician, mathematician, meteorologist and philosopher, who is considered to be "the father of European urban planning",[2] and the namesake of the "Hippodamian plan" (grid plan) of city layout, although rectangular city plans were in use by the ancient Greeks as early as the 8th c. BC.
Hippodamus was born in Miletus and lived during the 5th century BC, on the spring of the Ancient Greece classical epoch. His father was Euryphon. According to Aristotle, Hippodamus was the first author who wrote upon the theory of government, without any knowledge of practical affairs.[3]
His plans of Greek cities were characterised by order and regularity in contrast to the intricacy and confusion common to cities of that period, even Athens. He is seen as the originator of the idea that a town plan might formally embody and clarify a rational social order. However, as cities were built with orthogonal plans centuries before his birth, he cannot be the originator of the concept.[4]
Personality[edit]
He is referred to in the works of Aristotle, Stobaeus, Strabo, Hesychius, Photius, and Theano.
He evidently had a reputation as a lover of attention. According to Aristotle's description in Politics, "Some people thought he carried things too far, indeed, with his long hair, expensive ornaments, and the same cheap warm clothing worn winter and summer."[5]
In the treatise On Virtue, Theano (apparently the wife of Pythagoras) addressed a certain Hippodamus of Thurium (presumably this same man) that her work contains the doctrine of the golden mean.[6]
Philosophy[edit]
From Hippodamus came the earliest notions of patent law.[15] Hippodamus proposed that society should reward those individuals who create things useful for society. Aristotle criticized the practical utilitarian approach of Hippodamus and implicated the inherent tension in rewarding individuals for doing good; i.e. that by rewarding individuals for doing good, the individuals will do good for the reward over the benefit of the state. The state could actually suffer because of the allure of individual rewards, since individuals may propose notions that weaken the state. Aristotle essentially foreshadowed the inherent tension between private rewards for social benefits - the potential diversion between individual and societal interests. Aristotle's greatest criticism of Hippodamus, however, is that rewarding individuals "who discover something advantageous for the city ... is not safe, though it sounds appealing." For while innovation is of great benefit to the arts and sciences, "change in an art is not like change in law; for law has no strength with respect to obedience apart from habit, and this is not created except over a period of time. Hence the easy alteration of existing laws in favour of new and different ones weakens the power of law itself.[16]"
Hippodamus does not seem to have been involved in politics, but several writings attributed to him dealt with issues of the state, including Περί Πολιτείας (On the State), Περί Ευδαιμονίας (On Happiness), Πυθαγορίζουσαι Θεωρίαι (Pythagoras Theorems).[17]