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The resistance survey has already transformed
our understanding of ancient Aphrodisias, showing, as never
before realized, that the city was laid out on a grid plan.
In residential areas, individual city blocks are 35.5 meters
or 120 Ionic feet wide, and 39.0 meters or 132 Ionic feet
long (the extra 12 feet was probably left for an alleyway
running between back-to-back houses). The public squares
and civic buildings of the city-center are planned according
to the same grid, as seen most clearly in the layout of
the North Agora (the main public square), which is bisected
along both its east-west and its north-south axes by the
lines of streets. Only the Temple of Aphrodite and the Theater
have different orientations, which may predate the city
grid. The exact date of the new street plan is uncertain,
but it probably falls in the second or first centuries B.C.
Commentary by Christopher Ratté, Associate Professor
of Classics and Fine Arts, New York University
reference: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/aphrodisias/geo.htm
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Image courtesy of Aphrodisias
Excavations, New York University
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