Shaping the ancient urban landscape: Monumentality in the cities of Roman Greece

In Chapter 3 (Shaping the Ancient Urban Landscape: Monumentality in the Cities of Roman Greece) Vasilis Evangelidis explores what he dubs “performative urbanism,” in which the monumental, which is now acknowledged as more intricate and important than heretofore, entrenches the urban functional, visual, and psychological experience. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1962), Evangelidis explores immaterial collective aspects of meaning, intentionality, and direction to approach the monumental across culture and geography as fluid, dependent on economy, politics, and aesthetics. Monumentalization transformed or redefined the urban landscape of many Greek cities during the imperial period (27 BCE–476 CE). This chapter explores the features that defined the overall monumental and orderly impression, increasing the social, symbolic, visual, infra-structural, and theatrical importance of the urban space and its literary translation through oratory praise.