La città ortogonale in Epiro in età tardo-classica ed ellenistica

Epirus is a region characterized by a mountain territory in which different ethnic groups coexisted and organized themselves in communities cemented by kinship and tribal linkages. It was only during the late Classic and Hellenistic periods that major urban settlements, spatially structured as Greek poleis, were built. Some of these settlements organized the urban space according to the orthogonal criteria: Antigonia, Gitanae, Elea, Orraon and Cassope. On the basis of a reinterpretation of the archaeological data, coupled with a thorough review of the urban planning of these cities considered in their historical and geographical context, a new reconstruction of their urban fabric is proposed here. This analysis permits to propose new hypotheses for understanding the dynamics connected to the introduction and diffusion of orthogonal urban planning in Epirus, by considering also how this model was adapted to each settlement.