Architecture

Perhaps nowhere was the Greek influence more obvious than in city planning and architecture. This was not only true in the new towns that Alexander founded but also in existing cities. Virtually everywhere that Alexander’s conquests took him, Greek and Macedonian soldiers settled. Some-those injured or too old-were regularly left behind as the troops pressed onward. Others, once their army service was done, returned to places within the new kingdom that they had earlier marched through or fought in. When they settled, they brought with them the Greek vision of what a good metropolis should be. The locations of streets and buildings were planned according to Greek standards and the design of new buildings was based on Greek ideals of architecture.

According to the Greek model, public structures were needed for political, economic, and recreational activities. As Alexander conquered and founded cities and his soldiers settled in them, huge building projects became commonplace. Government facilities, public meeting houses, courts of law, and gymnasia sprung up alongside Macedonian-style palaces and the religious and military facilities that were an equally important part of everyday life. Everywhere could be seen Greek style homes adorned with Greek terra cottas and pottery as well as other forms of Greek decoration and domestic items.

The Macedonians also built stadiums, hippodromes (oval stadiums for chariot races), theaters, and amphitheaters. They created colonnaded streets and public baths. These structures lasted until the Arab invasions, and even then two of them-the agora, or market, and the bal-aneia or thermae, the baths-were not wiped out but preserved to become an important part of Islamic culture as well.