Street Grids.

From: Rex H. McTyeire

The Romans adopted a pattern of street layouts with parallel controlled N/S orientation and central plazas for temples and markets that was then applied throughout Europe and continues in US city planning.  It was taken from Etruscan models.  Curiously similar layouts predating the Roman province have been found in the Levant and nowhere else in the ME.

La Revedere;
Rex H. McTyeire
Bucharest, Romania
<rexbo@...>

This municipal grid is said to have been invented by Hippodamus of Miletus (follow the various references in the online Britannica) in the 5th century BCE. As a practical matter, though, new have cities always tended to be regularly laid out just for the sake of creating regular building lots; my reading suggests Babylon was pretty regular in layout.

 

Mark.