ABSTRACT
The architect Amos Rapoport uses the term 'non-verbal communication' to indicate a communication mechanism through the environment, particularly the built environment, that functions to organise social relations and acts as a mnemonic device reminding people of the behaviour expected of them. Elements functioning in the non-verbal communication mechanism will be referred to as symbolic elements, while the encounters between these elements and people, through which a message is conveyed, will be referred to as symbolic encounters throughout this chapter. The possibility and density of symbolic encounters were higher along the processional ways in comparison to those along other streets. The symbolic importance of the area below the southern gate was emphasised from the earliest stages of the settlement by the Apollo relief, which was later surrounded by a sanctuary wall. Processional ways preserved their character of being the loci of symbolic encounters from the earliest phases of the settlement until its final abandonment.
