ABSTRACT
Architecture is Rome's most visible legacy. Ever since late antiquity, its colossal ruins have awed all who came under their spell. The basic principles of Roman architecture have become canonical, enshrined in works from Vitruvius to Sir Bannister Fletcher, dictating the forms of virtually all western architecture down until the nineteenth century. With the possible exception of North Africa, intact Roman monuments survive in East than any other part of the Roman world, from gigantic temples to entire cities. The ordered grid system of planned towns is often cited as the most pervasive feature of Graeco-Roman domination over Near Eastern urban forms. The grid system is often referred to as the 'Hippodamian' town plan after Hippodamos of Miletus, who used it in his rebuilding of the city of Miletus in 479 bc following its destruction by the Iranians. The chahartaq is one of the oldest, most fundamental and most ubiquitous 'building-blocks' of Persian architecture, in both religious and secular buildings.
