ABSTRACT
Athens and Rome were not unique but merely reflected conditions in many of the old towns of Greece and Italy which had grown up over a long period of time. The effects of the developments are apparent at Old Smyrna on the west coast of Asia Minor. The relatively flat terrain of the promontory of Zagora was a vital factor in the development of the township. The terrain was also influential in the development of the approximately contemporary town of Emborio on Chios, but the declivity of the slope had the opposite effect, promoting free-standing houses and necessitating heavy terracing. The established pattern of landownership within a city must have been one of the greatest barriers to any co-ordinated redevelopment of existing cities. The influence of Egypt in the development of monumental stone architecture is accepted, and there is the all-pervading influence of near-eastern cultures on artistic development.
