The Greek house and the ideology of citizenship

This paper explores the relationship between the egalitarian ideology of the Greek polis and the development of the complex, self-contained courtyard house. The polis was a 'corporate' state in which power was shared among a body of nominally equal citizens, rather than being centralized in the hands of an individual or small group. Elevating the citizen male to the status of head of an independent household, free from outside interference or ties of patronage, was one of the ways in which this equality was fostered; the enclosed form of the courtyard house advertised its owner's autonomy and adherence to shared moral codes, and thus his eligibility for access to power. The preference for new housing to be arranged in regular grid-plans also suggests a desire to avoid kin-based patterns of residence, replacing them with a new kind of solidarity based on membership of the citizen group.