(Re)shaping landscapes: scenic Hellenistic architecture in the making of a monumental urban form and its spread in Roman period

The reading of the urban image of ancient cities is often limited to two dimensions, exclusively focused on the street plan and on the building typologies. Such approach tends to take into insufficient account the spatial interactions of the urban plan with the site topography, as well as the visual relationships between monumental architecture, urban tissues and landscapes. A series of recent studies has offered significant contributions towards a three-dimensional comprehension of the ancient city. The present paper joins this research trend, by focusing on a specific morphological configuration, based on the combination of terraced public spaces (agora/forum) and theatres. The origin of this model can be found in the spread in the Hellenistic koiné of urban forms based on scenic relations between city and landscape. The research will outline the characteristics and the evolution of this pattern and investigate its diffusion in the Mediterranean through the analysis of case studies in Hellenistic Sicily and in Hispania Tarraconensis during the reign of Augustus. Between 3rd and 2nd century B.C. the connection of agorai and theatres was adopted in a series of Sicilian cities, such as Akragas, Morgantina and Solunto. The research will highlight the role played by these experiences in the later diffusion of the same models in many cities of Hispania (e.g. Sagunto, Bilbilis, Segobriga), as a part of the Augustan program of urbanization.