Hippodamus On the Best Form of Government and Law

• Author: John C. Hogan
• Published date: 01 September 1959
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295901200309
• Date: 01 September 1959
• Subject Matter: Articles

HIPPODAMUS ON THE BEST FORM OF
GOVERNMENT AND LAW*
JOHN C. HOGAN
The Rand Corporation
EVERAL
TIMES in recent issues of the Harvard Law Review,’ Dean
Pound has referred to the legal theory of Hippodamus.,2 one of the
forerunners of Plato in political and legal thinking who proposed an
ideal state which was severely criticized by Aristotle. There has been very
little written in the English language about this man who is identified
in the Politics as the first person not a statesman to think about the best
form of government:
Hippodamus, the son of Euryphon, a native of Miletus, [the same who invented the art of
planning cities, and who also laid out the Piraeus - a strange man, whose fondness for
distinction led him into a general eccentricity of life, which made some think him affected
(for he would wear flowing hair and expensive ornaments; but these were worn on a cheap
but warm garment both in winter and summer); he, besides aspiring to be an adept in the
knowledge of nature,] was the first person not a statesman who made inquiries about the
best form of government.’
Hippodamus’ constitution actually contained advanced ideas about govern-
ment and innovations in the field of law and justice which Aristotle either
could not understand or refused to believe because he thought they were
impractical.
All translations from the Latin and Greek sources used in this paper were prepared by the
author’s former teacher and good friend, the late Arthur P. McKinlay, Professor of
Classical Languages, University of California at Los Angeles. The translations of the
Greek fragments that appear in the Appendix were revised for publication by A.
Eustace Haydon, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, University of Chicago.
1
Roscoe Pound, "A Survey of Social Interests," 57 Harvard Law Review 1, 10 (1943);
Pound, "Individual Interests of Substance - Promised Advantages," 59 Harvard Law
Review 1, 11 (1945); Pound, "The Role of the Will in Law," 68 Harvard Law Review 1
(1954); see also Pound, Outlines of Lectures on Jurisprudence (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1943), p. 112.
2
Pronounced: Hippod’amus (hi . pod’ a . mus). In Aristophanes’ Knights, the penult is
long, but this is believed to be comic license. Elsewhere the syllable is short. F. H. M.
Blaydes, Aristophanis Equites (Halis Saxonum, 1892), p. 43, note to line 327.
3
Aristotle Politics ii. 8. 1267
b
.
Citations refer to Bekker’s great Berlin edition of Aristotle,
Aristotelis Opera Edidit Academia Regia Borussica (Berlin, 1831), Vol. II. Quotations
are from the translation by Benjamin Jowett in W. D. Ross (ed.), The Works of
Aristotle, "Politica," Volume X (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946). The quoted passage
in brackets, however, may not have been writen by Aristotle. Franz Susemihl and
R. D. Hicks, The Politics of Aristotle (London: Macmillan, 1894), p. 270, note 252.
It has been included in a list of "spurious or suspected passages." Ibid., pp. 15-16, note
2. Concerning this passage, see F. Dummler, Prolegomena zu Platons Staat (Basel,
1891), p. 7, and Susemihl’s reply, "Zu Aristoteles Politik," Neue Jahrbücher für Philo-
logie und Paedagogik, CXLVII (1893), 192. Diels brackets the passage, but declares:
"Parenthese wird gewöhnlich getilgt." Hermann Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsokra-
tiker (Berlin, 1956), I, 389, note to line 25.
763

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764
CLASSICAL SOURCES FOR INFORMATION ABOUT HIPPODAMUS
The principal sources for information about Hippodamus are the
works of the Greek lexicographers and historians,4 and the writings in
Latin,5 Germany and French7 of subsequent classical scholars. His scheme
of government and law is analyzed in the Politics of Aristotle (see especi-
ally the apparatus criticus to the various English, French, and Latin edi-
tions).8
8
He is referred to in studies on architecture,9 and he is briefly
noticed in the classical dictionaries 1° and general encyclopedias.ll There
are also some Greek and Latin fragments from works on government and
philosophy allegedly written by Hippodamus. 12 Except for Aristotle’s re-
4
Hesychius, Lexicon, ed. Schmidt (Jena, 1816), s.v. "
Hippodamus
nemesis.
"
Reprinted in
G. F. Hill, Sources for Greek History Between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951), p. 123; also in Diels, op. cit., I, 390. For a com-
mentary in English on Hippodamus based upon the sources given in Diels, see Kath-
leen Freeman, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Oxford: Blackwell, 1946), pp. 211-14.
Photius, Lexicon, ed. Naber (Leiden, 1864-65), s.v. "
Hippodameia
"
and "
Hippodamus
nemesis
."
Reprinted in Hill, op. cit., p. 166, and especially footnote; also, in part, in
Carolus Fridericus Hermann, Disputatio de Hippodamo Milesio ad Aristotelis Politic,
II, 5 (Marburg, 1841), p. 5, n. 2. Not found in Diels. Suidas, Lexicon, ed. Bekker
(Berlin, 1854) p. 537 s.v. "
Hippodameia
agora." Not found in Hill or Diels. Harpocra-
tion Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, ed. Dindorf (Oxford, 1853), s.v. "
Hippoda-
meia." Reprinted in Hill, op. cit., pp. 120-121. Also in Diels, op. cit., p. 390.
5
Hermann, op. cit.
6
Wilhelm Oncken, Die Staatslehre des Aristoteles (Leipzig, 1870), I, 213-18; M. Erdmann,
"Hippodamus von Milet und die symmetrische stadtebaukunst der Griechen," Philo-
logus, Zeitschrift fur das Klassische Alterthum, XLII (1884), 193-227; L. Stein, "Die
staatswissenschaftliche Theorie der Griechen vor Aristoteles und Plato," Zeitschrift fur
die gesammte Staatswissenschaft, IX (1853), 115-82.
7
Pierre Bise, "Hippodamos de Milet," Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie, XXXV (New
Series, XXVIII (1923), 13-42. See L.G. in 7 Isis 175 (1925).
8
Franz Susemihl, Aristotelis Politicorum Libri Octo Cum Vetusta Translatione Guilelmi de
Moerbeka (Leipzig, 1882); Susemihl and Hicks, op. cit.; W. L. Newman (ed.), The
Politics of Aristotle (4 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887); Benjamin Jowett (trans.),
The Politics of Aristotle (2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885); J. Barthelemy Saint-
Hilaire (ed.), Politique d’Aristote (Paris, 1848).
9
Armin von Gerkan, Griechische Stadteanlagen: Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung des
Stadtebaues im Altertum (Berlin, 1924), pp. 42-61. Reviewed extensively by C.
Weickert in Gnomon (Berlin), III (1927), 83 ff. G. Cultrera, "Architettura Ippodamea;
Contributo all Storia dell’ Edilizia nell’ Anticzita," in Memorie dell’ Accademia Nazion-
ale dei Lincei (Rome), 5th Series, Vol. XVII, No. 9.
10

Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities (New York: Harper, 1897),
p. 823; The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949), p. 431;
Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary of Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors
(London, Reutledge, 1950), p. 283.
11
Georg Wissowa, Paulys Real-Encyclopadie (Stuttgart, 1913), VIII, cols. 1731-34; Encyclo-
paedia Britannica (1937 edition), XI, 585; The New Century Cyclopedia of Names
(New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1954), II, 2017; Winkler Prins Encyclopaedie
(Amsterdam, 1951), X, 665; Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (Rome,
1933), XIX, 512-13; Eerste Nederlandse Systematisch Ingerichte Encyclopaedie (Am-
sterdam, 1950), IX, 98; Svensk Uppslagsbok (Malmo, 1949), XIII, col. 476; La Grande
Encyclopedie Inventaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Arts (Paris, no date),
XX 109-10; Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIX Siecle (Paris, 1873), IX, 289.
12
Joannes Stobaeus, Florilegium (Leipzig, 1855-57), II, 98-103; III, 233-34; and IV, 6-10; Fr.
Guil. Aug. Mullachius, Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum (Paris, 1867), II, 9-15;
Diogenes Laërtius, De Vitis, Dogmatis, &
Apophthegmatis Clarorum Philosophorum

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765
marks in the Politics and the five fragments preserved by Stobaeus in the
Florilegium, the Greek sources are concerned mainly with Hippodamus’
accomplishments as an architect or town-planner and not with his work as
a political or legal theorist.
Hippodamus is variously referred to in the Greek sources as a Thurian,
a Samian, or a Milesian. 13 The exact date of his birth would be conjecture,
but we do know that he lived over 2,000 years ago and flourished around
the middle of the fifth century B.C.14 His father was Euryphon - the
name is variously spelled in the Greek sources, the three variations being:
&dquo;Euryphon&dquo; in Aristotle, &dquo;Eurykoon&dquo; in Photius, and &dquo;Euryboon&dquo; in Hesy-
chius.l5 Some say Hippodamus’ son was Archeptolemus of Agryle, a pro-
fessional politician with a leaning towards the Aristocratic party 16 who
endeavored to end the Peloponnesian War, but was frustrated in this by the
demagogue Cleon,~7 and hence the two men are called enemies. Although
Hippodamus was honored by the Athenians for his work at the Piraeus,
Archeptolemus became involved in the political affairs of the &dquo;Four Hun-
dred&dquo; and was executed for treason. 18 The decree condemning him to
death is given in Plutarch’s Life of Antiphony9
One of the foremost architects of his time, Hippodamus is frequently
credited with having been the first person to lay out cities artistically and
on a regular plan with broad straight streets cutting one another at right
Libri X.... Pythagoreorum fragmenta
Omini Grace &
Lat. ex editione
...
postrema
(Jacobum Stoer, 1616), pp. 805-12; see also Johann Conrad von Orelli, Opuscula
Graecorum veterum sententiosa et moralia (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1819-1921).
13

Scholia Graece in Aristophanem, ed. Dindorf (Paris, 1842), "Scholia in Equites," line 327.
Reprinted in Blaydes, op. cit., p. 252....