Editing Priene (section)

== Contemporary geography ==

=== Territory ===
[[File:Miletus Bay silting evolution map-en.svg|thumb|right|Location of Priene at [[Büyük Menderes River|Maeander River]]'s mouth]]
In the 4th century BCE, Priene was a deep-water port with two harbours overlooking the Bay of Miletus<ref>This article uses this term in preference to the Gulf of Latmus, which remains as Lake Bafa. In ancient times they were continuous.</ref> and, somewhat further east, the marshes of the Maeander Delta. Between the ocean and steep Mycale, agricultural resources were limited. Priene's territory likely included a part of the Maeander Valley, needed to support the city. Claiming much of Mycale, it had borders on the north with [[Ephesus]] and Thebes, a small state on Mycale.

Priene was a small city-state of 6000 persons living in a constrained space of only {{convert|15|ha}}. The walled area had an extent of {{convert|20|ha}} to {{convert|37|ha}}. The population density of its residential district has been estimated at 166 persons per hectare, living in about 33 homes per hectare (13 per acre) arranged in compact city blocks.<ref>Hansen (2004), pages 14–16, estimates the walled area as 1.33 to 2 times a measured habitation area of {{convert|15|ha}}. Rubinstein (2004), pages 1091–1093, gives a slightly larger measure of the walled area: {{convert|37|ha}}. Hansen (2004), pages 14–16, estimates 8 persons per house for 500 counted houses and a ratio of 2:1 of urban over rural.</ref> The entire space within the walls offered not much more space and privacy: the density was 108 persons per hectare. All the public buildings were within walking distance, except that walking must have been an athletic event due to the vertical components of the distances.

=== Society ===
Priene was a wealthy city, as the plenitude of fine urban homes in marble and the private dedications of public buildings suggests. In addition, historical references to the interest of [[Mausolus]] and [[Alexander the Great]] indicate its standing. One third of the houses  had indoor toilets, a rarity in this society. Typically cities had public banks of outdoor seats, side by side, an arrangement for which the flowing robes of the ancients were suitably functional. Indoor plumbing requires more extensive water supply and sewage systems. Priene's location was appropriate in that regard; they captured springs and streams on Mycale, brought the water in by [[aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueduct]] to cisterns, and piped or channeled from there to houses and fountains. Most Greek cities, such as Athens, required getting water from the public fountains (which was the work of domestic servants). The upper third of Prienean society had access to indoor water.

The source of Ionian wealth was maritime activity; Ionia had a reputation among the other Greeks for being luxurious. The intellectuals, such as [[Heraclitus]], often railed against their practices.

=== Government ===
[[File:Priene Bouleuterion 2009 04 28.jpg|thumb|Bouleuterion]]
Although the [[stereotype]]d equation of wealth with [[aristocracy]] may have applied early in Priene's history, in the 4th century BCE the city-state was a [[democracy]]. State authority resided in a body called the Πριηνείς (Priēneis), "the Prieneian people", who issued all decrees and other public documents in their name. The coins minted at Priene featured the helmeted head of [[Athena]] on the [[obverse]] and a [[Meander (art)|meander]] pattern on the reverse; one coin also displayed a [[dolphin]] and the legend ΠΡΙΗ for ΠΡΙΗΝΕΩΝ (Priēneōn), "of the Prieneians."<ref>Rubinstein (2004), pages 1091–1093.</ref> These symbols express the Prieneians identification as a maritime democracy aligned with [[Athens]] but located in Asia.

The mechanism of democracy was similar to but simpler than that of the Athenians (whose population was much larger.) An assembly of citizens met periodically to render major decisions placed before them. The day-to-day legislative and executive business was conducted by a ''[[Boule (ancient Greece)|boulē]]'', or city council, which met in a ''[[bouleuterion]]'', a space like a small theatre with a wooden roof. The official head of state was a ''prytane''. He and more specialized [[magistrate]]s were elected periodically. As at Athens, not all the population was franchised. For example, the property rights and tax responsibilities of a non-Prieneian section of the population living in the countryside, the ''pedieis'', "plainsmen", were defined by law. They were perhaps, an inheritance from the days when Priene was in the valley.