Main topics and discussions on ancient Greek houses of West Anatolia

Abstract

The controversial research topics on ancient Greek houses of West Anatolia can be examined in three main categories; origins and development of house typologies; definition of home space and it's analysis in terms of structure, function and location; and relation between society and domestic architecture. The origins of space division of Classical houses are attributed to different traditions but usually limited archeological finds are not enough to prove these opinions. The houses of Classical Period have been classified as the "prostas house" and the "pastas house" after the first wide-ranged excavations. However, later excavations revealed new examples independent from both categories. Social and political structure is also found helpful to explain the organization of house space. However, the structure of Ancient Greek society is not clear in all aspects, yet some social evaluations like gender studies are usually tried to be explained by means of house organization contrarily. The inadequacy and heterogeneity of archeological remains, the classifications made without justified finds and the nature of domestic architecture that it is bound to individual initiative much more than public buildings are the basic reasons of the controversial topics. © 2011 WIT Press.