Ioannis Savvidis
Title of Lecture on religious studies:
Metaphysical Aspects of the Poseidonia
(Ammonites myth) in the Urban Plan of Athens
In Athens, the city’s expansion from the 4th century BC to 1964 reveals a network of roads that, seen from above, resembles a snail shell—one of Poseidon’s symbols.
From the Acropolis Promenade and the circular fortifications of Gerotheos III’s walls to the grand boulevards of the 20th century, this circular street pattern—linked to the myth of Poseidon—has been repeatedly emphasized.
According to myth, Poseidon, enraged at the Athenians for favoring Athena, turned the basin into a lagoon filled with water snakes. In 1933, Odysseas Lytris reinterpreted the story: in his short tale, Theseus hurls a rock from the Acropolis into the flooded basin, creating wave circles that destroy the snakes of Attica.
In more recent times, the myth of Poseidon has not only endured but gained strength through various interpretations of Athens’ circular urban layout. With the construction of the new railway center and the extension of Michailidis Avenue in 1964, the pattern finally took the form of a snail. Rather than perfect concentric circles, the city developed as a centrifugal spiral—shaped gradually through successive urban plans.
Research and Design: Nefeli Georgakopoulou
Video: Nefeli Georgakopoulou and Yiannis Isidorou
Photographs: Yiannis Isidorou, Ioannis Savvidis
Impression of the two monitors showing the Mythological Aspects of the Poseidonia
This “snail form” inevitably inspired dark tales and conspiracy theories. Even the Church sought to interpret it—sometimes attempting to integrate it into religious symbolism, at other times condemning it as a satanic design. Yet no metaphysical explanation ever achieved the resonance of Poseidon’s myth.
This study -conducted by the Department of Religious Studies at the Attic University of Athens- explores the relationship between human-designed space and the world of myths and symbols that influence it. It also reflects the enduring human impulse to seek metaphysical meaning whenever an accidental form recalls the symbols of ancient myths.
Two of the slides shown on the left monitor presentation
Two of the slides shown on the right monitor presentation
Enlargement of the visualisation of the graphic represenation (see above)
Three of the slides shown on the right monitor presentation
The right monitor displays the slideshow for this religious study.
To play press inside the rectangular.