Squaring the City: Between Roman and Rabbinic Urban Geometry

One of the famous stories told by Vitruvius describes the Greek philosopher Aristippus, a follower of Socrates, as shipwrecked on the island of Rhodes with his companions. The survivors’ despair is alleviated when Aristippus observes geometrical diagrams drawn on the sand and declares: ‘There are good hopes for us, for I see human footsteps!’. Soon after this discovery, the philosopher and his companions and the gymnasium in the city of Rhodes, where they are given shelter and are honoured for their philosophical education. For Vitruvius, geometry is, therefore, a marker of a civilized city, and an indication that philosophy dwells therein. In Aristippus’ story, as in Plato’s Republic, geometry and philosophical dialectics lead us from the darkness of a shadowy existence (here, the bottom of the sea, in the Republic, the cave) to the knowledge of the good city.