Plateia or Platia (''πλατεία'') is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word for

town square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

. Most Greek and Cypriot cities have several town squares which are a point of reference in travelling and guiding. In traditional societies like villages and provincial communities, plateies are the central places for feasts, celebrations, events and meetings.

Ancient Greek Cities

The original ancient Greek word (plural ''plateiai'') meant one of the (usually 3) main streets in an ancient Greek city such as

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

.La pianta greca della città di Napoli https://www.visitnaples.eu/napoletanita/percorri-napoli/la-griglia-regolare-della-citta-di-napoli-castra-cardi-e-decumani The ''stenopoi'', narrower, mainly north-south, streets were placed between the ''plateia'' in the orthogonal town plan to form rectangular blocks for buildings.

Notable squares (''plateies'') in Greece

Athens - Kotzia square and city hall - 20060508

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

: ** Amerikis Square - Patissia ** Eleftherias Square ** Exarcheion Square - Exarcheia ** Iroon Square - Psyri ** Karaiskaki Square -

Metaxourgeio Metaxourgeio or Metaxourgio ( ), meaning "silk mill", is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. The neighbourhood is located north of the historical centre of Athens, between Kolonos to the west and Plateia Vathi to the east, and north of Kerameikos. ...

** Klauthmonos Square ** Koliatsou Square **

Kolonaki Square Kolonaki Square (, ) is located in central Athens, Greece. Kolonaki itself is named after the small ancient column in the center of the square; the modern official name of this square is Plateia Filiki Eteria, Filikis Etaireias (Πλατεία Φ ...

Kolonaki Kolonaki (, ), literally "Little Column", is an upscale neighborhood in central Athens, Greece. It is located on the southern slopes of Mount Lycabettus. Its name derives from the two metre column (located in Kolonaki Square) that defined the area ...

** Kotzia Square (by the city hall of Athens) ** Koumoundourou Square ** Kypselis Square - Kypseli, Athens ** Lysikratous Square - Plaka ** Mavili Square ** Mitropoleos Square (by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens) ** Monastiraki Square ** Omonoia Square (''Plateia Omonoias'', Concord Square) ** Pagratiou Square - Pagrati **

Syntagma Square Syntagma Square (, , "Constitution Square") is the central square of Athens, Greece. The square is named after the Greek Constitution of 1844, Constitution that Otto of Greece, Otto, the first King of Greece, was obliged to grant after a popular a ...

(Constitution Square,

: ''Plateia Syntagmatos'') ** Viktoria Square *Suburban Athens: ** Agia Paraskevi Square -

Agia Paraskevi Agia Paraskevi (, ''Agía Paraskeví'') is a suburb and a municipality in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the North Athens regional unit. Agia Paraskevi was named after the main church of the town, which ...

** Iroon Square - Ano Liosia ** Agia Triada Square - Argyroupoli ** Chalandriou Square - Chalandri **

Dourou Square Dourou (''Dúrù'') is a village and Communes of Mali, rural commune in the Bandiagara Cercle of the Mopti Region of Mali. The commune contains 28 villages along the Bandiagara Escarpment which together at the time of the 2009 census had a populat ...

- Chalandri ** Karaiskaki Square -

Ilioupoli Ilioupoli (, " Sun City") is a suburban municipality and a town in Central Athens regional unit and located in the central-southern part of the Athens agglomeration. Its name is the modern form of the ancient name of Heliopolis in Egypt ...

** Davaki Square ''Plateia Davaki'' -

Kallithea Kallithea (Greek language, Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a suburb in Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration and a municipality in South Athens (regional unit), south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth larges ...

, SW of Athens **

Plateia Othonos Plateia or Platia (''πλατεία'') is the Greek language, Greek word for town square. Most Greek and Cypriot cities have several town squares which are a point of reference in travelling and guiding. In traditional societies like villages and ...

- Neo Irakleio ** Aristotelous Square, Athens - Thrakomakedones ** Iroon Square (''Plateia Iroon'') -

Vrilissia Vrilissia () is a suburban town and a municipality of the North Athens regional unit, in the Attica region. It is located in the Athens basin, at the southwestern foot of the Penteli Mountain. At the 2021 census, the municipality had 32,417 res ...

* Pavlou Mela Square ''Plateia Pavlou Mela'' - Axioupoli *Central Square ''Kentriki Plateia'' -

Didymoteicho Didymoteicho ( ) is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros (regional unit), Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, in northeastern Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 8,681 in 2021 ...

* Egon Square -

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

* Eleftherias Square - Feres *Central Square ''Kentriki Plateia'' -

Filiatra Filiatra (), is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Trifylia, of which it is a muni ...

*Central Square ''Kentriki Plateia'' - Fyli * Agia Triada Square - Glyka Nera * Marathonas Square - Grammatiko * Bakogiannis Square - Heraklia * Daskalogiannis Square ''Plateia Daskalogianni'' (named after Daskalogiannis) - Heraklio * Elefterias Square - ''Plateia Elefterias'' -

Katerini Katerini (, ''Kateríni'', ) is a city and municipality in northern Greece, the capital city of Regional Unit of Piera in Central Macedonia, Greece. It lies on the Pierian plain, between Mount Olympus and the Thermaikos Gulf, at an altitude ...

* Agoras Square (meaning Market Square) ''Plateia Agoras'' -

Kilkis Kilkis () is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2021 there were 24,130 people living in the city proper, 27,493 people living in the municipal unit, and 45,308 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional un ...

* Vizyinou Square - Komotini * Nikis Square - ''Plateia Nikis'' -

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

* Lassani Square - ''Plateia Lassani'' - Kozani * Laou Square - Lamia * Agiou Dimitriou Square - Lechaina * Christos Elkomenos Square -

Monemvasia Monemvasia (, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located in mainland Greece on a tied island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. Monemvasia is connected to the rest of the mainland by a ...

*Sapphous Square -

Mytilene Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was fo ...

*Plateia Syntagmatos and Trion Navarchon Square -

Nafplio Nafplio or Nauplio () is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important tourist destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the Middle Ages du ...

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

: ** Agia Sofia Square (in the Agia Sofia neighbourhood) ** Georgiou I Square (Dimokratias) ** Marouda Square - a square featuring the statue of

Konstantinos Giannias Konstantinos Giannias (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Γιαννιάς, c. 1760–1805) was a Greek klepht who operated in the Peloponnese. Giannias was born in Prostovitsa, a village now known as Drosia in Achaia. He was the brother of ...

** Olga Square ''Plateia Olgas''(Ethnikis Antistasis) ** Pyrosvesteio Square (in the Pyrosvesteio neighborhood) **A square in the Agios Andreas neighborhood by Trion Navarcheion Street **A square in the Agios Dionyssios neighborhood **A square by Agiou Nikolaou Street near the Port of Patras **A square at the east end of Dimitri Gounari Street near the Drosia neighbourhood **A square in the Tsivdi neighborhood **A square on Akrotiriou Street by Damaskou **A square by Akrotiriou Street near Evvoias Street **A square on Georgiou Olympou Street *Two squares on Lontou Street ** Ypsila Alonia Square ''Plateia Ypsila Alonia'' - all in

* Korai Square ''Plateia Korai'' -

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

* Eleftherias Square -

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

* Eleftherias Square - Servia * Agias Mimas Square -

Spetses Spetses (, "Pityussa") is an island in Attica, Greece. It is counted among the Saronic Islands group. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis and Corinthia Prefecture, which is now split into Argolis and Corinthia. In ancient ...

Aristotelous Square Aristotelous Square (, ), is the main city square of Thessaloniki, Greece, and is located on Nikis Avenue, Nikis avenue (on the city's waterfront), in the city center. It was designed by French people, French architect Ernest Hébrard in 1918, b ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

* Eleftherias Square - Thessaloniki * Kennedy Square, and two others - Tripoli * Riga Fereou Square -

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

* Kampana Square -

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...

In Cyprus

Eleftheria Square Eleftheria Square (; ); literally meaning Liberty Square, is the main square in central Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus, in Europe. It forms the intersection of Ledra and Onasagorou streets with Stasinou, Omirou, Kostaki Pantelidi, Konstand ...

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

* Faneromeni Square -

* Solomos Square -

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

* Troodos Square - Troodos Mountains; used as a point of reference for meteorological, (time) distance and altitude purposes.

Gallery

File:20160516 218 thessaloniki.jpg, Agias Sofias Square,

File:20140417 corfu435.JPG, Spilias Square,

Corfu (city) Corfu (, also ) or Kerkyra (, ; , ; ; ; ) is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Central Corfu and Diapontian Islands. It is the c ...

File:Ipsila Alonia Square, Patra.JPG, Psilalonia Square,

File:Kavala centar.jpg, Kapnergati Square,

Kavala Kavala (, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the A2 motorway, a one-and ...

File:Syros emoupolis rathaus 240707.jpg, Miaouli Square,

Ermoupoli Ermoupoli (), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( < "Town of Hermes"), is a town and former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

File:Rodi, piazza ippocrate 02.JPG, Ippokratous Square,

Rhodes (city) Rhodes (, ''Ródos'' ) is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. ...

File:Rhodos137.JPG, Square of the Jewish Martyrs,

File:Πλατεία Συντάγματος, Ναύπλιο 7985.jpg, Syntagma Square,

Nafplion Nafplio or Nauplio () is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important tourist destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the Middle Ages du ...

References

{{Architecture of Greece * Lists of city squares

Ancient Greek Cities

Notable squares (''plateies'') in Greece

In Cyprus

See also

Gallery

References