The aim is to explore the ways in which the Greek epic conceives the habitat of the gods as both reflecting and fashioning the defining patterns of the eighth-century polis. At one level, the gods’ palaces, built by Hephaistos as works of an artisan rather than of an architect, function as models for the houses of Greek aristocrats, conceived as magnificent status symbols. On the other hand, in Greek myth, unlike in Mesopotamian cultures, there is no divine architectural model to be copied in human cities. Rather, as befits a still largely oral culture, some symbolically charged actions and movements, especially ritual choral dancing performed by the gods and imitated by humans, are emphasized as important ways of defining and fashioning both urban and social space.