The City of Rome
Year 11 Ancient History class
Collaborative effort
‘Romanae
spatium est urbis et orbis
idem”
Ovid Ist century AD
The extent of the Roman city and the world are
the same.
1. At its height Rome’s population reached 1 million people
2. Enclosed within the Aurelian walls ,the city had a radius of 2.2 km.
3. Rome was the first city to use concrete as a building material
4. It was the ability to harness and import a reliable water supply that allowed the
city to grow.
5. In 46BC 320,000 people were receiving the free corn dole
The Growth of Rome
Empire and Urbanization
Empire
Increased
trade and
created new
markets
Population
Growth ,and
building
attracted
The
landless
unemployed
Increased
Wealth
Financed
Large
Building
projects
Lands
conquered
Formed
Large estates
Called
Latifundia
Effects of
Empire
During
Conquest,
Half the
Booty was
Paid to
Rome
Small farms,
AbsorbedSubsequent
Drift to the
city
Increase in
Migration
combined
With slavery
Led to Massive
urban
unemployment
Conquered
lands
Paid tax
To Rome
Immigration
“To
be deprived of one’s country is intolerable” , you say
But come, behold this concourse of men, for whom the
houses of immense Rome scarcely suffice; most of this
throng are now deprived of their country. From their
towns and colonies…they have flocked hither. Some have
been brought by ambition, some by the obligation of
public office….some seeking a convenient and rich field
for luxuria, some by a desire for study, some by the public
spectacles…some seing the ample opportunity for
displaying energy, by the chance to work: some have
presented their beauty for sale, some their eloquenceevery class of person has swarmed into the city that offers
prizes for both virtues and vice.
Seneca , Ad Helviam
Ancient Rome through the eyes of Historians
By means of stone pillars, walls of baked brick and party walls of rubble, towers
have been raised, and these have been joined together by frequent board floors
to produce upper storeys with fine views over the city to the utmost advantage.
Therefore walls are raised to a great height through various storeys, and the
Roman people has excellent dwellings without hindrance.
Vitruvius 2.8.17
Our most scrupulous authorities are agreed that in (78 BC) as fine a house as
any in Rome was that of M. Lepidus; but I swear, within 35 years the same house
was not among the first hundred.
Elder Pliny, H.N. 36.24.110
The plebs urbana used to give their eyes a daily view of country scenes by
means of imitation gardens in their windows, before the time when atrocious
burglaries in countless numbers compelled them to bar out all the view with
shutters.
Elder Pliny, H.N. 19.19.59
They build incessantly because of the collapses and fires and repeated sales
which go on constantly too. Indeed the repeated sales are intentional collapses,
so to speak, since they tear down some buildings and build others in their place
to their hearts’ content.
Strabo 5.3.7
During the last years of the Republic, the
buildings in the forum became the tools of
propaganda; they were a form of political
persuasion. A limited number of men
asserted their power by the monuments
they created in this most public place.
Sulla, Pompey, Caesar and Augustus each
left his mark on the forum as well as
elsewhere in Rome
Sulla redesigned and reconstructed much of the
forum after a destructive fire during the civil war
had destroyed the Capitoline Hill. In this
construction he used marble. He redesigned
and enlarged the Curia Hostilius when he
increased the number of senators after his
proscription. However, the building that was his
greatest monument was the Tabularium or
record office. In this design he used an
innovation where a whole row of arches
superimposed on one another
Pompey in his second consulship in 55BC built and
dedicated the first stone theatre in Rome in the
Campus Martius. In this elaborate games, contests
of wild animals and exhibitions of marvels were
provided. Within the theatre, Pompey erected
statues of the fourteen nations he had subdued. To
avoid censure, he constructed a temple of Venus
Victrix at the top of the central part, so that the rows
of seats might appear to be leading up to the
temple. After Caesar’s assassination in this theatre
at the foot of Pompey’s statue, Augustus restored
the temple but removed the statue of Pompey
Julius Caesar, in his building program, took over
the most strategic points in the forum. The
Speakers’ Rostra was moved from its old site to
the centre of the north side of the forum. He
demolished the old Senate House and built a new
bigger one called the Curia Julia, and on the site
of the old Basilica Sempronia he began work on
the Basilica Julia. He intended it to house all the
law courts. Besides altering the forum, he also
created a magnificent one nearby. This was the
first in a series of Imperial forums
The building program of Augustus ,reflected two of his
political goals- he wanted to make a new form of
government acceptable by basing it on the restoration
of the ancient republican traditions, As well as on the
great deeds of the Julian clan.
1.
He built a temple to Julius Caesar at the very spot
where he was cremated and a statue of the deified
Caesar placed in the temple
2.
Augustus had the Forum paved with travertine
marble, completed the five aisled Basilica Julia and
restored after a fire, the Basilica Aemilia. Like Caesar,
Augustus built an even larger forum, using brilliant
white marble from Carrae.
3.
Augustus is quoted as saying “ I found a city of bricks
and left Rome a city of Marble.
Urban planning
The typical Roman city had a rectangular plan
with two main streets: the cardo (north-south)
and the decumanus (east-west), as well as a grid
of smaller streets dividing the town into blocks,
and an outer city wall with gates. Older cities,
however, such as Rome itself, were founded
before regularized city planning, and could
therefore consist of a maze of crooked streets.
The focal point of the city, whether planned or
not, was the forum, the main meeting place and
site of the main religious and civic buildings such
as the Senate house, records office, and basilica.
The Stones of Rome
1. Romans used many different materials to build.
2. The most popular was mud brick strengthened by
timbers
3. Hard limestone and volcanic tufa were used for
terraces, fortifications, foundations and
superstructures
4. Eventually Romans began using travertine
because it was stronger.
5. For roof tiles and as a protective covering for
wooden parts they used terracotta
6. In the 2nd century BC an unusually strong cement
,that included a volcanic dust called pozzuolana,
was used as it was more durable and economical
Architectural Influences on Rome
1. During the rule by the Etruscan kings Rome
underwent a building boom, made possible by the
Etruscan’s knowledge of draining and building
2. .During the Early republic(6th-3rd century BC),
buildings increased mostly made of tufa( volcanic
limestone)
. At the end of the Punic War Rome came into closer
contact with the Hellenistic world of Greece, and the
increase in urban population and wealth was reflected
in the construction of numerous basilicas
Innovation in Rome
The use of concrete also changed the way many building facades
were designed. Weight bearing columns were often replaced with
decorative columns and pilasters since the concrete itself carried the
building weight.
Fragments of bricks showing their
trade-marks in the portico of S.
Saba.
The Romans made wide use of
brickwork in a variety of techniques
(opus latericium) which help in
identifying the period during which
a certain building was erected.
Archaeologists are also helped by
the trade-marks stamped on the
bricks by the manufacturers: they
had different shapes and they often
indicated the name of the
manufacturer
The following quicktime movie
shows a group of undergraduates
currently excavating in an area
north of the Capitoline Hill
How many different types of
building materials can you
identify?
Water Management and Urban Growth- a
symbiotic relationship
As the needs of both the civic and private establishments within
the Roman Republic escalated, the desire for not only a more
efficient but also extensive delivery and distribution system of
water arose. The result was the construction of a complex system
of aqueducts that "evolved on a piecemeal basis over time". The
first aqueduct was built in 312 B.C. and over the next five hundred
years ten more aqueducts were added to fulfill contemporary and
future demands
In times of drought, water to
homes and industry would be
shut off first, public baths,
second and public fountains
last
Observe the growth of the forum and the city
of Rome. Make notes about the changes and
pace of building from 100BC- 100AD
http://cvrlab.org/forum/main.html
Resources
http://cvrlab.org/forum/main.html excellent interactive map showing the forum,
changing over time
www.jmiller.demon.co.uk maps of the Roman Empire
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html good general site with
images and content
www.unicaen.fr/rome/index.php?langue=anglais- excellent geograhical tour of ancient
Rome with clickable links and pictures.
www.swan.ac.uk/classics/staff/dglectures/augustus/campmart- slide show on
campusmartius
www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1274/ancient-city-by-type.html- very clear clickable map,
colour coded
www.italybyclick.com/vr/index.html- Modern day virtual tour of ancient sites with clickable
pictures
www.historylink101.com/ancient_rome_maps.htm- Very navigable site with good links on
Circus Maximus, Roman forum, Aquaducts and Building Techniques
www.members.aol.com/TeacherNet/AncientRome.html- Table of contents with clickable
links. Covers a wide variety of aspects but very valuable for maps of Rome at various
stages of its development
http://classics.furman.edu/%7erprior/courses/RA/RAU2.html- A University website, probably
the most valuable for this topic. A special section on Rome of the Republic it has
clickable pictures of almost every major building.
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~arch343/lecture4.html- Lecture by Dr Richard Ingersoll from
Rice University on Urban Planning in Rome.
http://sights.seindal.dk/sight/4_Forum_Romanum.html -good clickable photos, content and
links
www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/circus.html- excellent site on Circus Maximus, pictures and
content
Students will research in groups of two or three, one of
the following aspect of City Life in the Late Republic
1, the geographical features: rivers, hills, marshes
2. the water system, drains: Cloaca Maxima
3. the Forum Romanum: the Via Sacra (road)
4. the Regia, Temple of Vesta, the Curia, Temple of Saturn,
Basilica
Aemilia, Basilica Julia, the Rostra, the Tabularium, the
Comitium: main features and purposes of the buildings
5. activities in the Forum: politics, administration, religion,
courts, theatre, gladiatorial displays, triumphs, speeches,
funerals
6. the area of the Campus Martius: buildings: Circus
Flaminius, Villa Publica, Altar of Mars; Pompey’s theatre,
military training ground
7. the Circus Maximus: main features and uses
1. Students will research the allocated topic ,
and present it to the class in the format of
power point. Each group will be restricted to 3
frames only.
2. Students must include a concise summary
of the topic, its construction, history and
significance to the life in Rome.
3. Images, maps, labelled diagrams, gif
animations are all encouraged.
4. This is a collaborative effort and will be
presented by all groups to the rest of the class