ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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Fig 4 Ordona: the layout of the forum area (After Mertens 1977) Introduction Fig 5 Ordona: section through the forum (for the position see Fig 4), showing the methods used to level and prepare the ground (After Mertens 1977) xiii
Introduction Fig 6 Lepcis Magna: the Severan buildings (shown in bold) were skilfully designed to unite a scheme which had developed piecemeal over many centuries (After Ward-Perkins 1948 and Lyttleton 1974) achieving some originality of layout and design - usually by the arrangement and massing of buildings in the style of Lepcis Magna, rather than by a skilful use of natural terrain in the ‘eastern’ tradition epitomized by Pergamum or Priene. The attention of archaeologists is inevitably directed towards ground plans and street patterns, but it is important to remember that the inhabitants of ancient towns would have been impressed principally by the appearance of buildings above ground. Variations in local building materials, architectural traditions, and vegetation could produce strikingly different effects from the same basic plan. Few western towns emulated the grandeur of the colonnaded streets of Palmyra or Aelia Capitolina but, as Frere has suggested (1977, 103), when porticoes even of wood were built they gave some unity to the facades of otherwise diverse buildings and provided a vista along the street. By the provision of a water supply with overhead water channels, towers, and public outlets a visual element in the town’s layout was also created. Wacher draws further attention to the Roman skyline and the dominance here of public buildings (this volume, p 41). This is certainly apt when comparing provincial centres with Rome, where in the heart of the Antonine city, close to the Pantheon and Column of Marcus Aurelius, a giant skyscraper was built in the insula of xiv Ficula at the beginning of the reign of Septimius Severus. Tertullian (Adv Val, 7) and other writers commented upon its great height and upon the fact that surrounding it were monumental blocks of flats some five or six storeys high of more or less identical appearance, It is possible that cities in the north-western provinces also had buildings with at least two storeys and indeed this has now been suggested for one site in London. Public open spaces are considered vital in modern cities and in ancient Rome too as many as 40 parks and gardens stretched along the Esquiline, the Pincian, and both banks of the river Tiber. In major provincial cities public open spaces may have been provided officially or become available accidentally because of delays in building. The provision of public gardens as such is not attested, but the Elder Pliny described how balconies were decorated with climbing plants while windows displayed pots of flowers (Nat Hist, xix.59; cf Martial, xi.18). Such planned vegetation would enhance and soften the sharp building lines and street vistas. The beautifying of cities often requires official direction but, as Haverfield observed (1913, 137), ‘(although) a system of town planning that is distinctive and so widely used could reasonably have enacted a series of building laws - this did not in general occur’. The Lex Ursonensis lays down that streets are public property (ILS 6087,
Page 1 and 2: No 59 ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Bri
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 1985 Authors and Counc
Page 5 and 6: Illustrations Fig 1 Miletus Fig 2 C
Page 7 and 8: Introduction: the study of Classica
Page 9 and 10: Introduction and the land divided i
Page 11: Introduction Fig 3 Timgad: the colo
Page 15 and 16: Introduction xvi
Page 17 and 18: Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
Page 19 and 20: Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
Page 21 and 22: PART II THE PLANNING AND BUILDING O
Page 23 and 24: Dilke: Ground survey and measuremen
Page 29 and 30: The mechanics of the building trade
Page 31 and 32: Ling: The mechanics of the building
Page 43 and 44: Who paid for public buildings in Ro
Page 45 and 46: Duncan--ones: Who paid for public b
Page 47 and 48: Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public b
Page 49 and 50: Civic Pride: a factor in Roman town
Page 51 and 52: Frere: Civic Pride: a factor in Rom
Page 53 and 54: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 55 and 56: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 57 and 58: Wacher: The functions of urban buil
Page 59 and 60: Casey: The Roman housing market leg
Page 61 and 62: Casey: The Roman housing market Evi
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Casey: The Roman housing market Rom
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Drinkwater: Urbanization in the thr
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Forum and Capitolium in the early E
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Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the e
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The quick and the dead: suburbs, ce
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Esmonde Cleary: The quick and the d
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Salway: Geography and the growth of
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Colchester: the mechanics of laying
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Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
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New streets for old : the topograph
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Jones: New streets for old: the top
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London in the 1st and early 2nd cen
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Perring: London in the 1st and earl
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Perring: London in the 1st and earl
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Marsden: London in the 3rd and 4th
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Barker: Aspects of the topography o
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Fig 81 Wroxeter: the area of excava
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probably from Viroconium, the robbi
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Forum Iuhi (Cividale) (Italy) 61a f
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ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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