Block 2 Unit 4 Rome as a cosmopolis Flashcards
4.1 Who lived in Rome?
Population size - Morley suggests 650,00 to one million? Regionally catalogues? the ‘Severan Forma Urbis Romae (marble plan of the city) which covered a wall in the ‘aula’ of the tempe of Peace 18 x 13m, was created under emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211 CE,
The corn dole?
A dirty city no recognised police force (friends and neighbours assisted to get justice, though there were law courts mostly for the rich/well to do)
A population ranging from the very rich to the very poor, to slaves
Data is available via considerable epigraphic and epitaphic evidence (Mary Beard meet the Romans) 100,000 inscriptions 1st - 4th centuries (a wealth of data on Rome) Example - (D(is) M(animus)) the spirits of the departed Myrina, a very dear wife, who lived more or less 20 years. Iuvenalis made this.
4.2 Living in the city
Martial and Juvenal give an idea of what it’s like to live in the city and urban living
Two main types of popular housing can be identified from the literary and archaeological record: accommodation attached to the aristocratic domus, and the purpose-built insulae (apartment blocks)
Insular in the Subura - Shops ‘tabernae’ at the front, middle class houses near or above, the poor living at the top and very top - ‘cenacula’ (patronage in play?) Rome’s comparatively wealthy high status client (Amicus) lived alongside the poor with their Lares - altars visible at entrances - patronage? The rich often lived in atrium houses on Rome’s hills
4.2.1 Literary sources for living conditions in Rome
Early 20th C Juvenal an Martial’s commentary on Roman life taken at face value, now examined more critically to gain some insight into life under the emperors
Martial - 1.117 - ‘…and I live up three flights of stairs, long ones too.’ 5.22 ‘…I must surmount the uphill path from Subura with its dirty stones and steps never dry,’
Juvenal - Satire 3 ‘..fter all, have you seen any place so dismal and lonely that you wouldn’t consider it worse to live in dread of fires, and buildings collapsing continually, and the thousand other dangers of savage Rome’
4.3 The empire in Rome
Rome was a melting pot of people, goods, religions and ideas, many of which came from the provinces (Mattingly?). As a result, the empire was highly visible in the city. Everything and everyone came from everywhere else - Beard
The city relied on imports of staples such as grain and olive oil (and consequently is often referred to as a ‘consumer city’,
Grain supply government regulated, Roman citizens entitled to a corn dole (ANNONA), food shortages lead to riots, Augustus and emperors managed better due to their annexation of Egypt
4.3.1 Egypt in Rome
Cleopatra (came to Rome 46 BCE), Caesar, Anthony
Isis (goddess of fertility an love) syncretised with Venus Isis proscribed by Augustus, Agrippa and Tiberius, but allowed by Caligula, Nero, Domitian and Hadrian
Pyramid tombs of worshipers in Rome - Gais Cestius Epulo
Domitian placed several obelisks in the temple of Isis and Serapis (a god created by Ptolemy to unite Greek and Egyptians in worship) showing himself to be more powerful than the pharos and a natural successor to them
