Page 172 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

MAP 6.3 Imperial Rome. A large, overcrowded, and dirty city, Rome was the political, economic, social, and cultural hub of the Roman Empire. Squalid and desperate living conditions for the poor contrasted dramatically with the city’s magnificent architectural works.
Q How did roads from outside enter Rome, and what could possibly explain this?
Flaminian Gate
Salarian Gate
Baths of Trajan
Colosseum
Palace of
Praetorian Gate
Mausoleum Aelian of Hadrian Bridge
Stadium of Domitian
Portico Pantheon
Praetorian Camp
Decuman Gate
Triburtine Gate
Praenestine Gate
Military Amphitheatre
Septimian Gate
Aurelian Gate
Forum
Baths of Nero
Baths of Agrippa
Palace of Tiberius
Palatine Hill
Circus Maximus
Augustus Hippodrome
Baths of Caracalla
Appian Gate
Walls of fourth century B.C.E.
Walls of the Emperors
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Ostian Gate
Latin Gate
But for all its sophistication, Rome was an over- crowded and noisy city. Because of the congestion, cart and wagon traffic was banned from the streets during the day. The noise from the resulting vehicular movement at night often made sleep difficult. Evening pedestrian travel was dangerous. Although Augustus had organized a police force, lone travelers could be assaulted, robbed, or soaked by filth thrown out of the upper-story windows of Rome’s massive apart- ment buildings.
An enormous gulf existed between rich and poor in the city of Rome. While the rich had comfortable villas, the poor lived in apartment blocks called insulae, which might be six stories high. Constructed of concrete, they were often poorly built and prone to collapse. The use of wooden beams in the floors and movable stoves, torches, candles, and lamps in the rooms for heat and light created a constant danger of fire. Once started, fires were extremely difficult to put out. The famous conflagration of 64, which Nero was unjustly accused of starting, devastated a good part of the city. Besides the hazards of collapse and fire, living conditions were miserable. High rents forced entire families into one room. The absence of plumbing and central heating made life so uncomfortable that poorer Romans spent most of their time outdoors in the streets.
Fortunately for these people, Rome boasted public buildings unequaled elsewhere in the empire. Its
134 Chapter 6 The Roman Empire
temples, forums, markets, baths, theaters, triumphal arches, governmental buildings, and amphitheaters gave parts of the city an appearance of grandeur and magnificence.
Though the center of a great empire, Rome was also a great parasite. Beginning with Augustus, the emper- ors accepted responsibility for providing food for the urban populace, with about 200,000 people receiving free grain. Even with the free grain, conditions were grim for the poor. Early in the second century, a Roman doctor noted that rickets was common among children in the city.
In addition to food, entertainment was provided on a grand scale for the inhabitants of Rome. The poet Juvenal said of the Roman masses, “But nowadays, with no vote to sell, their motto is ‘Couldn’t care less.’ Time was when their plebiscite elected generals, heads of state, commanders of legions: but now they’ve pulled in their horns, there’s only two things that con- cern them: Bread and Circuses.”11 Public spectacles were provided by the emperor and other state officials as part of the great festivals—most of them religious in origin—celebrated by the state. More than one hundred days a year were given over to these public holidays. The festivals included three major types of entertainment. At the Circus Maximus, horse and chariot races attracted hundreds of thousands of spec- tators, while dramatic and other performances were
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