Rome

The Shaping of Three Capitals

Paul Balchin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000092141
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

First published in 2017, Rome: The Shaping of Three Capitals explores the impact of political history on the built environment of the Eternal City.

The book divides Rome's history into three main periods: the rulership of the early kings from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC; the period of Etruscan culture and architecture up to the end of the Roman Empire in 5th century AD; and, the 6th century to 1870, when Rome stood as the ecclesiastical capital of the Catholic Church and the temporal state of the Papal States. The final section of the book examines the Risorgimento, the unification of Italy, and the development of the fascist state; a time when Rome became the capital of Italy and endeavoured to establish a new empire.

Exploring political instability and change, Balchin demonstrates the strong connection between politics and the physical shaping of the city through an examination of the successive styles of architecture, from Classical to Modernist.

1

INTRODUCTION

THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ROME

Rome, on an ancient salt route traversing the fertile plain of Latium, is located in the very heart of Italy. Initially it was mainly situated on the left bank of the Tiber, about 22 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city commanded the first convenient crossing of the Tiber north of its swampy estuary where the Isola Tiberina bifurcated the river into two fordable reaches. The river in its entirety brought produce from the inland regions, and seaborne commerce from abroad, and although the coast was near enough for convenience it was not so near as to bring danger from maritime intruders.

It is customary to believe that Rome was built on seven hills, but there are in fact nine areas of high ground surrounding the city. On the left bank, the Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline and Caelian are outcrops of higher land, separated by the courses of ancient streams, whereas the Capitoline, Palatine and Aventine stand alone closer to the river. West of the Tiber, there is the long ridge of the Janiculum and the relatively low Vatican Hill to the north-west of it.

All, to a greater or lesser extent, enabled farmers and shepherds to escape from the frequent flooding of the Tiber and from enemy attack by settling in the Palatine, Esquiline and Quirinal Hills. Though archaeological finds below the Capitoline and on the Palatine show that the first Iron Age settlements on these sites were established as early as the tenth century BC, as they spread they coalesced in the eighth century BC to form a single larger community, with the Capitoline as its political and religious centre. Largely under the rule of the Etruscans, who emigrated from Etruria (modern Tuscany), this community became a city between the seventh and the sixth centuries BC¹, when its population had possibly reached around forty thousand, larger than any other city in the region.

The Hills of Rome

While geomorphology influenced the location of Ancient Rome, its geology enabled the settlement to be transformed from one of wooden huts into a city of stone within two or three centuries. Underneath Rome, there was a vast resource of tufa, a sedimentary rock produced by the cementing of volcanic material fallen after eruptions. Grey, yellowish, greenish or brown, it was strong but easily carved and ideal for building quickly and on a large scale. Not only were a large number of quarries dug under Rome during its early centuries of development and beyond, but to facilitate extraction and the deployment of slave labour an extensive underground network spread from quarry to quarry underneath the built-up city.

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1 B. Hintzen-Bohlen with J. Sorges, Rome and the Vatican City, Cologne, Könemann, 2000, pp10–11

Travertine, a limestone rock, was — by present-day standards — a more conventional building material. Though much was transported to Rome from Tuscany, an important nearby source was exploited at Tibur (modern-day Tivoli). It was used extensively throughout Ancient Rome, particularly during the later years of the city’s development. Another near-by resource was pozzolana, a volcanic ash which, when mixed with lime, produced a strong and durable concrete. Both sundried and kiln-made brick was amply available throughout the Roman region. It was not until the first century BC that marble was used in the construction process (see chapter 3)

THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME: REALITY SHROUDED IN MYTHOLOGY

Like a number of ancient cities whose origins are unknown, myths have grown up around the founding of Rome and were probably widely believed for many years after they first emerged. The ultimate and most widely accepted version of events was provided by Livy (64/59 BC—AD 17) in his history of Rome. In it he posited that Aeneas fled with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius from the burning city of Troy around 1180 BC to the coastal town of Lavinium (modern Practica di Mare), 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the future Rome, and subsequently married the king’s daughter. One of their descendants was Numitor, King of Alba Longa, whose daughter Rhea Silvia was supposedly impregnated by Mars the god of war, and bore him the twins Romulus and Remus. Her uncle Amulius, who claimed the throne for himself, set the twins adrift in a basket on the Tiber after their birth, but Providence saved them. A she-wolf was alleged to have suckled the brothers until they were rescued by the herdsman Faustulus. As young men they avenged their deposed grandfather and, fulfilling the prophecy of an oracle, founded a city on the Palatine Hill — the city of Rome — which according to legend took place on 21st April 753 BC.²

But who would be the king? It was believed that this was settled by an omen in the form of a flight of birds of prey. Six of them appeared to Remus but twelve to Romulus, thus marking him — by a majority vote from the gods above, as it were — as the indisputable ruler of the new city.³ The brothers soon quarrelled. Remus — perhaps out of jealousy — had ignored the sacred boundary or pomerium drawn around the city by his brother, and sacrilegiously crossed it, and in his wrath Romulus killed him for his lack of respect.⁴ Thus, rooted in fratricide, the embryonic city had one founder and not two, but as yet few or no inhabitants. Romulus attempted to solve this problem by creating an asylum or place of refuge on what became the Capitol, and encouraged the trash of primitive Latium — runaway slaves, exiles, murderers; criminals of all sorts — to settle in his new city.⁵

A settlement gradually emerged, but it soon became evident that Romans needed women to give them children. On the pretext ofinviting the neighbouring Sabine tribe to a horse race, Romulus encouraged his menfolk to abduct the Sabine women present, with the Sabine elders in response declaring war on Rome and taking the city. Ironically, the war was brought to a happy conclusion by the Sabine women flinging themselves between the combatants — their new Roman husbands on one side, and their fathers and brothers on the other. In resolution of the conflict, the Sabines settled on the Quirinal Hill, the two tribes were united, and from then on they ruled together.⁶

Succeeding Romulus, the Roman kings, however, came from very different backgrounds. Whilst Numa was a Sabine and Tullius was of Roman stock, Ancus and both the Tarquinius kings came from Etruria. Their social origins also varied — for example Tarquinius Priscus was ‘the son of a slave or refugee from the Greek city of Corinth, and Servius Tullius was [also] the son of a slave or at least a prisoner of war… The overall message is [therefore] unmistakable: even at the very pinnacle of the Roman political order, ‘Romans’ could come from elsewhere; and those born low, even ex-slaves, could rise to the top’.⁷ The downside was that three of the kings ‘were murdered; a divine lightning bolt struck another as punishment for a religious error; and Tarquinius Superbus was expelled. Only two died in their beds’⁸.

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2 Ibid.

3 R. Hughes, Rome, London, Phoenix, 2011, p17.

4 B. Hintzen-Bohlen with J. Sorges, op. cit., pp 10–11.

5 R. Hughes, op. cit. p18.

6 B. Hintzen-Bohlen with J. Sorges, op. cit., pp10–11.

The Roman Forum: probably established in the late 5th century BC, and the political, trading and religious centre of Rome for a millennium.

Regardless of their varied backgrounds, the Roman kings had one major attribute in common; they were all elected monarchs: Romulus (753-716 BC) was the city’s founder; Numa Pompilius, 716-673 BC established a plethora of temples and religious sites; Tullus Hostilius (673-640 BC) annexed the Etruscan city of Veii and conquered the Albans; Ancus Marcius (640-616 BC) extended Rome into the Aventine and Janiculum Hills on the Tiber’s west bank and founded Rome’s seaport at Ostia; and Tarquinius Pris...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Preface
• 1: Introduction
• Part 1: Imperial Capital
• Part 2: Papal Capital
• Part 3: National Capital: The Early Years
• Timeline
• Index