small townships evolved into great cities from the beginning
of the fourth to the beginning of the third century b.c.e. Th e
distinctive sign of this evolution is the establishment of an
agora, or marketplace. Th e agora was such a distinctive trade-
mark of a city that Athens allowed only two other market-
places to operate in all its vast territory.ROME
BY KATIE PARLA
Th e fi rst towns and villages in central Italy were Iron Age
settlements later expanded by various groups such as the
Villanovans, Etruscans, Latins, and, ultimately, the Romans.
As Rome’s territory began to grow, existing buildings in ac-
quired towns were replaced with Roman models. Accord-
ingly, certain common features emerged in towns and cities
throughout the Roman world. Th ese similarities were the
product of town planning that combined Greek, Etruscan,
and Roman elements.
During the Republican and Imperial ages, Rome ex-
panded to include territories as far as Great Britain and the
Near East. By imposing town planning on old and new settle-
ments, the Romans were able to provide a common, unifying
urban experience for all. By constructing public buildings
that served as communal social and commercial spaces and
by providing amenities to the people living in these territo-
ries, Rome was able to off er an unparalleled quality of life
even in the smallest towns and villages.
Roman towns were typically laid out in grids; the orga-
nization of a town’s streets into a grid system is called orthog-
onal planning. Th is model was borrowed from Greek town
planning, but the Romans used square rather than rectangu-
lar city blocks. Th e streets running from east to west in such a
design are called decumani, while those running from north
to south are cardines. Where the principal decumanus axis
(decumanus maximus) intersected the principal cardo axis
(cardo maximus) is where the town forum would be located.
Romans built forums in towns and villages throughout
their territory to provide a communal area to be used for
political, economic, religious, and legal activities. Buildings
and speaker’s platforms would be constructed for meetings
of the town or provincial government. Warehouses, banks,
and shops would provide space for commercial exchanges.
Temples dedicated to gods and emperors would reinforce the
town’s connection to Rome and its other settlements. Law
courts, called basilicae, would be where Roman law was en-
forced and punishments doled out. Forums in Roman towns
were public places where visitors would absorb the mes-
sages of unity and Roman primacy that were communicated
through architecture.
Another important aspect of Roman towns and vil-
lages was their constant water supply. Aqueducts were built
to bring water from lakes, springs, and rivers to settlements.
Th ese aqueducts were aboveground or belowground chan-
nels that delivered water over a distance at a low-grade angleusing gravity. Some water sources were more than 50 miles
away from the towns they supplied. Th is constant fl ow of wa-
ter allowed for amenities like public fountains, public bath
complexes, public latrines, and even running water in some
residential complexes.
Waste management was another feature of Roman towns
and villages. Sewers were built below street level to channel
waste away from residential, commercial, and industrial sites.
Also, groups of slaves would collect trash in the streets and
rinse the streets regularly to keep public areas sanitary. Th is
would help prevent the spread of disease.
Places for pubic spectacles were a major social compo-
nent of Roman town planning. Th eaters for cultural per-
formances, as well as stadia and arenas for gladiator fi ghts,
chariot races, wild beast hunts, and public executions, could
be constructed from wood or stone. Typically, these buildings
were erected on the outskirts of towns, where more space was
available. During the Roman Republic (509–27 b.c.e.) private
individuals commissioned the buildings and the events held
there. In the empire, the state fi nanced such projects and pro-
duced structures of great scale and permanence. Th e sites for
public spectacle found in ancient Roman towns were places
where the masses, citizens and noncitizens alike, could reap
the benefi ts of the government’s generosity, since the events
were free to the public.
Another Roman structure found in all towns and vil-
lages was the bathing complex. Public baths provided a com-
mon space where all members of society could relax, wash,
exercise, and interact; the baths were social areas that guests
would visit most aft ernoons for a minimal price. Like arenas
and theaters, bathing structures were usually built by poli-
ticians during the republic and commissioned by emperors
and the government during the empire.
One of the fundamental functions of Roman towns and
villages was to provide secure areas for residential life. Since
Roman towns were surrounded by defensive walls guarded by
soldiers, residents would be protected from invaders. Police
also patrolled the streets to protect private property within
the town limits. Th e two main types of residential buildings
were the insula and the domus. An insula was an apartment
block with commercial spaces for lease on the ground fl oor
and apartments on upper stories. A domus was a single-fam-
ily home or villa that had reception and dining areas in addi-
tion to the private bedrooms and slaves’ quarters. Sometimes
the rooms of a domus facing onto a street would be used as
commercial spaces. Many examples of this practice can be
found in both Ostia and Pompeii.
Towns and village were located in all areas of Roman ter-
ritory. Sometimes the Romans would reorganize existing set-
tlements, adapting standing structures into the Roman layout
t hat t he y wou ld i mpos e on conquere d tow ns. Th is could result
in established towns not adhering precisely to the orthogonal
plan. Pompeii off ers an example in which the original Oscan
street plan, with its only occasional right angles, was incorpo-
rated into fi rst the Greek, then the Roman grid system.towns and villages: Rome 10930895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1093 1093 10/10/07 2:31:02 PM