The historical function of the forma Urbis Romae1

References

• I wish to acknowledge with thanks the advice and encouragement of Professors Jack Kroll, Gwyn Morgan, Karl Galinsky of the Department of Classics, The University of Texas at Austin, and in particular that of Professor O. A. W. Dilke (University of Leeds, England), who graciously read the penultimate version of this paper and offered detailed suggestions.
   Google Scholar
• Iliad 18. 478–617. See also
   Google Scholar
• Aujac , Germaine . 1979 . “ ‘De quelques représentations de l'espace géographique dans l'Antiquité classique’ ” . In C. T.H.S. Bulletin de la Section de Géographie Vol. 84 , 27 – 38 . Paris
   Google Scholar
• On Anaximander, see Agathemerus 1. 1, in Müller
   Google Scholar
• Carolus (Carl) . 1882 . Geographi Graeci Minores, 2 vols. , vol. 2 , 471 Paris : Firmin‐Didot .
   Google Scholar
• Diogenes Laertius 2.1–2; Herodotus 2.109; Pseudo‐Plutarch Stromateis 2; Hippolytus Refutatio Omnium Haeresium 1. 6. 3. See also
   Google Scholar
• Kirk , G. S. and Raven , J. E. 1957 . The Presocratic Philosophers , 134 – 5 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Aristotle provides much of our information about Pythagorean ideas, De caelo 2. 2 (284b6–286a2); for his own views see De caelo 2. 14 (297a8‐b23) and Meteorologica 2. 7 (365a32).
   Google Scholar
• On Eratosthenes, see Strabo 1.4. 1. ff.;
   Google Scholar
• Bentham , R. M. 1948 . “ The Fragments of Eratosthenes ” . Edited by: Berger , Hugo . University of London . (unpublished Ph.D. thesis
   Google Scholar
• 1964 . Die geographischen Fragmente des Eratosthenes Leipzig, Teubner; Amsterdam
   Google Scholar
• Rufus Festus Avien(i)us, Ora Maritima;
   Google Scholar
• Hawkes , C. F. C. 1975 . Pytheas: Europe and the Greek Explorers: a lecture delivered at New College, Oxford, on 20 May 1975 , Oxford : Blackwell .
   Google Scholar
• also The Growth of an Empirical Cartography in Hellenistic Greece (prepared from materials supplied by
   Google Scholar
• Harley , J. B. and Woodward , David , eds. 1987 . The History of Cartography Volume One: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean , Germaine Aujac 150 – 52 . Chicago : University of Chicago, Press .
   Google Scholar
• Pliny Naturalis Historia 6. 17 and 21; Arrian Indica 20. 1–2. See also
   Google Scholar
• Sherk , R. K. 1974 . “ Roman geographical exploration and military maps ” . In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neureren Forschung , Edited by: Temporini , Hildegard . II, vol I , 534 – 62 . Berlin : Walter de Gruyter .
   Google Scholar
• Pearson , L. 1960 . The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great, Philological monograph , Vol. 20 , 112 – 49 . New York : American Philological Association .
   Google Scholar
• Dilke , O. A. W. 1985 . Greek and Roman Maps , 87 – 101 . 112 – 129 . Ithaca : Cornell University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Russell , Josiah Cox . 1985 . Ancient and Medieval Population Control , Philadelphia : American Philosophical Society .
   Google Scholar
• uses the map as a basis for making population estimates for Rome, p. 14.
   Google Scholar
• Carettoni , Gianfilippo , Colini , Antonio M. , Cozza , Lucos and Gatti , Guglielmo . 1960 . La pianta marmorea di Roma antica: Forma Urbis Romae , 2 vols. , 218 Rome : Comune di Roma .
   Google Scholar
• Lanciani , Rodolfo . 1897 . The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome: A Companion Book for Students and Travellers , 94 – 98 . Boston : Houghton Mifflin .
   Google Scholar
• A more up‐to‐date chronology is contained in
   Google Scholar
• Rodriguez‐Almeida , Emilio . 1980 . Forma Urbis Marmorea : Aggiornamento Generale 1980 , 20 – 24 . Rome : Edizioni Quasar .
   Google Scholar
• The types and degrees of inaccuracies of the Forma Urbis have been much discussed; the details are not at issue here. See
   Google Scholar
• Harvey , P. D. A. 1980 . The History of Topographical Maps: Symbols, Pictures and Surveys , 128 London : Thames and Hudson .
   Google Scholar
• Richter , O. 1901 . Topographie der Stadt Rom, Handbuch der klassischen Altertums‐wissenschaft, , 2nd ed. , vol. 3 , 1 – 6 . Munich : C. H. Beck'sche . section 3, 2nd half
   Google Scholar
• Dilke , O. A. W. 1987 . “ Roman Large‐Scale Mapping in the Early Empire, in Harley and Woodward ” . In supra, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean 225 – 230 .
   Google Scholar
• Rodriguez‐Almeida , Emilio . 1977 . Forma Vrbis Marmorea:
   Google Scholar
• Nuovi elementi di analisi e nuove ipotesi di lavoro, Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome: Antiquité 89 (Rome), pp. 219–256. The map remains an impressive achievement, in spite of the inaccuracies, some of which may have been intentional while others are due to certain cartographic conventions.
   Google Scholar
• Professor O. A. W. Dilke has called to my attention the discovery of a map of an area on the left bank of the Tiber, which is also at a scale of roughly 1:240. This second century A.D. map indicates the names of owners of property, along with the numerals indicating the widths of their holdings, in the vicinity of the Circus Flaminius. See
   Google Scholar
• de’ , Conticello and Spagnolis , Marisa . 1984 . Il tempio dei Dioscuri nel Circo Flaminio, Lavori e studi di archeologia, Pubblicati dalla soprintendenza archeologica di Roma , Vol. 4 , 29 – 30 . 61 – 65 . Rome : De Luca Editore .
   Google Scholar
• Rodríguez‐Almeida , Emilio . 1988 . ‘Un frammento di una nuova pianta marmorea di Roma’ . Journal of Roman Archaeology , 1 : 120 – 131 .
   Google Scholar
• Nicolet , Claude . 1991 . Space, Géography and Politics in the Early Roman Empire , Edited by: Leclerc , Hélène . 158 – 59 . Ann Arbor : The University of Michigan Press .
   Google Scholar
• originally published as L'Inventaire du monde: Géographie et Politique aux Origines de L'Empire Romain (1988).
   Google Scholar
• Heatley , Nathan Ricky . 1976 . The Cult of Pax and the Templum Pacis , The University of Texas at Austin . unpublished Ph.D. thesis
   Google Scholar
• offers a detailed discussion of the Temple of Peace, pp. 134–169.
   Google Scholar
• Bloch , Herbert . 1961 . A New Edition of the Marble Plan of Ancient Rome . Journal of Roman Studies , 51 : 143 – 52 . 145 (London)
   Google Scholar
• Suetonius Vespasian. Lanciani, op. cit., p. 96, assumes that Vespasian had displayed such a map of the city; Heatley also finds this suggestion likely.
   Google Scholar
• Pliny Naturalis historia 3.2. 17. On the geographical commentary, see
   Google Scholar
• Klotz , Alfred . 1931 . Die geographischen commentarii des Agrippa und ihre Überreste . Klio , 24 : 38 – 58 . 386 – 466 .
   Google Scholar
• Tierney , J. J. 1963 . The Map of Agrippa . Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy , 63 ( 4 ) : 151 – 165 . (Dublin)
   Google Scholar
• Vespasian's Forum very likely contained many works of art as well; see Heatley, op. cit., p. 152.
   Google Scholar
• Tierney, op. cit., p. 151.
   Google Scholar
• Hermansen , G. 1978 . The Population of Imperial Rome: the Regionaries . Historia , 27 : 129 – 169 . (Wiesbaden)
   Google Scholar
• suggests that the description of Rome known as the ‘Libellus de Regionibus’ was a fourth‐century tourist guide.
   Google Scholar
• Cf. Suetonius Augustus 28. 3; 30. 1.
   Google Scholar
• Suetonius Vespasian 8. 5–9.
   Google Scholar
• Herodian 2–6; Dio Cassius 68–80; Historia Augusta (Scriptores Historiae Augustae) Severus.
   Google Scholar
• Coinage has been often characterized as an important ancient medium for propaganda by modern historians. For example, see
   Google Scholar
• Grant , Michael . 1968 . Roman History from Coins , 11 – 17 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Jones , A. H. M. 1956 . “ Numismatics and History ” . In Essays in Roman Coinage Presented to Harold Mattingly , Edited by: Carson , R. A. G. and Sutherland , C. H. V. 3 – 16 . London : Oxford University Press .
   Google Scholar
• argues against this widely‐held view.
   Google Scholar
• Heatley, op. cit., p. 114, see also pp. 114–162, et passim.
   Google Scholar
• Brilliant , R. 1967 . The Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome Vol. 29 , Rome
   Google Scholar
• Dilke (1985), op. cit., p. 105.
   Google Scholar
• Augustus . Res Gestae , 19 – 21 .
   Google Scholar
• Syme , Ronald . 1939 . The Roman Revolution , Oxford : Oxford University Press . reprint 1983
   Google Scholar
• has much to say about the importance of propaganda and these writers during the reign of Augustus, especially in chapters 29 and 30, on ‘The National Programme’ and ‘The Organization of Opinion’, pp. 440–475. Yet, no matter to what extent the works of Horace, Livy and Virgil can be read as promoting Augustus and his programme, certainly they share a timelessness and universality which communicate well beyond the particular circumstances of their composition.
   Google Scholar
• Dilke (1985), op. cit., p. 41.
   Google Scholar
• Dilke (1987), op. cit., p. 230. In his survey of the uses of maps in the Roman period, Dilke cites their function as propaganda on p. 254.
   Google Scholar
• Pliny . Naturalis historia , 36. 24 102
   Google Scholar
• Dilke (1985), op. cit., p. 106, suggests that ‘town plans’, such as the Forma Urbis Romae, became traditional and spread to Constantinople. Unfortunately, only fragments survive of other Roman town plans. See also Harvey, op. cit., p. 130.
   Google Scholar
• Birley , Anthony R. 1989 . Septimius Severus: The African Emperor , revised ed. , New Haven : Yale University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Rubin , Z. 1980 . Civil‐War Propaganda and Historiography, Collection Latomus: Revue d'Études Latines Vol. 173 , Brussels
   Google Scholar