Strolling Through Augustan Rome With Roberto The Roman
Like many ancient cities, and some modern, Augustan Rome was a combination of public magnificence and private squalor. There were the temples, the aqueducts, the basilicas, and other grandiose public buildings, and there were the seedy back streets, the dilapidated tenements, and the piles of odiferous waste. Augustus’ biographer Suetonius claims the emperor remarked, “I found a city of brick and left it a city of marble.” But if he did utter those immortal words, this is certainly an exaggeration. It is true that he restored numerous temples that had fallen into disrepair during the Civil War era and that he undertook several high-profile vanity projects, but bricks remained the chief building material. Speaking of temples, they were what would have awed visitors most when they first entered the city. There were over a dozen dedicated to Jupiter alone.
Overcrowding, Traffic Jams and Bodyguards
By the time Augustus became princeps or ‘first citizen’, as he chose to be called, in 27 BC, Rome was heavily overpopulated, and if he is to be given credit for transforming the city, which he should, it is for facilitating a building bonanza to increase housing. A vague estimate of Rome’s population at the time may well be hovering around one million. It is hard to imagine close to one million people crammed inside a circuit wall which barely encloses three square miles (7.7 square kilometers).
Wealthy woman being transported in a litter through the overcrowded streets of Rome. ( Massimo Todaro/ Adobe Stock)
