First Time Roman Buyers

By Shannon Corbett - 3rd year Ancient History

Living in Ancient Rome is not the same as modern-day living. To get a feel of what it must have been like, this essay will be your basic guide, as if you were a first-time Rome buyer looking to invest in your first dwelling – whether in the slums of Rome or on the Palatine. It will not include what daily life was like for differing classes but act more as a light-hearted account to inform you on what to expect in and around the different neighbourhoods. Hopefully, this essay will broaden your knowledge of information, such as getting around Rome as a citizen or as a new incomer and how you would have to navigate your way around Rome; what you would expect to see in the different regions when ‘looking for your first home’ and how to survive.

How do you think you would navigate around Ancient Rome? For example, if you were a real estate agent and trying to sell a home to a new incomer looking to ‘rent’ or ‘buy’, how would you even find the apartment or house you were trying to get to in this ancient metropolis? What the Romans decided to do was make something called the Forma Urbis Romae.

The fragment that remains of the Forma Urbis is a marble slap that depicts Rome and only 10-15% is remaining today. It would have spanned 13x18 metres in total and the map labels everything that was built in Ancient Rome – including the biggest buildings and temples, down to the public toilets. Only part of it has survived but this is enough to suggest that it was used and was highly sought after by many who journeyed to Rome. It is hard to deny that it was a massive testament to the city, as it provided a resource for outsiders, and those living in Rome, to see the true extent of expansion and promote the city's greatness.

Memory was another, more common, way to get around; the Romans indeed were clever enough to know that they could utilise their skills and use their memory. If you grew up in Rome, you would have to learn your surroundings from a young age or be with a servant who knew theirs and base your navigation around this. The names of specific well-known landmarks or illustrious family houses were often used- both would help with orientation. Shops and houses would have had names or drawings so if you were in areas that housed inns or taverns, you would be familiar with those and base where you were going around them. Writers as famous as Cicero in the ancient world were familiar with these ‘skills’ as he refers to an inn or a shop in the Roman Forum that had a painted picture of a Gaul sticking his tongue out, which helped to know where he was trying to get to.

To get a sense of how well-known this tactic was, Ovid made a guide in one of his poems which describes to a visitor of Rome how to get around, and in this, he includes notable monuments to do so, and when reaching the right street, advises to ask around for the right person required. Thus, if you were looking to rent or buy in Ancient Rome, you should try and memorise your surroundings, because each one you do will become handy at some point or another.

So, now you are (partly) reassured that you would be able to adjust and learn your way around, now let us focus on Rome’s better features. Why would it have been so appealing to live in? For one, Rome is known for its different hills. These hills provide fortification and defence, so safety from invaders would be a positive. As well as this, you would be protected from floods, and pollution, and have access to cleaner air, leaving way for that warm sun to shine through to you (and also fewer insects, which I guess is a better appeal). The river Tiber would provide stability for everyone and would shelter the city from naval attacks. It also means prosperity could occur if utilised properly for trade and travel. The Campus Martius is a big space for large groups, providing the facilities for military training or sports and entertainment – which is very important to keep everyone happy. The global location is perfect if looking for less rain (say, from Roman Britain, where we all know rain is a daily occurrence) as there are warm summers and mild winters. Rome is also the centre of Italy, which would be the centre of the empire, and therefore, everyone living in Rome is part of its greatness. But, for some, the most important part of Rome is its beauty; the natural beauty of the forests around it, and even the enforced nature of man-made porticos, which make for Rome to be a beautiful place to have lived.

Being one of Rome’s greatest writers and orators, Cicero also views Rome as a glorious place to be. Cicero exclaims that Romulus must have chosen this city specifically due to the advantages of the sea, and for trading, but also because he must have known that the city itself was destined for greatness – as Cicero describes it as the ‘hearthstone of a mighty empire’. However, since Cicero was well-known in Rome, and dedicated his life in and around this area, his views are likely to be swayed – just as you would probably talk highly of an area you have lived in for a while. Strabo on the other hand, while writing during Augustus’ reign, describes Rome very differently (as he was not born or raised in Rome, he was a geographer).  He does not highlight Rome’s positive nature, yet focuses on its flaws, including talking of its history and how it was ‘necessary’ to choose Rome rather than any divine intervention taking place. Despite what anyone else says, everyone will always have a particular view, but it is up to you to make your own.

Realistically, unless you had money and had come from a very fortunate family, you would most likely be living centrally in the city, more than likely in the slums. What was this like? As you could imagine, just as a city is a today, it would consistently busy with different sounds, smells and people – locals, visitors, and tourists. There were no carts in the centre during the day, so the only mode of transport was walking and this was status-driven. You would have lictors (bodyguards) if you were of a higher class, such as patricians, but the lower class, such as plebians, would walk everywhere alone. The daily movement would include those working in inns, citizens looking for work locally, those on market stools, and farmers trying to control cattle or just walking for leisure. Leisure walking was quite common, but more than often it would be in porticos of the city with cool colonnades that allowed gentle exercise. Streets in Rome were heaving daily, this is because they were only two-three metres wide, which meant not a lot of people could fit through that needed to. It was those who lived on that street that was responsible for repairing and maintaining it, and as this was necessary, there were laws in place which meant they had to be upheld. However, although these laws were in place, it should be considered how destitute a lot of Rome was. In and around the slum areas, and the centre, the streets would consistently be busy with stray animals, citizens, and livestock, which all produce waste and sewage. If you imagine a farmer who is trying to sell his animals without a fridge, the best way to sell them is to keep them fresh for as long as possible – so alive. This meant animals being transported would need to relieve themselves, and if there were hundreds of farmers trying to do business, there would be a lot of waste. Stray dogs were also common, some had families who looked after them in return for protection, but the majority were not domesticated. Some writers of Rome, i.e., Seutonius, write that a stray dog found a human hand on the street, and dropped it beneath emperor Vespasian’s table! Thus, you could expect the loud commotion of business mixed with the smells of animals if you visited the centre and walked among the streets. As Laurence perfectly sums up:

“The streets of ancient Rome were thus far more than a physical network of pathways connecting the city; they were the support network for the lives of the

inhabitants and it was here, against a vibrant commercial and social backdrop, of movement and interaction in space, that these lives were largely played out.”

Bibliography

Secondary resources

Laurence, H.C. Newsome, J.D. and Ray.  2011. ‘The Street Life of Ancient Rome’, in Rome, Ostia, Pompeii: Movement and Space (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Ling, R. 1990. ‘A Stranger in Town: Finding the Way in an Ancient City’, Greece and Rome, 37(2):204-214.

Primary resources

Cicero. 1928. On the Republic, trans. by C.W. Keyes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press)

Strabo. 1923. Geography, trans. by H. L. Jones (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press)