Rome is a small small town

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Rome is one of the oldest cities in the world, the ancient capital of the Roman Empire. Even in Antiquity (III century AD), Rome was often called Eternal (lat. Roma Aeterna). One of the first to call Rome so was the Roman poet Albius Tibullus (1st century BC) in his second elegy. The idea of the "eternity" of Rome was largely preserved after the fall of the ancient Roman civilization, bringing the corresponding epithet into modern languages.

Also Rome is called “the city on seven hills”. Initially, the settlements were located on the Palatine hill, later the neighboring hills were inhabited: the Capitol and Quirinal. Somewhat later, settlements appeared on the last four hills (Celie, Aventine, Esquilina and Viminale).

Let's take a look at the old plans of Rome today. Let's start with maps from the 16th century. Everything opens on click in high resolution.

1555 year.

1560-1583.

1572

And now let's move abruptly to 1771.

And finally by 1830. This map has a high resolution on this site.

Don't you notice anything? What is special about all these cards? Yes, they are almost the same in terms of city boundaries and buildings. This is very clearly visible from the bend of the river and the Colosseum. I can still understand this for the period 1771-1830. But for the 16th century, this is nonsense. A city, in principle, cannot remain within its borders for such a long period, unless it degenerates.

Now let's try to calculate the population of Rome for 1830. On Google Earth, I roughly calculated its area. It turned out a maximum of 6 sq km.. In modern Rome, the population density is 2197 people / km². Those. at the beginning of the 19th century, the population of Rome was no more than 10 thousand people. If I went wrong somewhere, correct me. Urban-type settlement by modern standards. And what was there in the 16th century? I think 1-2 thousand people. And of course it didn't look like the first three pictures then. Accordingly, the question arises - when exactly were all its famous historical monuments built? For example the Colosseum? Well, obviously not BC, but most likely somewhere in the 17th century. And even later. It is actually located on the outskirts even in 1830. There, on the last map, its oval is clearly visible.

You know, when you start to approach history from the point of view of population in specific periods, then very many moments become visible in a completely different light.

Below, in the comments, they very correctly drew attention to the fact that in any medieval city there must be a Kremlin, to which people left when the city was attacked by enemies. They are. See the pentagon of the fort on the last map in the upper left corner? It was built somewhere in the 17-18 century. It was then that they built a black square inside the fort. This is most likely the "Kremlin". Look how he looks now. It is called the Castle of the Holy Angel.

It itself is small, 80 by 80 meters square, plus towers at the corners. This means that the city under him also had to be small. Otherwise, the castle would not have been able to accommodate all its inhabitants. The city itself, most likely, was located on the site of those quarters that adjoin the castle on the left on the plans. The Vatican is now located there. This was the original medieval Rome. But already much later, somewhere probably in the 17th century, they began to build on the other side of the river. Why exactly in the 17th? If this had happened before, then they would have definitely built a new large castle in case of a siege. But he is not. Then you begin to understand the logic of the city's development and why by the beginning of the 19th century it was so small and sparsely populated. The population of Moscow in 1775 was already somewhere around 84 thousand people.

And immediately a logical question arises - what kind of Rome did historians write about? Obviously not about this small village.

Please note that the boundaries of the city, which serve as the fortress walls, and buildings do not coincide. And very much. One can build almost another Rome from scratch, which usually does not happen. On all plans of the cities of that time, the fortress walls run clearly along the perimeter of the building. In the first place, it is simply more economical. Secondly, the greater the length of the wall, the more people are needed to protect it. And one more not unimportant factor. The cities of that time usually stood on one side of the river. That the river itself would serve as a natural barrier for the besiegers. Plus, you could save on material for the walls. By the way, do you know why in front of the walls at that time they dug a ditch and filled it with water? To exclude the possibility of undermining,water presses on the soil and if a cavity forms under it, then the water immediately goes into it. Through such tunnels, the attackers could get inside the castle, and when gunpowder was invented, they put a powder charge in it and simply blew up the defensive wall. Immediately on the plan you can see that there is a fortress wall on the opposite bank, and there are also a lot of wastelands. Which fundamentally contradicts the then rules of building fortresses.

It seems to me that somewhere in the 16-17 century there was a small village on this place with a dozen or two houses. It stood on the site of the Vatican. There was a castle nearby, where people hid during the war and turmoil. And then suddenly the authorities decided to build the ancient capital of the Roman Empire on this site. And from scratch. They decided to build with a margin. With the hope that it will become as big as the rest of European cities. Therefore, they built such a long fortress wall.

Here is a plan for Paris from 1720. The total area is about 12 sq km. Those. even if we take the current population density, it turns out somewhere around 25 thousand people. And this is the beginning of the 18th century. In Rome, together with the undeveloped area, there will be the same 12 sq. Km. Those. again, 25 thousand people maximum. And then if it is with high-rise buildings. Just like Paris. Probably, they were guided by it when building walls. But the people didn’t like this place. And even at the beginning of the 19th century, it was a small small town.