Three Suburbs

Abstract

“Three Suburbs” examines the three best-preserved Roman suburbs—located at Pompeii, Ostia, and in a recently excavated neighbouhood of Rome itself—to find patterns in their form and development, as well as to understand the forces that first shaped and later dismantled them. Alongside comparative evidence drawn from cities across the peninsula, the case studies indicate that suburbs emerged under Augustus and continued to grow through the early and mid-Imperial periods, before declining in the third and fourth centuries CE. The chapter argues for various factors that determined their rise and fall—not limited to changing population sizes, waxing and waning prosperity, and vicissitudes in Italy’s security—but above all identifies the primary role of changing ideals: inspired by the capital, the ideal city of the Augustan period was open and expansive, while that of the Late Empire was ornamented and defended by impressive fortifications.