Urbanism and Authoritarianism in Augustan Rome

Catalog description

Suetonius, author of the informative and deliciously entertaining *Lives of Roman Emperors*, said that Augustus made the city of Rome so beautiful that "he could justly boast that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble." Augustus' interventions were, indeed, significant: the emperor sponsored monumental building projects throughout the city; he reclaimed private space for public use; created offices to oversee urban care; reorganized the administrative units of the city; and instituted provisions for fire fighting, water distribution, building maintenance, and safety. From this perspective Rome had become a more modern, grand, and efficiently run imperial capital under his power. In this course we will examine these Augustan transformations from multiple perspectives. We will compare the cityscape and urban administration of Rome under the earlier republican government and under a dynastic monarch to scrutinize the ways in which these interventions were both urban improvements and forms of social and political control that drastically reshaped movement through and access to space and resources, as well as feelings of identity and belonging in the city. Through our investigation of Augustan Rome students will explore the implications for our own present and future cities concerning the relationship between urban design, political control, and civic-decision making.