Which Roads Or Routes Would You Take? (republic)

[Skarr]

I'm working on a project set in the Republic - around 150 BC.

 

One of my characters needs to go from the mons Palatinus to the Forum, then to the Subura and finally to one of the emporiums along the Tiber, close to the Circus Maximus.

 

I have him taking the Clivus Palatinus to the via Sacra and then to the Argiletum, which led to the Subura.

 

After stopping at a tavern on the Clivus Suburanus, he has a final errand, to deliver some slaves at an emporium on the Tiber.

 

My question is - which streets would he take to reach this, without retracing his way back to the Forum ?

 

Anyone who is familiar with the topography at the time, please post. I have been poring over maps but they are all from later periods.

[P.Clodius]

I'm working on a project set in the Republic - around 150 BC.

 

One of my characters needs to go from the mons Palatinus to the Forum, then to the Subura and finally to one of the emporiums along the Tiber, close to the Circus Maximus.

 

I have him taking the Clivus Palatinus to the via Sacra and then to the Argiletum, which led to the Subura.

 

After stopping at a tavern on the Clivus Suburanus, he has a final errand, to deliver some slaves at an emporium on the Tiber.

 

My question is - which streets would he take to reach this, without retracing his way back to the Forum ?

 

Anyone who is familiar with the topography at the time, please post. I have been poring over maps but they are all from later periods.

Try to look at a Servian boundried map, sorry I can't be more helpful but that boundry would be the Rome of your particular era.

 

HERE is a list of gates

 

HERE is a little clickable map (about halfway down the page)

Edited July 26, 2006 by P.Clodius

[Andrew Dalby]

After stopping at a tavern on the Clivus Suburanus, he has a final errand, to deliver some slaves at an emporium on the Tiber.

 

My question is - which streets would he take to reach this, without retracing his way back to the Forum ?

 

Nice one. I had to work this kind of thing out at my desk (regrettably) in order to make a sensible description of sensual Rome for /Empire of Pleasures/. And, yes, you put your problem in a nutshell. The obvious way to the Tiber from the Suburra is via Argiletum (potter's field), Forum, and Velabrum. It's not only the straightest route -- it's also the only flat route, because it's the valley bottom. The Cloaca stream that flowed through the Suburra becomes the big sewer (hence Cloaca Maxima) -- and empties into the Tiber between the Forum Boarium and Forum Holitorium (cattle market and vegetable market). You can probably smell it at times, among all those other smells, as you make your journey.

 

Where do you want to hit the Tiber? Exactly there, or north, or south? If you go northwards, you might meet some of Martial's neighbours and eventually reach the Campus Martius (including the Saepta, where expensive slaves were on sale).

[Skarr]

Thanks, Clodius and Andrew.

 

Andrew, I think you summed this up pretty nicely. The emporium is located south, a little beyond the Circus Maximus. Maybe you're right, there may not be an alternative route but I just wanted to make sure with a map that sets out the streets clearly around that time.

 

I don't think a proper map exists from that period and perhaps, if you come across one, please let me know.

[Andrew Dalby]

Thanks, Clodius and Andrew.

 

Andrew, I think you summed this up pretty nicely. The emporium is located south, a little beyond the Circus Maximus. Maybe you're right, there may not be an alternative route but I just wanted to make sure with a map that sets out the streets clearly around that time.

 

I don't think a proper map exists from that period and perhaps, if you come across one, please let me know.

 

I get it now. I must admit that when I first answered I hadn't taken in the 150 BC thing: mention of Martial and the slaves on sale at the Saepta therefore irrelevant. You're making for what on my map is called the Emporium, beside the Tiber below the bridges, right?

 

A. Anyway, since you started from the Clivus Palatinus on your way north, you will not be wholly retracing your steps if, on your way south, from the Argiletum you turn west along the Forum, and then down the valley into the Velabrum following the line of the Cloaca Maxima more or less. You reach the bank of the Tiber and then go south along it. That's one way.

 

B. The other way is to keep in the eastern suburbs of built-up Republican Rome. There will be a road or track due south from the Suburra, across a low saddle, reaching a crossroads -- east of the Forum -- where the Meta Sudans stands. You can imagine the Colosseum towering above you to your left, but it isn't there yet. You go on south, on what is (in your time) the main road from the Forum towards the Porta Capena -- the main road to Campania therefore. Pretty busy I would say. On this road you cross another saddle between the Palatine on your right and the Mons Caelius on your left. The Palatine is the respectable quarter of Rome at this time -- nice houses and the odd temple. Now, the road south takes a left turn, but you take a right fork, downhill, and cross the little river (it's called La Marrana on my 19th century map, I don't know off hand what it was called in your time). You now have two choices.

 

B1. Turn right again and follow the valley (Vallis Murcia) westwards down to the Tiber. You have the Aventine on your left (it's fairly built up already) and you are actually walking through what will later be the arena of the Circus Maximus. Finally, turning left and following the Tiber bank, you leave Rome by the Porta Trigemina and reach the Emporium.

 

B2. Go straight ahead, uphill to the saddle that separates the Aventine (on your right) from the greener hills on your left. At this saddle you leave Rome by the Porta Raudusculana, and follow a rough path under the southern slope of the Aventine, and therefore under the walls of Rome, till you reach the Emporium.

 

There you are, that's one thing GPS can't do for you.

[Skarr]

Thanks, Andrew. That was excellent and I do like some of the choices you have set out there. Looks like you know the city pretty well and I like the route which takes them outside of Rome's walls. This gives an opportunity to write a scene where some slaves think they are being taken away from the city, causing them a great deal of panic, as some of them have family inside of Rome.

 

At the emporium, the slaves, who all belong to a prominent family which is now ruined, are being resold to various slave merchants at an auction. As these are all household slaves, skilled in the care of noble persons, they will be much sought after by the elite families in Rome, not only for their skills but also the gossip / knowledge they have on their former owners.

 

The city in those times must have looked vastly different from the built up city during the times of Trajan, especially the Palatine hill, which had huge palaces instead of individual houses.