Panel 8.12 – Roman Street and Urban Economy

Organiser/Chair:

• Thomas Morard (Université de Liège)
• Grégory Mainet (Université de Liège)

Speakers:

• Laura Ficuciello (University of Naples "L'Orientale")
  The Commercial Streetscape of the Hellenistic Cities and the Development of the Roman Streetscape
• Grégory Mainet (Université de Liège)
  The Roman Streets Development and the Place of Economic Activites in the Urban Fabric
• Riccardo Helg (Independent researcher)
  Tonsor, copo, cocus, lanius sua limina seruant (Mart. VII, 61): spazi di commercio e architettura delle facciate lungo la Via di Nola a Pompei
• Daniela Liberatore and Riccardo Di Cesare (Università di Foggia)
  The road system of ancient Alba Fucens: town planning, trade and economy
• Marine Lepee (Université Lyon 2)
  Network of streets and shops in the upper town of Lugdunum between the Ist century BC and the IIIrd century AD

Among the urban infrastructures which shaped the economy, the street played a major role in ancient cities because it contributed to durably structure the urban economy. This use of the street has often been overlooked by archaeologists – until now. Indeed, such a topic naturally finds its place within the 19th congress of the International Association for Classical Archaeology whose theme is the economy of the classical world. First of all: how do we consider the street? As a mere route whose only purpose is traffic? No. This notion is wrong as it appears by reading ancient authors like Martial and Juvenal. The space of the street was built in three dimensions and was developed to answer the needs of the local population. It was indeed a place for important social and economic trades, constitutive elements of urbanity. The economic function of the street clearly appeared in its architecture which was shaped by the construction of numerous tabernae within the insulae and by the promotion of the activities (advertising) which happened there. Therefore, the roman cities economy was not divided and confined into specific buildings such as macella. On the contrary, it was incorporated into the whole urban fabric through the streets. With this panel, we offer to shed a new light to the role of the street within the urban economies through the imperium romanum between the 2nd century B.C.E. and the 3rd century A.C.E. Is the economic importance of the streets the same across the whole empire? What about the cities where people were settled before Rome's arrival? On the contrary, what about all those which were founded by Rome? Did Rome and the Eastern Roman cities inherit their characteristics from Hellenistic cities? Or was the Roman model born in Italy? The problem is wide, contrary to the sources at our disposal. To solve it, two axis will be examined starting from precise archaeological cases, chosen within different periods: a) the qualitative study of the development of some streets well known thanks to extensive excavations like the Via dell'Abbondanza in Pompei or the Main Street of the Theatre District in Delos. b) the quantitative study of the distribution of economic functions along the network and the interactions between them thanks to comprehensive excavations or geophysical prospections.

1. Laura Ficuciello (University of Naples "L'Orientale")

The Commercial Streetscape of the Hellenistic Cities and the Development of the Roman Streetscape/La viabilità del "mondo greco" in relazione all'economia urbana: un rapporto possibile ?
The name of some streets, evidenced in inscriptions and texts, suggests the importance of the economic activities along these urban thoroughfares. Moreover, archaeological evidence from Athens or Delos for example shows that Hellenistic streets are a space of economic interactions between indoor and outdoor so that they play a key role in patterning the economy of cities. Nevertheless, these interactions haven’t been studied in detail so far. How commercial and craft activities are distributed across the urban fabric? How they shape the streetscape of Hellenistic cities? In contrast, how street architecture influences the development of urban economy?
During the Hellenistic period, craftsmen and merchants occupies the agora and its immediate surrounding as well as the streets, where could lay groups of the same speciality. The workshops’ layout, in all likelihood, follows a precise organization across the urban fabric. For instance, access to water seems the principal criterion of organization, but the proximity to important thoroughfares also attracts workshops where products are manufactured and sold, as well as shops where goods are retailed. First, this paper aims to expand these relationships between streets and urban economy in Hellenistic cities. Then, as this economic logic of space seems similar to the Roman logic, this inquiry will focus on the continuity and discontinuity between the Hellenistic and the Roman commercial streetscape.

2. Grégory Mainet (Université de Liège)

The Roman Streets Development and the Place of Economic Activites in the Urban Fabric/La « rue romaine » en Italie : un espace construit et aménagé pour répondre aux besoins économiques des cités ?
The imperial streets of Ostia and Rome – as they appear on the severian Forma Urbis Romae – were edged by many shops, which shaped the streetscape of these cities. This situation is common in modern downtown, but it was not in Antiquity. In greek cities such as Priene or Olynthus, the space of the street is so different : since there is few doorways in the buildings façades, the frontages are more simple and the buildings more segregated from the thoroughfares. We observe the same characteristics in some italian cities, like Norba, destroyed at the begining of the 1st century BC. Indeed, the streetscape seems to change from the Late-Republic in Italy : at Ostia for instance, we observe late-republican tabernae along the Decumanus, under the Horrea of Hortensius.
The progressive development of shops along urban thoroughfares shows evidence of the economic facilities offered by the space of the street, made up of building façades, roadway and street furnitures. This built framework hosts shopkeepers and their commercial activities, because it gave some market opportunities to them, just as a macellum, but far and wide throughout the city. So far, this architectural environment has been neglected in favor of the street network and the traffic. This paper would consider the evolution of the architecture of the streets in Italy, between the Mid-Republican time and the Severian period, and highlight the role played by the “street-as-market” in the organisation of urban economy.

3. Riccardo Helg (Independent researcher)

Tonsor, copo, cocus, lanius sua limina seruant (Mart. VII, 61): spazi di commercio e architettura delle facciate lungo la Via di Nola a Pompei
In the cityscape of the Vesuvian towns domestic buildings played a key role in shaping the architectural and aesthetic features of the built environment and in the development of a variety of activities that took place in the streets, fulfilling also several functions beginning with those related to trade.
The presence of shops and spaces for commercial activities in the façades of the houses was a frequent occurrence, especially along the busiest thoroughfares and near major crossroads, and most likely influenced the architecture of the frontage of the domus, becoming sometimes its most significant feature.
This paper aims to analyze how the opportunities of economic growth of individual business might have affected the façades, influencing architectural arrangements and decoration choices; this issue will be addressed from a diachronic perspective, taking all the above into consideration the last phase of life of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Via Di Nola will be analyzed as case study an important yet lesser known street.
The layout of this street has been largely altered by centuries of large-scale archaeological excavations and lack of proper conservation that have compromised our understanding of its original appearance; yet, a careful analysis of its architectural fabric combined with the retrieval of archival records enables to recover part of the original aspect of this important urban thoroughfare and re-establish the function it had in the carrying out of urban trades.

4. Daniela Liberatore and Riccardo Di Cesare (Università di Foggia)

The road system of ancient Alba Fucens: town planning, trade and economy
This paper aims at discussing the connection between town planning, monumental development and the functions of the urban spaces in ancient Alba Fucens, with specific consideration for the economic facilities, trade activities and the social life of the city.
New information is provided by recent archaeological exploration of a taberna facing the Forum, which shed new light on the shape of a key space of the city and its transformations throughout centuries. It also allowed to re-examine the stratigraphic history of the Roman streets and their role, both inside and outside the city walls, from the foundation of the Latin colony at the end of the IV cent. B.C. until the abandonment of the valley floor after Late Roman Times.
The urban stratigraphy starts with the deduction of the colony, whose strategic position emerges from its location and connection with Rome and the surrounding areas, fulfilled by a well-organized road system.
This phase is followed by a second main stage during the Late Republican period, when the whole city was renovated, buildings were added such as porches and tabernae along the main roadways and the Forum. This urban shape remains unchanged during the Imperial age.
In Late Antiquity, general economic and social changes affect also the urban landscape: the road network of the city now mirrors the altered functions of the city and its economic life.

5. Aldo Borlenghi, Marine Lepee and Matthieu Poux (Université Lyon 2)

Network of streets and shops in the upper town of Lugdunum between the Ist century BC and the IIIrd century AD
The heart of the ancient colony of Lugdunum, at the top of the hill of Fourvière, shows wellhow dynamic and long-standing the economical activities were for the four centuries of heroccupation. Lots of shops / workshops used for local commerce and retail have been recognized in close contact with the neighbouring domestic spaces. They keep close ties with the surrounding streets particularly well-known in the upper town. This one is structured since its foundation by an important urban network which mix different complementary layouts of streets and adapt to the difficult topography of the hill.It’s interesting to study the way the workplaces take place in the urban structure and theirinteractions with the major thoroughfares inside of urban blocks where the part of commerce /craftsmanship is significant. This presentation will deal with the notion of access and the factthat the shops overlook the streets, with the encroachment of the sales structures on the street or even with the hydraulic connections. The role of the portico, the distribution of thecommercial activities and their potential specialisation will be discussed. Moreover, themodifications of the streets’ layout are particularly striking in Lyon and affect directly theeconomic spaces which are located in most cases on the facade of the urban blocks, therebyshowing the evolution of the patterns of settlement.