P. is one of the best scholars on ancient ‘hodology’, or road studies, as well as the history of Pompeii. Its paved roads, which have stirred the enthusiasm of excavators and visitors from the beginning of the town's explorations, are the subject of a thorough and thoughtful study, which has no equal in either general urbanistic or specific Pompeian studies up to now. After briefly explaining his personal commitment to the subject at the beginning of Chapter 1, P. explains the basis of this work, consisting of a large set of ‘misconceptions’ (p. 17) and ignorance about road making, road using and traffic dynamics. Traffic could be intense, but was not a monstrous and avoidable movement, as seems to be thought on the basis of some ancient written sources.
Chapter 2 provides a state-of-the-art analysis of Pompeii's urban development, for which P. could rely on modern research. The old concept of an ‘Altstadt’ may have existed in a brief period only, whereas the layout of streets and house blocks as they present themselves nowadays are not the result of an ‘Alt-’ and ‘Neustadt’ model, but rather an all-over construction of the late fourth or early third century bc. The slope of the volcanic layer on which Pompeii was constructed plays a major role in shaping the house blocks, and although there must have been a sort of master plan, most elements were created on the basis of daily practice. Major flourishing periods are the second century bc and the time of Augustus.
Chapter 3 brings us to the street surfaces, i.e. beaten ashes (battuto), cobbles, lava or silex, and debris. All techniques are diligently described, and the locations of the various types are explained. The famous lava pavement forms a large, yet not predominating amount. It seems to have been introduced in the middle of the first century bc and remained a favourite until ad 79. P. thinks that new developments were on their way, which otherwise would have replaced this technique. Its disadvantage is the strong wear of its surface by the wheels of the wagons and carts; these ruts are the concern of a great deal of scholarship, generously taken into account in Chapter 5.
But before that, Chapter 4, ‘Architecture of the Street’, presents the ingredients of silex streets: paving, curb, stepping and guard stones. All these elements seem obvious, but their presentation and analysis are so rich and thought-provoking that each hodologist should take into account these sections for his or her own sites: shape, layout, use, chronology, all points connected with the four categories of blocks, ask for their own approach. To name one, the function of the guard stones, small roundish blocks on the street placed against the curb stones, is explained – and I think in a plausible way – as a device against damaging curbs, street corners and fountains by the wheeled vehicles. Therefore, they form part of a traffic regulating system probably conceived by the town's magistrates and realised by or in collaboration with owners of adjacent properties. It is one of the aspects showing how intense traffic would have been.
Another phenomenon of that intensity is that of the famous ruts, topic of Chapter 5, ‘Evidence of Traffic’. P. explains in an extremely clear way how they were ‘made’ and what effects they had on traffic. First he explains the culprits’ mechanisms, especially the width and size of the wheels of carts and waggons, and how the wear gradually increased: first at seams between blocks, than in the adjacent area. Their depth, consequently, caused a single-way traffic track, increasing at its turn the ruts’ depth. Despite their regularity, they were not man-made tramways, as has been put forward, and result from the movements of the vehicles only. P. reconstructs the sorts of movements and their consequences, showing his intimate familiarity with the ruts. Interestingly, the width of the carts’ gauges and the distances between the ruts are best measured in Oscan feet, which means that the ruts took their size from pre-Roman standardised vehicles, while this apparently remained fixed in the Roman era, possibly with small adaptations. All in all, traffic could be busy and was undertaken with a small set of standardised vehicles.
Chapter 6 bears the book's title and illustrates the traffic systems over some 100 years. As P. demonstrates, there were regulations, which can only be deduced from the archaeological evidence (ruts, wear on stones), including driving directions. Vehicles mostly drove on the right in the case of two-lane streets, but if the traffic was not heavy, they took the central part of the lanes. Driving directions can be reconstructed on the basis of the mentioned evidence, and some changes can be established based on innovations in the urban landscape such as the introduction of public fountains and the construction of underground drainage. As a result, P. displays four street maps showing four traffic systems (pp. 172–3). Not only archaeologists and urbanists should read this chapter, it would be a great read for filmmakers, who might be inspired to realise a well-founded traffic movement in a historical setting, not only in Pompeii, but also in other parts of the Roman Empire and beyond that period. Traffic was slow, not extremely intense, but with a longue durée continuity following more or less fixed traffic rules.
Chapter 7 includes a fictional story, featuring the mulio Sabinus in a sort of ‘Gelehrtenroman’, with painstakingly precise reference notes a novel reader would not like. In between are explanations of travel practices, bringing together all the findings from the previous chapters. However nice the idea of the fictitious Sabinus may be, he does not get much colour, probably due to the learned burden of facts loaded upon his cart next to the amphorae he has to bring to his master's villa.
Chapter 8 expands the Pompeian view to other towns in the Roman Empire. P. uses cases where similar observations could be made as in Pompeii and highlights Timgad, founded some 20 years after Pompeii's destruction. Here, on the one hand, an old-fashioned checkerboard grid was laid out, whilst on the other hand, clear improvements as to traffic circulation can be observed such as broader streets. P. uses the few ancient texts (including inscriptions) known to tackle the question of administrative regulations and gives a fine diachronic overview of changes in urban landscapes, concentrating on roads and traffic systems. His conclusions (Chapter 9) define the place of his research within urban studies and Pompeian research, and he closes with a programmatic appeal to scholars working now and in the future in Pompeii.
It may have become clear that I enjoyed reading this book greatly and learned much about the dynamics of an ancient town, i.e. Pompeii. Of course, there are questions left, for example whether there were street signs indicating the direction of movement, warnings for difficult situations and so on. The new study about house facades in Pompeii by R. Helg (Frontes. Le facciate nell'architettura e nell'urbanistica di Pompei e di Ercolano [2018]) may help to address a combination of these and other questions. One might hope that the two will meet and bring together their deep knowledge and write a fine paper and, by doing so, immediately meet P.’s appeal for further research.
