This is an ambitious volume. The editors aim to introduce ‘movement’ as a defining element in the conceptual landscape of Roman urban historians and archaeologists and want to show how an emphasis on movement taking place within and around cities can not only enrich but also change our view on Roman urbanism and its history. As N. says, the objective is to ‘make movement meaningful’, and to move the conceptual boundaries beyond those defined by the spatial turn of the 1990s – in which L. played a central role (Roman Pompeii. Space and Society [1994]).
The book consists of fifteen chapters preceded by an introduction by N., and followed by an epilogue by L. The long introduction elaborates on the broader themes addressed in the individual chapters, and some might prefer (re)reading it after having read the rest of the book. L.'s ‘endpiece’ explores the possible implications of the issues discussed and includes some highly interesting observations, especially on the functioning of everyday intra-urban social networks: thinking further about movement clearly will have an impact on what we think of Roman society.
The fifteen chapters are divided into three sections. The first deals with textual and theoretical approaches to movement and space and contains four chapters. D. Spencer uses Varro to discuss how the language of movement worked to shape a particular (elite) view of society. Then, L. explains how Martial, in describing his patterns of movement through the city, defines not only Rome, but also the social position of his persona. A. van Nes shows how Pompeii looks when subjected to the methods of spatial analysis used by modern urban geographers. A very interesting chapter on multisensory movement by E. Betts demonstrates how our conception of Roman urban space changes dramatically when we move beyond our traditional ‘visual bias’ and think about the other senses as well.
The second section treats movement in Pompeii and Ostia. J. Hartnett discusses how numerous obstacles impeded Pompeian traffic and how these played a role in negotiating statuses: you were the impediment that you could, socially, afford to impose. S. Ellis argues that there was a ‘cult of the right’ determining where people entered shops, and shows how this led to standardised tabernae thresholds in Ostia. A. Kaiser challenges common interpretations of the Lex Iulia Municipalis, maintaining that Augustus did not ban all car traffic from Rome (only plostra) and argues that, nevertheless, cities like Pompeii were extremely hard to navigate by carts. E. Poehler explores the economics of transport at Pompeii and provides an example of the wealth of information that is hidden behind unremarkable features like ramps for carts leading out of the street. H. Stöger convincingly shows how local collegia at Ostia had a clear preference for having their meeting halls close to natural hotspots of movement.
The last six chapters deal with Rome. C. Holleran's well-documented chapter on the street life of ancient Rome rightly emphasises that streets were on the one hand narrow, dirty and dangerous, but at the same time played a crucial role in the commercial and social life of the city. E. Macaulay-Lewis demonstrates that besides this mundane movement landscape, there was a much more luxurious walking environment in the form of public porticoes, which were designed in a way that structured movement. N. then discusses the changing patterns of movement in and around the Roman fora, arguing for a shift from spaces designed for movement through to spaces designed for movement to in the early imperial period. The chapter by F. Trifilò focusses on gaming and shows how identifiable remains of this activity are strongly related to patterns of movement. D. Favro explores the impact on urban movement of building, focussing on the construction of the Arch of Septimius Severus. Favro's chapter is thought-provoking, but sometimes overstates the disruption caused by building. Finally, S. Malmberg and H. Bjur explore the impact of movement on the environment of city gates, and the edge phenomena generated by this.
The burning question is does the volume realise its ambition and break new ground? The answer is that it does. Especially when read in its entirety, the book conveys a clear and important message: Roman urban society was, on a cultural, social and economic level, defined through movement; as a consequence, movement should be a core variable in any historical analysis of the Roman world; there is a promising variety of ways in which we can use literary and archaeological evidence to understand patterns of and attitudes towards movement. The book is a must-read for anyone working on Roman urbanism, and for those studying the topography and archaeology of Rome, which is better served than Ostia and Pompeii. This is not to say that readers will find all their questions answered, or that all chapters are equally convincing in their conclusions. It is the sheer variety of approaches to movement in the Roman world that makes the book relevant.
The volume contains some very strong chapters, and some highly relevant new approaches. Particularly noteworthy is the chapter by Betts, which combines the complicated issue of movement with the even more complicated issue of the impact of smell, noise, touch and taste, and makes a convincing case that these senses, especially in Rome, may have had a stronger impact on spontaneous movement than sight. Also significant is the chapter by Malmberg and Bjur, because it highlights how movement shaped the urban edge as much as it shaped the urban core, and sheds light on urbanism in a part of Rome (the Esquiline) that too often escapes scholarly notice. Other well-written and thought-provoking chapters include those by L., Poehler and Holleran.
There are some weaknesses; the volume deals almost exclusively with three well-known sites from Italy. If the aim is to show the hermeneutic potential of movement for the study of Roman urbanism, one should also include approaches based on material from sites beyond the canon of classical archaeology – if only to prevent subsequent debate from focussing on the same few sites.
A couple of chapters seem out of place. Spencer's chapter, interesting though some of it is, is written in a highly abstract language that seems to come from a different academic world; it does not connect well with the other chapters, nor with the audience of this volume. The chapter by Trifilò, while making some points about movement, focusses more on gaming and its evidence. Its central argument has little or no relation to the main theme of the book.
One final point of criticism concerns the degree to which the individual chapters are aware of one another. This is particularly evident in the many discussions of the Lex Iulia Municipalis. While Kaiser, quite dramatically, revises the interpretation of this law, most of the other authors that discuss the text (except Malmberg and Bjur) follow the traditional interpretation without further comment, but whether they agree with Kaiser or not, readers might have expected them to engage with his interpretation.
Despite these quibbles, this is a very rich volume that scholars will want to read in its entirety, while several of the individual chapters (especially Betts, Holleran and Favro) are relevant to a wide audience, including students. One should not only judge this book on where it stands, but also on where it invites the reader to go: this book is not only about movement, it also aims to generate movement, albeit in a conceptual and methodological rather than a physical way. In that respect, L. and N. are guiding the scholarly community in a very promising direction.
