Can you see today where the city guard was encamped, just outside of the city of Rome (the roman army was not allowed to enter the city)? How is this different from the other roman plans for the city?
Last week we had a discussion on the Roman precursor culture, the Etruscans. This week we delve into Roman culture as it affected the idea of ‘the city’ – an idea and organizational structure that spread across Europe as the empire expanded.

Rome was the home of the Roman Empire, but being a city with roots older than the Republic or empire it is roman in its architecture but not in its form or planning (which are more true to the Etruscan roots!) However the grandiosity of Rome is more viewable and able to be experienced more easily than ever through modern technology – https://vimeo.com/32038695

Something to look for is Roman Empire’s organizational ability – infrastructure, armies, politics, and city planning. Roman legions were divided up evenly in sizes, and housed evenly in blocks, these blocks extended in turn structured the encampments and permanent structures around the encampment. As the legions spread the will of the empire, so did this organization. Many famous European cities have their roots initially serving as built up areas around the legion’s camp providing services to the garrisoned soldiers.

But this is only one means of influence, the highly rigorous structures of the roman empire interfaced with existing terrain and human habitats – most famously in Rome itself, the Tiber River and the seven hills of Rome. Rome as a city existed and grew organically in a flotsam of expansion, later roman city planners would redevelop in an attempt to reorganize the hierarchy of streets into an ordered whole (watch this closely, because these attempts do not end with the Romans, hint hint for future lectures). Other existing cities had roman additions, sections, portions or ‘new’ towns designed added or expanded during their roman citizenship as well (Paris traces its history to a small permanent roman settlement, Frankfurt’s central market square still exists where its Roman market stood – both of these examples where small roman settlements which have since grown to the large cities of today).

The Roman legion’s famously encamped in large gridded tent-cities, which would gradually be made more permanent depending on how long the soldiers were stationed, it makes sense then that these military settlements formed the nucleation point of new civilian habitations, and may cities in Europe, and the Mediterranean grew from these early grid camps. Looking for the right patterns in aerial photography it is possible to find the shape and size of a original grid in the neighborhoods of a various towns and cities. One example is the town ofTimgad located in what is present day Algeria.
Questions for lectures 13
Can you see today where the city guard was encamped, just outside of the city of Rome (the roman army was not allowed to enter the city)? How is this different from the other roman plans for the city?

Questions for lectures 14
Can you find any other cities like Timgad that might have started or show the remnants of their Roman-grid plan? What other cities or towns, not mentioned in the lectures, have a Roman organization, echoes or ghost-planning in them? Explain why you think it is of roman influence and provide a link to imagery or a map pin so others can see.

Questions for lecture 15 are included in lecture 15.

Just answer the questions directly, the maximum words for 3 lectures is about 2 pages. For each lecture, please write the lecture number first, then answer the questions. Thank you!