Rome and the Colonial City

Rethinking the Grid

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill editor Sofia Greaves editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxbow Books

Published:15th Mar '22

Should be back in stock very soon

Rome and the Colonial City cover

According to one narrative that received almost canonical status a century ago with Francis Haverfield, the orthogonal grid was the most important development of ancient town planning, embodying values of civilisation in contrast to barbarism, diffused in particular by hundreds of Roman colonial foundations. Its main legacy to subsequent urban development was the model of the grid city, spread across the New World in new colonial cities.   This book explores the shortcomings of that all too colonialist narrative and offers new perspectives. It explores the ideals articulated both by ancient city founders and their modern successors; looks at new evidence for Roman colonial foundations to reassess their aims; and considers the many ways post-Roman urbanism looked back to the Roman model with a constant re-appropriation of the idea of the Roman.

ISBN: 9781789257809

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

432 pages