In Roman cities, the construction or the monumentalization of each public area is closely related to the legal status of the settlement. The city, in fact, has always had the need to equip itself with different types of buildings, essential for the management of its administration: a series of buildings that are fundamental for the organization not only of the city but also of the surrounding territory. The characteristics of public spaces and the different types of structures they contain can provide significant indications on the nature of the entire urban structure. Each forum takes shape according to the needs of the city at that moment in which it exists. It is configured as an entity, certainly characterized by a more or less variable form of monumentality, but at the same time, ready to adapt to what its users need and also to express what its builders (intended as financiers) intend to communicate. In many Roman cities, significant phases of architectural restructuring of the fora, come as a result of important events of great political significance, such as social war or the enactment of relevant laws concerning the granting of Roman citizenship and then again with the Augustan and Julio-Claudian age. Especially during the High Empire, Rome granted public space a value of great importance and cities tended to resemble each other in some respects. This happened precisely because of the repetition, in their urban planning, of some fundamental elements and concepts. However, in several many other respects, Roman cities, and consequently their public areas, differed from each other, as they were designed and built each time as a single fact, planning and harmonizing together all the elements that made them up. The cities with a privileged status played a fundamental role for the whole territory which was part of their jurisdiction and, in these cities, the forum was a celebratory space of particular importance, in which, in the various monumental phases, some specific characters played a role in the construction or renovation of public buildings. Public monuments were often built with donations from wealthy citizens. These type of donations were connected with the desire for ostentation of economic power and social prestige and gave to the donors a strong political power at a local level.
L’influenza del contesto socio-politico e degli statuti giuridici nelle fasi edilizie dei Fora: alcune osservazioni sulle città romane della Penisola Italiana e della Penisola Iberica / Canino, Dario. - In: RIVISTA DI TOPOGRAFIA ANTICA. - ISSN 1121-5275. - XXX:(2020), pp. 17-56.
L’influenza del contesto socio-politico e degli statuti giuridici nelle fasi edilizie dei Fora: alcune osservazioni sulle città romane della Penisola Italiana e della Penisola Iberica
Dario Canino
2020
Abstract
In Roman cities, the construction or the monumentalization of each public area is closely related to the legal status of the settlement. The city, in fact, has always had the need to equip itself with different types of buildings, essential for the management of its administration: a series of buildings that are fundamental for the organization not only of the city but also of the surrounding territory. The characteristics of public spaces and the different types of structures they contain can provide significant indications on the nature of the entire urban structure. Each forum takes shape according to the needs of the city at that moment in which it exists. It is configured as an entity, certainly characterized by a more or less variable form of monumentality, but at the same time, ready to adapt to what its users need and also to express what its builders (intended as financiers) intend to communicate. In many Roman cities, significant phases of architectural restructuring of the fora, come as a result of important events of great political significance, such as social war or the enactment of relevant laws concerning the granting of Roman citizenship and then again with the Augustan and Julio-Claudian age. Especially during the High Empire, Rome granted public space a value of great importance and cities tended to resemble each other in some respects. This happened precisely because of the repetition, in their urban planning, of some fundamental elements and concepts. However, in several many other respects, Roman cities, and consequently their public areas, differed from each other, as they were designed and built each time as a single fact, planning and harmonizing together all the elements that made them up. The cities with a privileged status played a fundamental role for the whole territory which was part of their jurisdiction and, in these cities, the forum was a celebratory space of particular importance, in which, in the various monumental phases, some specific characters played a role in the construction or renovation of public buildings. Public monuments were often built with donations from wealthy citizens. These type of donations were connected with the desire for ostentation of economic power and social prestige and gave to the donors a strong political power at a local level.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.