Urban Violence in Imperial Rome

Africa, Thomas W.

doi:10.2307/202441

Cited by 46 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…263 Such street violence was probably commonplace at Rome, but is only reported by historians where it takes place on a scale large enough to have serious political implications. 264 High density living in insanitary urban dwellings and surroundings can have only one major consequence in a preindustrial society which lacks effective and cheap medical care: a short, often violent, life. That this was the common lot of the millions of people in the Roman world who lived on or below subsistence level, can hardly be doubted, given the conditions discussed above.…”

Section: Overcrowdingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slums, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Roman World

Scobie¹

1986

Klio

342

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In recent years a great deal has been written about life expectancy and mortality in the Roman empire, but very little has been said about the possible or probable causes of what by contemporary western standards must be regarded as a very low average life expectancy at birth of c. 25 years, an estimate which now appears to be generally accepted by many classicists. 1 It is true that some writers hint that low levels of sanitation and poor standards of public health at Rome and in other large cities in the Roman empire are in some way to blame for a high mortality rate. 2 Frier, for example, refers in passing to "fetid metropolises", 3 but leaves his readers to imagine the details for themselves.The aim of this paper, then, is to try to estimate, as accurately as available evidence permits, how sanitary or insanitary Roman towns were. Particular attention will be paid to fundamental inadequacies in various types of Roman housing, deficiencies in the disposal of human and animal wastes, and legal shortcomings which virtually ensured that large numbers of destitute and near-destitute inhabitants of Rome lived in squalid conditions which were well known to high-status Romans, but which were ignored by successive imperial administrations.

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Section: Overcrowdingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slums, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Roman World

Scobie¹

1986

Klio

342

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“…'If he failed to heed their demands, they sometimes resorted to violence'. 77 Consequently, 'most emperors were receptive to public opinion as represented by the multitude in the Circus'. 78 Likewise, in the early Republic, before the tribunes were established to protect the plebeians, urban violence was the means of last resort; the only remaining point of leverage in the Conflict of the Orders.…”

Section: Riot and Rebellionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shakespeare and Henri Lefebvre’s ‘right to the city’: subjective alienation and mob violence in Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and 2 Henry VI

Gray

Samely

2017

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“…The authorities were at a distinct disadvantage when taking on rioters who could use the winding and narrow alleyways for attack and flight (Africa 1971: 5). Medieval streets, because of this spatial layout, have always been a problem Assassinations of hapless political officials by hungry mobs, and the massacres of riotous commoners by Roman paramilitary forces, became common in these dearth conditions (Africa 1971;Fraser & Rimas 2010;Steel 2009). Mazoyer and Roudart (2006) provide a succinct summary on how agrarian problems not only ruptured the internal peace of Rome, but also diminished it ability to project power externally: 'the Roman…”

Section: Bread and Ordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading Europe Against the Grain: A Genealogy of Agricultural Governance

Biebuyck¹

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Utilizing insights from historical and political sociology, this dissertation explores the multitude of ways food, agriculture and rural economy have been governed in Western Europe. As a genealogy of agricultural governance, the project operates on two distinct analytical levels. The first level is analogous to what Charles Tilly labels 'macro' political history. The point here is to interrogate the ways agro-food power has been imbricated with historical processes such as statemaking, geopolitics, postwar reconstruction, welfarism and the neoliberalization of economic life. Second, the dissertation aims to make intelligible how agriculture has been created and recreated as a space of government. This will be done by deconstructing its various problems, strategies, objects and mechanisms over time. The project covers a wide swath of history: from the ancien régime to the EU. Nonetheless, the bulk of the empirical investigation will be centered on configurations of 'European' agricultural governance over the postwar era. The dissertation ultimately draws two important conclusions from its examination of agro-food power. First, the production and supply of food has always been a central space through which populations have been managed by centralized political authorities-a fact equally true at the national and European levels. Second, the strategies and practices of agricultural governance have been formative in building postwar 'European government'. This project would not have been completed without the tremendous support of my supervisor, William Walters. William provided not only intellectual mentorship, but was extremely patient in shepherding this project to its completion. I also extend a heartfelt thanks to my friend Judith Meltzer whose keen insights, good humor and continual motivation were indispensable in maintaining my forward momentum. Doctoral studies can be an expensive undertaking as an international student. I am thus particularly grateful to the institutions and individuals who helped somewhat ease this financial burden. The Center for European Studies (CES) at Carleton-through a European Commission grant-funded both my archival and interview research in Western Europe. I also thank William for his generosity with research assistantships, and the Department of Political Science for numerous scholarships. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge CUPE 4600 and the GSA for the various computer, eyeglass, conference travel and other small grants which always seemed to come in the nick of time. For their timely feedback and critical engagement with my work, I am grateful to my other two committee members: Peter Andree and Achim Hurrelmann. I am also indebted to the members of our political sociology reading group at Carleton, where many of these ideas were first subject to scrutiny. Additionally, I am grateful to Chris Rumford for his overall encouragement of my research, and his assistance in getting my work published. Lastly, I would like to thank a number of close friends and family members who provid...

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Urban Violence in Imperial Rome

Cited by 46 publications

References 0 publications

Slums, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Roman World

Slums, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Roman World

Shakespeare and Henri Lefebvre’s ‘right to the city’: subjective alienation and mob violence in Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and 2 Henry VI

Reading Europe Against the Grain: A Genealogy of Agricultural Governance

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