Making Rome A World City

Abstract

He who takes it upon himself to look after his fellow citizens and the city, the empire and Italy and the temples of the gods, compels all the world to take an interest . (Horace, Satire 1.6.34-37) Today, globalization takes command. Tokyo, New York, Istanbul, and other cosmopolitan centers are dubbed “world cities,” generating activities enacted and visible around the globe (Clark 1996). The classical world centering on the Mediterranean basin was more circumscribed, but no less “global” in mentality. During the Hellenistic period, eastern cities such as Antioch, Alexandria, and Pergamon gained world-class status based upon both their importance in politics and commerce, and their urban environments. All had memorable monuments, majestic public spaces, and attractive amenities. As trade, politics, and military campaigns brought the Romans into direct contact with eastern cosmopolitan centers, they grudgingly admitted that the Greeks aimed at beauty in urban design (Strabo 5.3.8). Their own capital, Rome, by contrast was parochial in appearance, characterized by winding, unpaved roads, and uninspiring architecture (Cicero, Laws 2.35.95-96). Livy records that Macedonian courtiers openly jeered at both the Romans' limited achievements and “at the appearance of the city itself, which was not yet beautified in either its public places or its private districts” (40.5).