(Re)building in ancient Rome

Abstract

In the republican period, public building in Rome was restricted by a rather small state budget and complimented by generals making temple building in the city a family affair. Augustus took up this rhetoric of building and rebuilding as an expression of piety to the gods and as a personal service for the populus Romanus. Most of the republican building-related legal framework continued during the principate, whereas the economic background changed: most of the public new building and larger rebuilding activity in the city of Rome became the province of the emperor, whereas maintenance, controlling, and rebuilding were organised by curators or other officials. After the emperors had left Rome for new residence cities in the fourth century, the urban prefect became responsible for public building in Rome. In the later period, new regulations and laws underlined the priority of rebuilding over new constructions. This contribution aims to give an insight into the developments of re(building) in Rome from the republican period to the early fourth century CE.