Topography of Rome

Abstract

Roman topography is the study of the city of Rome, its monuments, buildings, and open spaces in their physical setting on the seven hills besides the Tiber River. The ancient written sources of Latin literature and history, as well as the corpus of inscriptions and coins, provide evidence for the physical structure of the city and the urban plan. Archaeological excavations, often spurred on by political interventions (as during the Napoleonic era, the Risorgimento of the later 19th century, the Fascist imperial revival in the 1930s, and the Vatican’s Jubilee celebrations in 2000), brought structures to light that confirmed, complemented, or complicated the testimony of the ancient texts. Archaeological fieldwork continues to revise our views of the city of Rome.