Rome

C

Educational and Cultural Institutions

Rome is the site of Italy's largest institution of higher education, the University of Rome (1303), which in 1980 had approximately 150,000 students. The Independent International University of Social Studies in Rome (1945) is also here.

In part because of its extraordinary wealth of artworks, Rome is a world centre for training in the arts. Specialized schools of study in Rome include the Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Dance, the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music, and the Central Institute for the Restoration of Works of Art.

Rome plays a leading role in the creative and performing arts and in most other aspects of Italy's cultural life. Opera is performed in the Opera House, one of the country's best, and in summer at the Baths of Caracalla. The city also has some 20 theatres and 6 major concert halls, which offer a varied repertory outside the summer months.

The museums of the city deal with all aspects of the arts and sciences and are among the finest in the world. The oldest art collection in Rome, housed in the Capitoline Museum, was established in 1471 and contains exceptional antiquities. Among other Roman museums are the National Museum of the Villa Giulia, which has an outstanding collection of Etruscan and Roman art and is located in the mid-16th-century country house of Pope Julius III, and the Borghese Gallery, a museum of painting and sculpture housed in an early 17th-century palace. The National Roman Museum, designed by Michelangelo, features exhibits of Greek and Roman sculpture, including the Ludovisi Collection of antiquities. Important collections of art and decorative pieces can also be seen in some of the city's other palaces. Among these are the Farnese Palace, built between 1514 and 1589; the mid-15th century Venetian Palace, with a noted collection of small Renaissance bronzes; and the Palazzo Barberini, a 17th-century Baroque palace with a remarkable picture gallery.

IV

History

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus (with his brother, Remus, in some accounts) in 753 bc. Although archaeological evidence suggests earlier habitations on the site, extended human settlement may well have dated from this time. Traces of an Iron Age village from the mid-8th century bc have been found on the Palatine Hill. The legend of the rape of the Sabine women and the subsequent merger of the Romans and Sabines are similarly supported by excavated remains.

Earliest Rome was a kingdom with two classes, the patricians (nobles) and the plebeians (commoners). The Senate, or Council of Elders, elected the monarchs and limited their power.

A

Republican Rome

Etruscan kings ruled Rome from the 7th to the late 6th century bc, but when the last monarch was overthrown, around 510 bc, a republic was established. Rome subsequently began to absorb the surrounding areas. After a Gallic invasion early in the 4th century bc, the so-called Servian Wall was built around the city. The first aqueduct in Rome was built in 312 bc. At the same time, the Appian Way (Via Appia), connecting the city with southern Italy, was constructed. Rome continued to grow during and after the Punic Wars (264-146 bc). During that time the first basilica, a type of building that could accommodate crowds in bad weather, was constructed (184 bc) in the Forum.

After the assassinations (133 and 121 bc) of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who had attempted to institute land reforms to aid the poor, the city experienced a period of instability that reached its peak in the civil wars of the 1st century bc. Julius Caesar ultimately became dictator and instituted a series of reforms. The Forum had become overcrowded with buildings and monuments and needed to be expanded; the Forum of Caesar was then planned. It was completed under Augustus, the first emperor, who also built the Forum of Augustus.

B

Imperial Rome

By the early imperial period, Rome had become the centre of the empire, both physically, as the centre of the Italian road system, and politically, as the capital of the world. This vast agglomeration had adequate water supply and efficient sewers, but the overcrowding of poor people in tenements resulted in frequent fires. Emperor Augustus instituted the vigiles, or firefighters with police powers. In addition, vehicles were not allowed in the crowded streets except at night, and legislation was passed restricting the maximum height of buildings. A disastrous fire in ad 64 nevertheless destroyed much of the city centre. For Nero, the emperor then in power, this was an opportunity to build his palatial Golden House.

The Flavian dynasty (ad 69-96), in order to curry favour with the Roman populace, began a programme of public works. The most prominent of these was the amphitheatre known as the Colosseum, which could accommodate gladiatorial games and even stage sea battles, which were immensely popular. Few or no large-scale industries existed in Rome at the time, and adequate employment was not available for the vast population; hence a palliative allowance of corn, together with free entertainment for the mob (bread and circuses) that had begun during Republican times, continued. In addition to staged events in amphitheatres, chariot races were arranged in circuses and pantomimes in sumptuous theatres.

Emperor Trajan had the last of the imperial forums built in the early 2nd century. By that time, huge baths, some of them even including libraries, had become a fixture of the city's life; the largest were built by Caracalla and Diocletian in the 3rd century. Because of the decline already threatening the empire, a wall was built around the city during the 3rd century. By the following century, however, it was clear that the imperial court would have to be closer to the frontier. Emperor Constantine the Great therefore founded the city of Constantinople as the Christian “New Rome”. Although Rome then began seriously to deteriorate, the first major Christian basilicas, among them the original St Peter's, were constructed during this period.

C

Decline of the City

In 410 and 455 Rome was sacked by invading Germanic tribes. Attempts were made to preserve the physical plan of the city in the face of growing chaos, but occupation by the Ostrogoths in the 6th century, subsequent Byzantine reoccupation, and concomitant destruction all contributed to a precipitous decline, and the population dwindled. The city was, however, the seat of the papacy, and a certain number of people remained. Under Pope Gregory I the decline was even arrested for a while, but Italy later became a battleground again; in the 9th century a new low ebb was reached when Arabs attacked the area around the city, including the Vatican. During the Middle Ages, the built-up areas shrank until they were confined to the banks of the Tiber, where water was available. Only one of the ancient aqueducts was still operable.