The Bagua as an Intermediary between Archaic Chinese Geomancy and Early European Urban Planning and Design

Present-day concerns with urban design for pedestrians largely surround the issue of microclimate in streetscapes. Such concerns are not new and have been extensively discussed during the European Renaissance. Western historical references on urban design and microclimate primarily converge on a single source: The octagonal, radial-centric plan of an ideal city in Book I of the Ten Books of Architecture written in the late first century BCE by Marcus Vitruvius Polio. As his own source Vitruvius pointed to the Tower of the Winds in Athens, designed c. 50 BCE by Andronicus of Cyrrhus on an octagonal plan, respectful of eight wind directions. We posit that octagonal Bagua geomantic map made its way from Chang’an in China to Cyrrhus in western Asia during the first century BCE, and was possibly one of two sources that stirred Andronicus toward his design of the tower, the other source being the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria. The Bagua corresponds to the Luo Shu magic square that guided the ideal city plan of Han China, while the octagon, through Vitruvius, inspired several city plans in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. Beyond the rainbow of multiple impact on Roman urbanism from neighboring civilizations, the ancient Chinese ideal city plan through the intermediary of the Bagua, may also have played a role in Vitruvius’ own ideal city plan, by way of the Tower of the Winds. The environmental message of the Bagua, thus, has possibly carried an indirect impact upon Renaissance and Baroque urbanism, and upon urbanist concerns lasting to this day.

City and Suburb in Roman Italy

“City and Suburb in Roman Italy” introduces the book’s approach to Roman suburbs. It discusses the laws and practices that surrounded various urban boundaries, and highlights the concept of “death pollution,” the idea that Romans feared a contagious of uncleanliness that radiated from the dead. A long tradition has attributed the Roman ban on interment within the city to concerns with death pollution, and today most work on Roman urbanism begins from the assumption that tombs stood outside the religious boundary of the pomerium in order to preserve a city’s ritual purity. Nevertheless, no source prior to Late Antiquity mentioned death pollution. This chapter argues that the concept has unnecessarily separated tombs from suburban neighborhoods, and that reintegrating the dead into their urban contexts is necessary for understanding how an ancient city worked, both inside and outside its official boundaries.

Ancient Architecture and Urbanism in Western Europe (pre-Roman, Roman)

Looking into the architecture and urbanism of a particular geographic section of the vast Roman Empire makes sense, both because of the great diversity of cultures that preceded Roman conquest in all those territories and because social and economic conditions varied region by region. This bibliography covers the 2nd century bce to the turn of the 4th century ce. The fields that explore issues of Roman architecture over the last century have moved from questions that presuppose a central coordinated authority that meant to produce empire-wide unity, with architecture being a key visualization of Roman power, to questions that look more carefully for local motives and adaptations that emerged from the confrontation with Roman power. Similarly, analysis of Roman urban patterns have moved over the decades from inquiries that presuppose an underlying homogeneity in the ritual underpinnings of city planning (and the economic systems that sustained them) to questions of how topography, religion, and local status structures both caused and resulted from regional adaptations. This bibliography presents studies drawn mainly from the 1980s to the present with an intention to introduce key texts that have shaped and summarized the fields. After a brief bibliography of sources for pre-Roman urbanism in the west, there are presented a variety of works that study subregions: specifically, the three Iberian provinces of Taraconnensis, Beatica, and Lusitania; the four Gallic provinces of Narbonensis, Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica; the two Germanic provinces of Germania Inferior and Superior; and the province of Britannia. Roman architecture in Italy and in the provinces of western North Africa, the Danube region, and the eastern empire are the subjects of other bibliographies in this series. After these regional treatments come two bibliographies that approach the subject differently; the first listing studies of particular building types in the western provinces, and the second offering archaeological syntheses of specific Roman cities or sites. Finally, a concise list of major periodicals and online resources pertinent to the subject is appended.

Timacum Minus in Moesia Superior—Centrality and Urbanism at a Roman Mining Settlement

When applying traditional criteria of Roman urbanism, several settlements in the province of Moesia are not recognised as parts of the urban network. To avoid this, previous criteria of urbanism should be revised. This paper suggests revisions, which provide a more inclusive definition of urbanism: Thus, instead of focusing on administrative status and monumentality as primary markers of urbanity and urbanization, development factors for agglomeration and centrality are emphasized as decisive conditions for, and characteristics of, urban settlement. To provide a case study for this theoretical outline, the upper-Moesian mining settlement of Timacum Minus is evaluated by ideas derived from a critical appreciation of Walter Christaller’s central place theory. Timacum Minus did not have official settlement status and monumental character, yet, it developed as a central place in the unique landscape of the Timok valley. This was due to its location as a central road station, military post, and settlement along the important interregional Timok valley road as well as the site hierarchy as the base of the centralized administration of the Timok valley mining district. Hence, Timacum Minus displays different levels of centrality. Interestingly, the site only held these properties during the Roman Principate, although its central location and mining activities also existed in pre-Roman and post-Roman times. This demonstrates the significance of centrality mechanisms as determined by local and regional circumstances and historical conditions. Accordingly, it is argued that these circumstances and the diverse character as a central place also turned Timacum Minus into an urban site, irrespective of status and monumentality. This definition of the site provides not only an example of how to use central place theory in current archaeological thought but also possibilities for re-thinking urbanism in Roman Moesia.

Astronomy in Roman Urbanism: A Statistical Analysis of the Orientation of Roman Towns in the Iberian Peninsula

The work presented in this article is part of a wide-ranging and ambitious project, started few years ago, to study the role of astronomy in Roman urban layout. In particular, the main aim is to check whether Roman cities present astronomical patterns in their orientations. The project emerged from ideas on how to properly orientate the main streets of a Roman town, as attested in a number of ancient texts and later discussions led by contemporary scholars. We present here the final conclusions of a particular study developed in the Iberian Peninsula (Roman Hispania), where the urbanism that we tend to characterize as properly Roman flourished during both the Republic and the Empire. The sample analysed includes 81 measurements of Roman urban entities spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula and is the largest dataset obtained in a specific region so far. Our results present suggestive orientation patterns that seem to point towards an astronomical intentionality.

The Role of Retail in the Roman City

This chapter concludes the book by examining the extent to which shops and bars were deeply integrated into the social and structural underpinnings of Roman urbanism. It looks more closely at the very things being retailed in bars: so, something of the menu of the Roman food and drink outlet. It also considers the role of shops and bars in the social and economic life of the city, and the extent to which these types of spaces serve as an index of urban living conditions. The aim of the chapter, indeed of the book, is not simply to argue for the “importance” of retail outlets to Roman life. It is rather to stimulate more and better ways to integrate studies of Roman retail into our growing understanding of cities and their urban communities.