Benno RIDDERHOF1 | Giorgio VERDIANI2
(1VU-University Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2University of Florence, Italy)
Abstract:
Everybody knows the story of the last generation of the Roman Republic: Senatorial factions and Roman generals like Pompey and Caesar, self-centered corrupted and greedy, put their own interests before that the Republic fought to the death and from the ashes of the Republic rose Augustus, Caesars nephew, as the first Roman Emperor. Only after the establishment of the Principate in 31 B.C.E did a concise urbanization of the city of Rome start.
However the story is not that definite; contrary to most believe the aristocratic families in Rome and also the generals did conduct a deliberate urbanization in Rome centered on the family its clan and its glory. This part of Late Roman republican History has never been highlighted, because the infighting of the senatorial families obscured the view.
In order to tell the story of the senatorial urbanization of Rome we will have to first reexamine the history the last generation of the Roman Republic focused not on the general historical storyline, but on the senatorial families themselves. How did the clan work, fight, love, conducted alliances, built temples and utilities and died as a unit and most importantly why did the institution of the family clan fail.
Using newly designed models and data warehouses squarely focused on the Roman senatorial families and the proscriptions (i.e. purges) of Sulla and Augustus This poster proposes that only after a sufficient number of top family members were purged, precedent was removed and the Republican political system collapsed and with it their individual building policies. This was the basis for the Principate and the emergence of a centralized urbanization of Rome
Keywords: history, urbanization, data warhouse analysis