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The cameraInfrastructure and Industry
The purpose of my project is to understand the role of infrastructure and industry in city living. I have chosen these two categories because I believe them to be fundamental to a definition of the city. Infrastructure provides the foundations for city dwelling and industry: It imposes a structure (whether that be a grid pattern or small, twisty roads) upon the landscape, permits communication and the travel of people and goods, and provides necessary resources like water to the community and industries. Industry, in turn, often lies at the heart of the economic drive of the city. Whether industry is small-scale cottage industries meant for local consumption or large-scale manufacturing destined for export, industry provides the goods and financing that are necessary for the producer-consumer dynamic of a city. Both of these also carry with them a host of political and societal implications, such as the proper ordering of space, the gender segregation of the wool industry, or the homosocial environments that foster relationship-building in the public baths.
My main questions for this project are: How does these categories affect or change the nature of cities? How are they being used, where, and by whom? For the most part I will be using the Roman city of Pompeii as a case study, since it has been well-preserved by the cataclysmic explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AC. I will not hold myself only to Pompeii though, and will occasionally bring in other evidence and examples in order to makes points and connections about the nature of urbanism.
Please see the following contributions:
For a full bibliography of sources for this project, please see:
Questions I will ask:
How are goods transported to and from the city? --under this, I am particularly interest in storage and waste management
--what crafts are present in Pompeii, where are they located? are there certain 'industrial' sectors? Are certain professions *not* represented? I am interested in bakeriers, laundries, stone, metal and woodworking.
how is the water system managed? How are common/public structures (roads and walls) maintained? What is the connection between the port and the city?
suggested Sources: Ray Laurence, Roman Pompeii.
Excavations/maps (Pompei : gli scavi dal 1748 al 1860)
Cooley, Alison, Pompeii: A Sourcebook
Homo Faber:studies on nature, technology, and science at the time of Pompeii : presented at a conference at the Deutsches Museum, Münich, 21-22 March 2000
Pompei : scienza e società : 250º anniversario degli scavi di Pompei, Convegno internazionale, Napoli, 25-27 novembre 1998
Zanker, Paul. Pompeii : public and private life
The shapes of city life in Rome and Pompeii : essays in honor of Lawrence Richardson, Jr. on the occasion of his retirement
Pompeii : letters and documents
Curtis, R.I. "The salted fish industry of Pompeii" Archaeology 37, 58, 74
D'Arms, J.H. Commerce and Social Standing in Ancient Rome
Fienga, F. Esplorazione del pago maritino Pompeiana.
Garnsey, P. Famine and the Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World
Greene, K. The Archaeology of the Roman Economy
Haverfield, F. "Town planning in the Roman World" Transaction of the Town Planning Conference, 1910
Haverfield, F. Ancient Town Planning 1913
Gansen, G.C.M "Water systems and sanitation in the houses of Herculaneum" Mededelingen van het Nederlands Institut te Rome 50
Jongman, W. The Economy and Society of Pompeii. 1988.
La Torre, G.F. "Gli Impianti commerciali ed artigianali nel tessuto urbano di Pompei" in Franchi dell'Orto, Pompei l'informatica al servizio di una citta antica
Moeller, W.O. The Wool Trade of Ancient Pompeii. 1986.
Owens, E. J. "Roman town planning" in Roman Public Buildings 1989.
Peacock, D.P.S. "The mills of Pompeii" Antiquity 63: 1989
Raper, R.A. "The analysis of the urban structure of Pompeii: a sociological study of land use" in Spatial Archaeology 1977.
Treggiari, S.M. "Urban labour in Rome: mercennarii and tabernarii" in Non-Slave Labour in the Greco-Roman World (1980).
Tsujimura, S. "Ruts in Pompeii. The traffic system in the Roman city" Opuscula Pompeiana 2 1991.
Wallace-Hadrill, A. "The urban texture of Pompeii" in Urban Socity in Roman Italy (1994).
(for darian: Hermansen, G. Ostia: Aspects of City Life. Edmonton, 1981.)
return to Urbanism - projects 2005
return to Ancient Urbanism
But let's try to look more closely at the femininity that is itself constituted within this homosocial space. It would appear, in the first instance, to be a hyper-femininity, for if Roman masculinity is about penetration, then femininity would be (could? should?) about being penetrated. In this case, through the repeated performance of being penetrated, the notion of femininity becomes exaggerated. Thus hyperfemininity. But through this extreme it also becomes a marginal femininity. The hyperfeminine prostitute (male or female) is clearly outside the bounds of the "respectable." Roman aristocratic women were not prostitutes (at least not in the Republic... though stories of voracious women do seem rather plentiful). So at the very least this tells us something about Roman femininity within the boundaries of respectability: it was definitely not constituted through the performance of a sexual identity, quite unlike Roman masculinity.
And what about the hyperfeminine woman outside these boundaries? The liminal prostitute? What can we hope to recover of their lives? Did they write the graffiti in the Lupanar? If so, were they themselves complicit in constructing an identity of marginal hyperfemininity for themselves? And how then did they negotiate other aspects of their identity and quotidian lives within this liminal space?
