| Of the many settings where inhabitants of Roman cities came into contact, the street fostered the greatest degree of interaction. Here city-dwellers, from across the spectrum of society and engaged in myriad tasks, came into spontaneous, face-to-face contact daily. This dissertation addresses the social character of the street. It argues that this was a powerful realm of self-presentation and social critique; a particular emphasis is placed on the potential of street-facing architecture to claim status and authority.; Roman streets, often treated as mere voids between buildings, have been neglected for multiple historiographic reasons. Recent work in urban theory, however, advocates a consideration of street life from the embodied perspective of a city-dweller (Introduction). The immediate juxtaposition of many diverse activities and people lent the Roman street an unscripted nature and an openness of interaction that both challenged social boundaries and made important the performance of status within it (Chapter 1). As the physical ‘frame’ of the street, buildings had the ability to shape such displays. Numerous Roman authors stress exterior views of houses as one means of image-making, and the material record also testifies to the power of visibility on the street, especially the authority manifested in axial vistas of facades (Chapter 2).; House owners also actively considered the particular form of individual facades, deploying both a general aesthetic of austerity and specific combinations of architectonic elements to communicate potent messages. An appearance of impenetrability was one overarching concern, but owners manipulated facades to make internal status-bearing architectural features apparent to those in the street. By thus limiting access physically, yet granting it visually, house owners made statements about their own resources and also re-established the social exclusion of most streetgoers (Chapter 3). Finally, a case study of one particular street corner in Herculaneum offers a broader, contextual analysis of a variety of strategies of self-presentation by individuals and groups alike. Such an examination demonstrates the breadth, volume, and interplay of claims made in close proximity along the street (Chapter 4). This chapter illustrates in microcosm many broader themes—of social control and differentiation—of the dissertation as a whole. |
