The Creation of the Forum Romanum: Three-Dimensional Mapping and Rome's Flood-prone Valley

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  • February 26, 2019
Creator
  • Burges, Steve
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Classics
Abstract
  • In the context of these predecessors, I offer a new computer model created ex novo in order to map part of the physical topography of the city of Rome in three dimensions. Unlike any reconstruction before, this digital terrain model (DTM) represents the Forum valley and the Velabrum of the early city during the time of the first paving of the Forum (650-625 B.C.). It utilizes the accumulation of archaeological data resulting from the studies of the last thirty years which investigated the early Forum Romanum and have offered new interpretations of Rome’s foundation that were once impossible. The recent data revealing this crucial moment in the development of the Roman city-state have not been reliably mapped before, and maps of the geomorphology in other eras offer no substitute. Abundant and successive layers of anthropic material and fluvial sedimentation, unique to Rome, render these maps inadequate for this purpose. Fifteen meters of stratification separated the Forum floor of the eighth century B.C. from that of the seventeenth century A.D.11 Now, digital technology permits the interpolation of the most accurate map of the ancient hills and valleys settled three thousand years ago, because of their geographical advantages.12 It also illuminates the monumental projects undertaken by the organized city to transform a swampy valley prone to frequent flooding into its Forum. My digital mapping project contains several parts. Two DTMs represent the Forum and Velabrum at different time periods: Map A depicts the area from the time of its earliest inhabitants to Rome’s traditional foundation date (ca. 1000-750 B.C.), and Map B illustrates the significant changes following the first paving of the Forum and the other engineering accomplishments of the Regal Period (ca. 600 B.C.). Each version, available as a raster DTM with its supporting elevation data set, is generously hosted on the website of the Ancient World Mapping Center, UNC-CH (http://awmc.unc.edu). Traditional maps, views from different perspectives, and various figures derived from the computer model are offered in print throughout this work where appropriate, with digital copies available online.13 This dynamic model aims to remain online as opposing arguments arise or new evidence is discovered, and it aims to make all data available and all processes transparent as any geographical information system (GIS) should.
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  • In Copyright
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  • Funding: Ancient World Mapping Center and the University Libraries
Advisor
  • Talbert, Richard J. A.
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Honors level
  • Highest Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Extent
  • 87

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