The hills of Rome: signature of an eternal city

320 Pages·2016·31.69 MB·English

by  Vout, Caroline

TheHillsofRome
Romeis‘thecityofsevenhills’.Thisbookexaminestheneedforthe
‘seven hills’ cliche´, its origins, development, impact and borrowing.
It explores how the cliche´ relates to Rome’s real terrain and how it
isfundamentaltothewayinwhichwedefinethis.Itschronological
remit is capacious: Varro, Virgil and Claudian at one end, and on,
throughtheworkofRenaissanceantiquarians,toembracefrescoesand
nineteenth-century engravings. These artists and authors celebrated
thehills,andtheviewsfromthesehills,inanattempttocaptureRome
holistically.Bystudyingtheirefforts,thisbookconfrontstheproblems
of encapsulating Rome and ‘citiness’ more broadly and indeed the
artificialityofanyrepresentation,whetherapainting,poemormap.
Inthissense,itisnotahistoryofthecityatanyonemomentintime,
butahistoryofhowthecityhasbeen,andhastobe,perceived.
caroline vout isSeniorLecturerinClassicsattheUniversityof
Cambridge, and Fellow of Christ’s College and the Society of Anti-
quaries.Sheisahistorianandarthistorianwhopublishesonawide
rangeoftopicsrelatedtoGreekandRomanartanditsreception,Latin
LiteratureandRomanhistory,andistheauthorofPowerandEroticism
inImperialRome(Cambridge,2007).In2008shewasawardedaPhilip
Leverhulme Prize for her work on Art History, and in 2010 was the
HughLastFellowattheBritishSchoolatRome.

The Hills of Rome
Signature of an Eternal City
caroline vout
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107025974
(cid:2)c CarolineVout2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Vout,Caroline.
ThehillsofRome:signatureofaneternalcity/CarolineVout.
pages. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-02597-4(hardback)
1.Rome(Italy)–Descriptionandtravel. 2.Rome–History. I.Title.
DG63.V68 2012
937(cid:3).63–dc23 2012012765
ISBN978-1-107-02597-4Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ItwassurnamedSepticollisfromitssevenhills.
Hazlitt1851(1995:296)

Contents
Listoffigures [pageix]
Acknowledgements [xvi]
1 Introduction:thejourneytoRome [1]
Themap [1]
Theitinerary [11]
Thedestination [15]
2 Thelieoftheland [18]
ThesevenhillsofRome,RepublicandEmpire [21]
AfterthehighRomanfashion [25]
TheRenaissanceofthesevenhills [31]
Nineteenth-andtwentieth-centuryencounters [47]
3 Sevenisthemagicnumber [57]
Aninventionoftradition [59]
Thepotencyandpossibilityofthenumberseven [61]
Varro’scontributiontothestory [67]
Beforethemountainsweresettled [75]
4 Rome,lacitta`eterna [81]
ThesevenhillsandtheambitionsofEmpire [83]
DizzyheightsundertheFlavians [95]
TheriseandfallofRomeinlateantiquity [103]
Postscript [117]
5 Paintingbynumbers [121]
Thelimitsofrepresentation [121]
ThesevenhillsofRenaissanceartistsandpatrons [133]
Nineteenth-centurywaysofseeing [165]
6 Ontopoftheworld [188]
Villasandgardens [191]
Inthethickofit [195]
GettingthemeasureofthewholeofRome [199]
FramingaviewfromtheCapitolineorPalatine [207]
Theimperialgaze [214]
Divineomniscience [220]
vii
viii Contents
7 Signingoff [227]
Thehistoryofanidea [227]
Geographyashistory [235]
References [240]
Indexofprincipalpassagesdiscussed [270]
Generalindex [274]
Thecolourplateswilllbefoundbetweenpages174and175