"Making Movement Meaningful" is the title of David Newsome's introduction to this volume of essays, co-edited with Ray Laurence, and this phrase sums up the impetus for the collection. The editors identify their aim as "to assert movement as a key variable in the study of the ancient city." The past twenty-five years have seen a surge of interest in the study of space in the ancient city; [1] this volume shifts the focus from space to movement through space. Such movement puts the street front and center, and involves as well city gates, the city layout more generally, and of course the issue of traffic.

This is a hefty volume at more than 440 pages, comprising fifteen chapters (titles below), along with an expansive introduction and a brief endpiece. The contributors together represent the U.S., Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Pompeii, Rome, and (to a lesser extent) Ostia provide the sites under investigation.

The volume is divided into three sections. Part I, "Articulating Movement and Space," includes four essays that focus on ancient literary sources or contemporary theory (Varro and Martial, space syntax theory and multisensory mapping). Part II moves to "Infrastructure and Organization," with five essays pinned to the street and things in it or connected to it (roadblocks, shopfronts or scholae buildings, carts and stables). Part III takes a wider view as it heads for "Movement and the Metropolis", with six essays concentrating on the city of Rome (moving through the city, the fora, construction traffic, urban development at city gates).

The chief contribution of this volume is that a reader will never again look at a plan of a Roman city and imagine the streets as empty. Chapter after chapter introduces all the people and goods moving through the city and reveals how encumbered, challenging, and difficult getting around might be, both on a daily basis and all the more so during events such as processions or large construction projects. Here follows brief discussion of some of the most thought-provoking essays.

Claire Holleran's chapter, "The Street Life of Ancient Rome," successfully repopulates the streets of Rome with a solid and evocative discussion of this environment. From Rome's narrow streets to addresses described by means of landmarks, she notes that for a visitor, Rome "must have appeared to be a bewildering labyrinth of streets [...] dirty, dangerous, crowded, smelly, and almost incessantly noisy." Still, she rightly emphasizes, for many the street was not just the means to a destination but a destination in itself. The Mediterranean climate contributed to this fact, as did the labor market, which involved day laborers, street traders, and commercial activities (from barbers to tabernae) that spilled onto the street. This essay is a wonderful snapshot of the social and economic vitality at the heart of the Roman city.

The issue of traffic appears in many chapters and is adroitly handled in the essays of Alan Kaiser and Jeremy Hartnett. The ban on wheeled traffic in the city of Rome during daylight hours, cited frequently in print and Roman history courses, derives from legislation in the Tabula Heracleensis. Kaiser sets the record straight in his chapter, "Cart Traffic Flow in Pompeii and Rome," noting that the law banned one particular type of cart that carried heavy loads. That does not mean that getting a cart through the streets of the ancient city was easy, however, since residents "had the legal right to block their street to cart traffic if they so chose." Both Kaiser and Hartnett come to the conclusion that there was little concern for facilitating vehicular traffic or easing traffic congestion. Hartnett discusses this "myth of efficient passage" in his chapter on "The Power of Nuisances on the Roman Street," listing numerous nuisances to cart drivers or pedestrians. He also provides a useful discussion of the provisions in the Tabula Heracleensis that detailed who was responsible for maintaining streets. Finally, he considers traffic impediments that were legally sanctioned. Looking at both the legal and archaeological evidence, he concludes that these exceptions were allowed "where the public good - (by way of sacred activities, entertainment, administration, or even hygiene[...]) - was foremost."

Simon Malmberg and Hans Bjur contribute the final chapter of the volume, with a view onto one corner of Rome at two different moments in time. Their essay on the Porta Esquilina (in the Republican walls) and the Porta Tiburtina (in the Aurelianic walls) illuminates the growth of the city over the centuries and the significance of the city limits (e.g. as a customs barrier). They also highlight the importance of martyr cult, identifying the extra-urban sanctuary of San Lorenzo here as "the main generator of movement and urban development[...] in late antiquity."

Each chapter has something to recommend it. To cite just a few more: Hanna Stöger's essay underscores the importance and ubiquitous presence of the transportation industry in Ostia; Eric Poehler discusses both household and commercial needs for transport in Pompeii; Eleanor Betts surmises that an orator's voice would project from the Rostra "a little over halfway along the length of the forum," or further on a cool, damp day; Diane Favro recreates the processes and resources needed for a large construction project in the center of the city.

Ray Laurence provides a valuable endpiece to conclude the volume. In it, he looks backward and forward, identifying the paradigm shift that brought us to this point (the 'spatial turn') and hypothesizing about future directions. Since studies of space and movement to this point belong to the field of archaeology, he proposes the applicability of movement "for the historical understanding of [...] Roman society and Roman politics." He offers as examples brief discussions concerning the crossroads and patron-client relationships, then concludes by suggesting that the combination of space syntax and network theory may be the key to "understanding the significance of connectivity [...] and thus also of mobility within Roman culture."

A few typos do appear, mostly with Italian and Latin terms (Casa del Poeta Tragico (not Tragica), Via Consolare (not delle consolare), principis arx (not principes arcem), etc.). Some essays use the software program DepthMap, which relies on color-coding and does not communicate as well in black/white. Otherwise this is a beautifully produced book that moves its reader onto and through the streets of the Roman city.

Note:

[1] The editors identify the appearance of William MacDonald's The Architecture of the Roman Empire II: An Urban Appraisal (1986) as a key step in the emergence of studies of urban space in the ancient city. He passed away as the volume was going to press; it is dedicated to his memory.

Rebecca R. Benefiel