3 ms·

I can't imagine what it would be like living in a city that was once so large and then so sparsely populated. Like a medieval apocalypse. Was the remaining popu

I can't imagine what it would be like living in a city that was once so large and then so sparsely populated. Like a medieval apocalypse. Was the remaining population densely located in few spots amongst ruins?

kgabis 6y ago
You can visit Detroit if you want to experience something like that.
iguy 6y ago
Mostly outside the ruins. IIRC the main churches were built around the edge (because the center was full) in late Roman times, and these locations became the new centers in medieval times.
- ricw 6y ago
  It is also one of the main reasons so many buildings, both ruined and standing, still are around and accessible. Had the population not collapsed, they probably would have been built over or repurposed over the years. This way, they just remained fallow until Italy was conceived again in the 1800s as a nation (from its individual king and dukedoms) and Rome was chosen as its capitol.
  - usrusr 6y ago
    Many of the landmarks that still exist (and of those that don't, e.g. the Septizodium), except for those saved by being directly converted into a church (the Pantheon), saw heavy repurposing as fortifications in the endless and often violent power struggles between patrician families. The Circus Maximus was a Frangipani stronghold. Others (and the Circus Maximus before it was taken over by the Frangipani) were simply saved from getting used as a quarry by getting incorporated in-place as structural elements for new, well, shacks, as documented by the many, many square holes hewn into the formerly flat stone surfaces. Square holes for holding wooden beams I suppose. The (still in use!) appartment on top of the Theatre of Marcellus give an idea of how that went. In this case, they are the outcome of a slow fortress->palace->middle class residential transition.

3 ms·

I can't imagine what it would be like living in a city that was once so large and then so sparsely populated. Like a medieval apocalypse. Was the remaining popu

by monkeybutton 6y ago

kgabis 6y ago
You can visit Detroit if you want to experience something like that.
iguy 6y ago
Mostly outside the ruins. IIRC the main churches were built around the edge (because the center was full) in late Roman times, and these locations became the new centers in medieval times.
- ricw 6y ago
  It is also one of the main reasons so many buildings, both ruined and standing, still are around and accessible. Had the population not collapsed, they probably would have been built over or repurposed over the years. This way, they just remained fallow until Italy was conceived again in the 1800s as a nation (from its individual king and dukedoms) and Rome was chosen as its capitol.
  - usrusr 6y ago
    Many of the landmarks that still exist (and of those that don't, e.g. the Septizodium), except for those saved by being directly converted into a church (the Pantheon), saw heavy repurposing as fortifications in the endless and often violent power struggles between patrician families. The Circus Maximus was a Frangipani stronghold. Others (and the Circus Maximus before it was taken over by the Frangipani) were simply saved from getting used as a quarry by getting incorporated in-place as structural elements for new, well, shacks, as documented by the many, many square holes hewn into the formerly flat stone surfaces. Square holes for holding wooden beams I suppose. The (still in use!) appartment on top of the Theatre of Marcellus give an idea of how that went. In this case, they are the outcome of a slow fortress->palace->middle class residential transition.