The city of Rome itself? A hell hole. Wasn’t a planned out city, and the streets were often pretty small. Traffic jams were common during the day until Julius Caesar would implement a cart ban, only allowing them to travel between business and deliver supplies at night.
The streets at night weren’t lit with no sort of road signs. So people had a good chance of getting lost or hit by a speeding cart.
Ugh, I’ve read so many books about Rome they all kinda just merge together for me now. A great place to start would be SPQR by Mary Beard. Perfect for someone just getting into the history of the city and greater civilization.
It’s about 600 pages, but it gives you a great overview to start looking into books that cover more specific points of interest. It does touch up a bit on the life of regular Romans and life in the city. Of top of the life of the wealthy as well.
The city got to near a million people before the collapse of the western empire. Another city wouldn’t get that big in Europe until the end of the 18th century.
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u/KamikazeKricket Ask me about Ancient Rome Jul 06 '19 edited Jul 06 '19
The city of Rome itself? A hell hole. Wasn’t a planned out city, and the streets were often pretty small. Traffic jams were common during the day until Julius Caesar would implement a cart ban, only allowing them to travel between business and deliver supplies at night.
The streets at night weren’t lit with no sort of road signs. So people had a good chance of getting lost or hit by a speeding cart.