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A Million Inhabitants Squeezed Into the City
Hollywood movies depict Imperial Rome as a city of gleaming marble and gold. But
by the 1st century AD, more than 1 million inhabitants were squeezed into the city—a
population density that would not be equaled until 19th-century Manhattan.
Poor areas like the Subura district, only a stone's throw from the Forum, were simply
slums of crumbling tenements. The alleys were no more than 10 feet wide, muddy arteries
where walking was a diabolical obstacle course of mule dung, rotting vegetables,
and falling bricks. Pedestrians had to dodge tradesmen hawking their wares, jugs
of wine hanging overhead from tavern doors, the jabs of fellow pedestrians, even
barbers shaving in the middle of the street. No wonder Romans hung out at the Forum.
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