Rome, Pollution and Propriety: Dirt, Disease and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity (British School at Rome Studies)

Rome, Pollution And Propriety Brings Together Scholars From A Range Of Disciplines In Order To Examine The Historical Continuity Of Dirt, Disease And Hygiene In One Environment, And To Explore The Development And Transformation Of These Ideas Alongside Major Chapters In The City's History, Such As Early Roman Urban Development, Roman Pagan Religion, The Medieval Church, The Renaissance, The Unification Of Italy And The Advent Of Fascism. This Volume Sets Out To Identify The Defining Characteristics, Functions And Discourses Of Pollution In Rome In Such Realms As Disease And Medicine, Death And Burial, Sexuality And Virginity, Prostitution, Purity And Absolution, Personal Hygiene And Morality, Criminality, Bodies And Cleansing, Waste Disposal, Decay, Ruins And Urban Renovation, As Well As Studying The Means By Which That Pollution Was Policed And Controlled-- Machine Generated Contents Note: Introduction Mark Bradley And Kenneth Stow; Part I. Antiquity: 1. Approaches To Pollution And Propriety Mark Bradley; 2. Pollution, Religion And Society In The Roman World Jack Lennon; 3. Purification In Ancient Rome Elaine Fantham; 4. Pollution, Propriety And Urbanism In Republican Rome Penelope Davies; 5. The 'sacred Sewer': Tradition And Religion In The Cloaca Maxima John Hopkins; 6. Crime And Punishment On The Capitoline Hill Mark Bradley; 7. On The Burial Of Unchaste Vestal Virgins Celia Schultz; Part Ii. Modernity: 8. Fra Girolamo Savonarola And The Aesthetics Of Roman Pollution Alessio Assonitis; 9. Purging Filth: Plague And Responses To It In Rome, 1656-7 David Gentilcore; 10. Was The Ghetto Cleaner...? Kenneth Stow; 11. Urban Ablutions: Cleansing Counter-reformation Rome Katherine Rinne; 12. The Clash Of Picturesque Decay And Modern Cleanliness In Late Nineteenth-century Rome Taina Syrja;maa; 13. Vile Bodies: Victorian Protestants In The Roman Catacombs Dominic Janes; 14. Delinquency And Pederasty: 'deviant' Youngsters In The Suburbs Of Fascist Rome Martina Salvante; Envoi. Purity And Danger: Its Life And Afterlife Judith Goldstein. Edited By Mark Bradley With Kenneth Stow. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Rome, Pollution and Propriety 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Illustrations 10 Note on contributors 13 Preface 18 Acknowledgements 20 Introduction 22 1: Approaches to pollution and propriety 32 Pollution in anthropology and sociology 32 Pollution in antiquity 39 Pollution beyond antiquity 49 Part I: Antiquity 62 2 Pollution, religion and society in the Roman world 64 Birth and death 66 Sex 70 Blood 73 Cleansing the city 76 Conclusion 78 3 Purification in ancient Rome 80 4 Pollution, propriety and urbanism in Republican Rome 88 5 The `sacred sewer’: tradition and religion in the Cloaca Maxima 102 From stream to sewer: the Cloaca Maxima in context 103 Maintaining and marking the Maxima 111 Sacred pollution 122 6 Crime and punishment on the Capitoline Hill 124 The Tarpeian rock 128 The Carcer Tullianum 133 Decline and fall 136 Conclusion 140 7 On the burial of unchaste Vestal Virgins 143 Part II: Modernity 158 8 Fra Girolamo Savonarola and the aesthetics of pollution in fifteenth-century Rome 160 9 Purging filth: plague and responses to it in Rome, 1656-7 174 Introduction: avoiding plague 174 `Of those people who because they live filthily put the public health at risk’ 176 Charlatans and alchemical remedies 183 10 Was the ghetto cleaner . . . ? 190 11 Urban ablutions: cleansing Counter-Reformation Rome 203 12 The clash of picturesque decay and modern cleanliness in late nineteenth-century Rome 223 Wondrous spectacles of decay 225 Visions of purity in streets and society 233 Conclusion 241 13 Vile bodies: Victorian Protestants in the Roman catacombs 244 The Protestant rhetoric of pollution 250 Urban danger and disease 253 The defeat of the vile 256 14 Delinquency and pederasty: 'deviant’ youngsters in the suburbs of Fascist Rome 262 Definitions and perceptions 263 The advent of Fascism: fighting against urbanism and promoting the uomo nuovo 266 `Deviant’ youth in Rome: the legal situation 268 The scientific gaze 270 Rome under Fascism 272 Conclusions 276 Envoi. Purity and danger: its life and afterlife 279 The system at war with itself 281 Bibliography 286 Index 331 This book brings together scholars from several disciplines in order to examine the historical continuity of dirt, disease and hygiene in one environment, and to explore the development and transformation of these ideas alongside major chapters in the city's history, from early Roman urban development through to the advent of Fascism.