ABSTRACT
Was the Roman city organised to promote trade or to impede it? The model of the ‘consumer city’ might suggest that trade was a very low priority for the urban elite, especially in comparison with medieval cities. On the other hand, the contrast between the regular organisation of space in the ancient city, with its emphasis on wide, straight roads and generous central space might seem a formula much more supportive of trade than the supposedly tangled organisation of the medieval city. This chapter takes Pompeii as a case study, one in which these issues, and especially the flow of traffic, have been well-studied. The evident signs of blocking off streets to wheeled traffic, both narrow side streets and the urban centre itself, might suggest a lack of interest in the sort of movement that would favour trade. But if we factor in the use of mules and human porters alongside wheeled carts, it becomes apparent that obstacles to wheeled traffic did not impede the flow of merchandise, while rendering the centre more convenient for pedestrians. It is, thus, possible to propose a model whereby the elite maintained the ‘dignity’ of their city without discouraging the trade in which they were also implicated.
