The Eternal City
A History of Rome in Maps
240 pages
|
140 color plates
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8-1/2 x 11
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© 2020
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Rome as Idea and Reality
Chapter One: Rome Takes Shape
Chapter Two: Rome of the Caesars
Chapter Three: Rome of the Popes
Chapter Four: Rome Reborn
Chapter Five: Rome of the Scholars
Chapter Six: Rome of the Saints and Pilgrims
Chapter Seven: Rome of the Grand Tourists
Chapter Eight: Rome of the Mass Tourists
Chapter Nine: Rome Enters the Modern Age
Chapter Ten: Rome Past, Present, and Future
Further Reading
Chapter One: Rome Takes Shape
Rome before Rome
A Walled City
Urban Districting
Further Reading
A Walled City
Urban Districting
Further Reading
Chapter Two: Rome of the Caesars
Destination Rome
An Incomplete Puzzle
Making Sense of the Shattered Past
Filling in the Gaps
A Model City
Further Reading
An Incomplete Puzzle
Making Sense of the Shattered Past
Filling in the Gaps
A Model City
Further Reading
Chapter Three: Rome of the Popes
Sacred Buildings and Secular Symbols
The Medieval Cityscape
Pathos and Wonder
Further Reading
The Medieval Cityscape
Pathos and Wonder
Further Reading
Chapter Four: Rome Reborn
A City Ready for Its Close-Up
The City Seen through a Wide-Angle Lens
The City Measured
A Panoramic View of Urban Revitalization
Further Reading
The City Seen through a Wide-Angle Lens
The City Measured
A Panoramic View of Urban Revitalization
Further Reading
Chapter Five: Rome of the Scholars
Archaeology in Its Infancy
An Ancient Roman Theme Park
A Ghostly Fantasy
Further Reading
An Ancient Roman Theme Park
A Ghostly Fantasy
Further Reading
Chapter Six: Rome of the Saints and Pilgrims
The Way of the Faithful
Scenes from a Pilgrimage
A Pilgrimage Map for the Modern Era
Further Reading
Scenes from a Pilgrimage
A Pilgrimage Map for the Modern Era
Further Reading
Chapter Seven: Rome of the Grand Tourists
Rome as Theater
The Origins of the Tourist Plan
Rome Surveyed
A Panoramic Vision
Further Reading
The Origins of the Tourist Plan
Rome Surveyed
A Panoramic Vision
Further Reading
Chapter Eight: Rome of the Mass Tourists
The Guidebook Impresario’s Rome
Rome for a Rather Important Woman Traveler
Rome in Your Pocket
Rome for Italian Tourists
Further Reading
Rome for a Rather Important Woman Traveler
Rome in Your Pocket
Rome for Italian Tourists
Further Reading
Chapter Nine: Rome Enters the Modern Age
2,500 Years in, a Master Plan for Rome
When Trams Ruled Rome
An Olympic City, and a New Beginning
Further Reading
When Trams Ruled Rome
An Olympic City, and a New Beginning
Further Reading
Chapter Ten: Rome Past, Present, and Future
Rapid Transit for a Rapidly Changing City
A Master Plan for the Third Millennium: (Un)sustainable Rome
Further Reading
A Master Plan for the Third Millennium: (Un)sustainable Rome
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index
Index
Review Quotes
Pamela O. Long, author of Engineering the Eternal City
“The history of Rome comes to life in this erudite, beautifully written book. Organized chronologically from Rome’s early beginnings to the present, this richly detailed history of Rome is focused through the lens of maps and cartographic images. Maier has written a fascinating account for both armchair and actual travelers. The Eternal City also has much to offer to seasoned scholars who will appreciate its coherent and fluid synthesis.”
John Pinto, emeritus, Princeton University
“The Eternal City offers the reader a vivid panorama of Rome’s changing form and image over the course of more than two millennia. A rich selection of city plans and views reveals crucial shifts in representational strategies, function, and symbolic intent. The dynamic tension between Rome’s complex, three-dimensional urban reality and the city’s image as projected by successive generations of artists and cartographers is certain to engage a wide audience.”
Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University
“No other city has maintained the story of its past in its present quite like Rome, creating an intentional palimpsest through incessant acts of preservation, reconstruction, and cartographic visualization. Maier’s lively, imaginatively organized, and accessible book displays how centuries of maps not only tell stories about the city’s physical development but also show how Rome’s narratives of itself—conflating eras, resituating buildings, compressing waterways—unfurled in self-mapping from antiquity to the Metro.”
A Universe in Words blog
"The Eternal City is a brilliant history of Rome, focusing on how we have responded to and represented this ever-changing city. Digging down into both Rome's history and our own desires for this city, Maier has written a fascinating book that has changed the way I consider maps and history."
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