Review: 'The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps' by Jessica Maier
Pub. Date: 04/11/2020
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
The first English-language book to tell Rome’s rich story through its maps, The Eternal City beautifully captures the past, present, and future of one of the most famous and enduring places on the planet.
One of the most visited places in the world, Rome attracts millions of tourists each year to walk its storied streets and see famous sites like the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Trevi Fountain. Yet this ancient city’s allure is due as much to its rich, unbroken history as to its extraordinary array of landmarks. Countless incarnations and eras merge in the Roman cityscape. With a history spanning nearly three millennia, no other place can quite match the resilience and reinventions of the aptly nicknamed Eternal City.
In this unique and visually engaging book, Jessica Maier considers Rome through the eyes of mapmakers and artists who have managed to capture something of its essence over the centuries. Viewing the city as not one but ten “Romes,” she explores how the varying maps and art reflect each era’s key themes. Ranging from modest to magnificent, the images comprise singular aesthetic monuments like paintings and grand prints as well as more popular and practical items like mass-produced tourist plans, archaeological surveys, and digitizations. The most iconic and important images of the city appear alongside relatively obscure, unassuming items that have just as much to teach us about Rome’s past. Through 140 full-color images and thoughtful overviews of each era, Maier provides an accessible, comprehensive look at Rome’s many overlapping layers of history in this landmark volume.
As some of you may know, I have recently returned to university to continue studying the literature of the Middle Ages. In large part my interest in literature is because I feel these texts give us a glimpse at people's mindsets, how they viewed the world, each other and their place in history. One of my university lecturers, way back when I was a fresh and naive undergrad, told me that everything is a text. Not just books, but also milestones, grave objects, cloths, and, of course, maps. Everything can be read and thereby understood. I have had an odd obsession with maps ever since I was put in charge of charting our summer holiday course. Admittedly I only had to cover roughly a thousand kilometers, but I loved tracking the little side roads, marking out interesting historical spots for a pit stop, and the satisfaction of arriving at our destination. Maps are a great way to understand a region, to picture a time period. What is highlighted? What is left off the map? Where does the map begin and where does it end? What is contentious about it? In The Eternal City Maier discusses all of these questions through the most fascinating of cities, Rome. As Maier writes in her introduction: 'This is a city where change has been the norm for over 2,500 years, where new has responded to old, and where decline has always gone hand in hand with regeneration.' (5)
The Eternal City begins with Rome's origin myth. Famously Romulus killed his brother Remus when the latter jumped over his rudimentary border walls. As Maier brilliantly highlights, this means that the city's walls and borders are essential to the city's idea of itself. What makes Rome, where does it begin or end? From there we continue to the 'Rome of the Caesars' and the 'Rome of the Popes', tracking Rome both at its heights of powers and depths of insignificance. 'Rome Reborn' looks at Rome during the Renaissance, rising to new heights. The fifth chapter, 'Rome of the Scholars' looks at archaeology's fondness for Rome, leading to 'deeply personal and unique responses to the visible remains of ancient Rome' (88). The next chapter covers the 'Rome of the Saints and Pilgrims', showing how interest in Rome's "pagan" and "Classical" history always went hand in hand with the city's religious, Christian past. Chapter seven, 'Rome of the Grand Tourists' covers my favourite tradition from the Regency and Victorian eras, the Grand Tour. These rich young men loved travel paraphernalia and as such there are many maps and many paintings about and for this group. The eighth chapter, 'Rome of the Mass Tourists' discusses tourists in general who flocked en masse to Rome, noses stuck in guidebooks and maps highlighting palaces, churches and obelisks.The penultimate chapter, 'Rome Enters the Modern Age', looks at the various attempts to update Rome during the 19th and 20th century, paying special attention to the political motivations behind these attempts as well. Especially Mussolini's attempt to reclaim the imperial past is given attention.
Chapter ten, 'Rome Past, Present, and Future' functions as a sort of conclusion as well as an urgent call to improve the city's urban planning. As Rome enters its fourth millennium, Maier lays out various areas in which improvement is necessary but currently looks unlikely, such as the public transit system and ecological conservation. Rome, to put it lovingly, is a bit of a hot mess. As I said above, not only is it supremely busy, it also suffers the same curse as other grand European cities in that it is getting more dysfunctional and dirty. There are new plans made every day, yet they either don't account for the city's history or give it too much place and ignore the needs of the present and future. You can't just dig a new metro system if the ground is filled with history. Maier does allow a light of hope to shine through. Rome has stood for thousands of years, so there is a good chance it will continue to stand. It would just be great if we could continue to keep it liveable.
The Eternal City is wonderfully written. I will be the first to admit that history books can be dry and beat their reader over the heads with facts. I'm very glad to report this is not the case with Jessica Maier. Her writing is clear and to the point, starting each chapter by introducing the time period and theme it discusses. It is easy to get lost in Rome, but Maier is a great and steady guide. With some books like this I tend to hop from illustration to illustration, only revisiting the text if I'm confused, but with The Eternal City is was bound solidly to Maier's writing. When she directed me towards a map, I would look, inspect, refer back to what she had said, and have an 'aha' moment, before returning to the text. Of course the choice of maps is selective, as it would be impossible to put every single map in one book. But there is a good selection of maps, pulled from various different sources. There are "factual" maps, maps as pieces of art, maps as political propaganda, and maps for the future. I am very grateful that University of Chicago Press sent me a physical copy because now I can tell you that the maps are perfectly reproduced, as clearly as is possible with these old texts. The book is weighty but laid out very clearly which makes reading it a pleasure. It is a beautiful book and I think anyone with an interest in Rome, maps, or even just how we humans think of our own spaces, I would highly recommend The Eternal City.
I give this book...
5 Universes!
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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