Density and Crowding in the Roman City

Katy, a participant in last summer’s Athens DH workshop, is conducting an analysis of ancient urban density during “the peak of Roman urbanization in the first two centuries CE.” Focusing on Ostia, a city that experienced “a level of density second only to Rome on the Italian peninsula,” she asks, “How did density shape the rhythms of daily activities?”

Katy’s goal is “to create a digital map of Ostia that encompasses the excavated archaeological remains and the architectural structures found underground through geo-spatial analysis (currently no such map exists).” She is hoping that such a map will allow her to visualize the true extent of the urban landscape in Ostia, which we now know to have been more than 40% larger than previously thought.