Comments on: Review of Engineering the Eternal City: Infrastructure, Topography, and the Culture of Knowledge in Late Sixteenth-Century Rome by Pamela O. Long https://dev.jessicaotis.com/2023/02/05/review-of-engineering-the-eternal-city-infrastructure-topography-and-the-culture-of-knowledge-in-late-sixteenth-century-rome-by-pamela-o-long/ HIST 615/635 Spring 2023 Tue, 07 Feb 2023 21:52:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 By: Kerry Reed https://dev.jessicaotis.com/2023/02/05/review-of-engineering-the-eternal-city-infrastructure-topography-and-the-culture-of-knowledge-in-late-sixteenth-century-rome-by-pamela-o-long/#comment-12 Tue, 07 Feb 2023 21:52:39 +0000 https://dev.jessicaotis.com/?p=504#comment-12 Great review, Alexander! I really appreciate your focus on the aspects of the cultural fluidity of Roman architectural projects during the 16th century. As you point out, the blend between traditional forms of knowledge making such as universities and ancient sources mixed with the rural (read lower-class) almost empirically based knowledge-making made for an interesting dialectic. While reading Long’s work, I saw this dialectic as less class-based (though this was certainly present) and more as a jockeying of power between the secular and ecclesiastic. I think it was in the second chapter where Long described the Master of the Streets position as forcefully coopted by the pontiff. In this sense, it seems that the architectural and infrastructure dialectic could be viewed as a struggle for power through displays of opulence and control over the populace through contributions to Rome’s function as an urban environment.

I don’t think I share your belief that the chapters on cartography and print culture are out of place. I think a big factor in the humanist movement was the belief that humans could exercise some level of control over their environment. It was around this time that explorers were sailing around the world, practicing oceanography and beginning the science of bathymetry. When you consider the volatility of Rome’s relationship with the Tiber in the 16th century, it makes sense that they would try to exercise a certain level of control over their environment in anyway they could. So, while they may have been unable to stop the Tiber from flooding Rome, by using cartographic methods they could better prepare their infrastructure and architectural projects for a volatile environment by designing their projects with cartographical knowledge. Print culture, by extension, was a method of disseminating knowledge and (perhaps more importantly) a way of glorifying one’s patron.

Great review! Looking forward to the discussion.

]]>