Suburra

Suburra (usually spelled Subura in antiquity) was an area of the city of Rome, Italy located below the Murus Terreus on the Carinae.[1] In ancient Roman times, it was a crowded lower-class area that was also notorious as a pleasure district.[2] It lies in the dip between the southern end of the Viminal and the western end of the Esquiline hills.[3] Most of its inhabitants lived in insulae, tall apartment buildings with tabernae on the ground floor.

Wall from a house in the Suburra

Julius Caesar lived in a family home (domus) in the Suburra district until, in 63 BC, he was elected pontifex maximus at the age of 37, as the Suburra had grown up around the property many years before his birth.

The district is featured in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome, Steven Saylor's Roman Blood, Martha Marks' Rubies of the Viper, SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts, and Netflix's first original motion picture in Italy, Suburra, and its prequel Suburra: Blood on Rome.

References

  1. Varro De Lingua Latina 5.48
  2. Hales, S., E. Smith, E. Keogh. "Places: 451696383 (Subura)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 2, 2020.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. L. Richardson, jr (1 October 1992). A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. JHU Press. pp. 373–. ISBN 978-0-8018-4300-6.


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