Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome

Three: Immediate Effects of Floods

Three Immediate Effects of Floods 91 Introduction and Methodology † he goal of this chapter and the next is to examine both the immediate and the delayed physical effects of floods on the ancient city of Rome and its inhabitants. This task poses a considerable challenge because there is very little in the primary sources about these consequences beyond a few nonspecific allusions to buildings destroyed and lives lost. These chapters will, nevertheless, present a step-by-step reconstruction of the effects of a “typical” flood in ancient Rome and the problems and challenges that such an event would have created. These include not only the immediate effects of the floodwaters themselves but also the long process of cleaning up after the disaster and dealing with its aftereffects. No comprehensive account of a single ancient flood survives in the primary sources, but by combining the existing descriptions with scientific and comparative data, it is possible to assemble a reconstruction of the range of effects that ancient floods must have caused. In recreating such a “virtual flood,” these chapters will of necessity frequently describe phenomena and actions in hypothetical terms using a great many “must have been” or “would have been” grammatical constructions. It should be emphasized at the outset, however, that such statements are not simply an exercise in imagination, but rather are based on concrete scientific data. When dealing with a physical phenomenon like floods, just because something is not explicitly mentioned by an ancient author does not mean that one is left uncertain whether it occurred. One of the advantages of writing the history of a physical phenomenon such as floods is that it is possible to make many definite statements about the behavior and effects of these inundations despite the scarcity of information derived from primary sources. The physical laws of nature, such as the behavior of water under the influence of gravity, can be precisely described through mathematical equations , and the resulting description of the movement of floodwater is as valid for ancient Rome as it is today. To my mind, it would be irresponsible to pretend to offer a meaningful analysis of the topic of floods that failed to address important effects of flooding just because someone like Cicero did not happen to mention them. Naturally, we always wish that ancient sources would be more informative about the subjects that interest us, but their silence about a topic is not sufficient excuse to simply ignore it, if we hope to gain a more meaningful understanding of the ancient world. In this case, it is possible to make definitive statements about the effects of floods in ancient Rome based on comparative and scientific evidence. The reconstructive approach employed in these chapters is necessary in order to provide a framework within which to examine the various stages of problems that a major flood would have caused and how these might have been dealt with. While often expressed in terms of a hypothetical “typical” ancient flood, all of the effects, problems, and incidents described would have occurred every time that a major flood struck the city. Disruption of the Daily Life of the City The most basic effect of a flood on ancient Rome would have been the disruption of the daily life of the city. During the period of high water and the recovery and reconstruction phase following the flood itself, normative activities would have been suspended, ordinary routines altered , and many of the usual proceedings of the city canceled or delayed . Much of the economic functioning of the city would have Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome 92 ground to a halt as businesses closed and workers failed to show up at their jobs. Instead of attending to their usual occupations, people would have wholly devoted their energy to such tasks as finding shelter , rescuing possessions, and locating family and friends. These types of disruptions affecting the inhabitants of the city are not specifically recorded in ancient sources, but they would nevertheless have constituted a major hardship and might have had a significant impact on the economy of the city. When they do mention the interference of floods with the urban life of Rome, the primary sources tend to focus on two specific areas: disruption of movement through the city, and interruption of major public rituals. One of the main ways in which floods would have created problems is by disrupting normal routes...