NSF Award Abstract - #0240358

AWSFL008-DS3

Engineering and Exorcism in Counter-Reformation Rome: Power, Knowledge and
Urbanization, 1562-1612

Abstract

In the 50 years following the Council of Trent, fundamental reforms of the Catholic church were accompanied by numerous major projects of construction and engineering in the city of Rome. The streets were redesigned, paved, and in some cases newly constructed. The ancient columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius were repaired. Obelisks that the ancient Romans had carried from Egypt were excavated and transported to new locations at the center of important squares. With elaborate public rituals, Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) exorcised the columns and obelisks of their pagan spirits and topped them with Christian symbols. Between 1562 and 1612 three great aqueducts were built on the ruins of the ancient Roman aqueducts, allowing for the expansion of the population and an abundant supply of water for fountains, drinking, and industrial uses such as mills. New palaces, churches, and other buildings were constructed, and the Pontine marshes in the countryside surrounding Rome were drained. Other projects emphasized the foundation of knowledge that supported the papacy and other centers of power in Rome. Cartographical and natural history projects included the hall of metals and minerals in the Vatican palace, described by papal physician Michele Mercati, and the great Hall of Maps designed by Ignazio Danti. Both the popes and the Farnese family created botanical gardens. Such projects of cartography and natural history combined with great construction and engineering projects to enhance the temporal and spiritual power of the papacy and of other centers of power in Rome, including the courts of the cardinals. This project undertakes the extensive archival research that is necessary for the completion of a book that consists of a cultural history of engineering in counter-reformation Rome. The approach seeks to explicate technical methods, materials, and other aspects of the process of building and engineering. It also seeks to understand the decision-making that brought about engineering projects, the actual work of completing them, and the ways in which ordinary people living in Rome were affected by such endeavors. It includes investigation of surveying, cartography, and natural history projects that formed part of the broader context of engineering, construction, and the development and display of knowledge in these decades. The study entails investigation of numerous archival documents and rare printed books. Technology, engineering, and construction as well as disciplines such as cartography and natural history will be investigated as integral aspects of the cultural and religious life of the city and as essential modalities of early modern urbanization. This project's broad conceptualization combined with its foundation in extensive archival research will make it an important case study for urbanization. It will provide a model study for teaching and for further research on Rome and on other cities. The wider understanding that it will bring to the subject of urbanization and its relationship to engineering, technology, and other aspects of culture will be extremely valuable, given the importance of cities to early modern and modern history.