PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



HELD AT PHILADELPHIA 

 FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. XLVIII April-August, 1909 No. 192. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME FROM ITS 

 ORIGIN TO THE GALLIC CATASTROPHE. 



By JESSE BENEDICT CARTER. 

 (Read April 22, 1909.) 



In a normally constituted man time and space are in permanent 

 coordination. In the world of historical science such a permanent 

 coordination is sought after, but not yet everywhere obtained. The 

 student of history and the student of topography are too apt to 

 work in ignorance of each other. The history of Rome has usually 

 been written with small regard for that material and physical thing, 

 the city of Rome; while the writer on topography is far too apt 

 to see the buildings and the piazzas of ancient Rome as an empty 

 stage, a place for action, but for an action in which he is not pro- 

 fessionally interested. 



Yet the transition through which so many of the natural sci- 

 ences have recently gone, the change from being merely descriptive 

 to being biogenetic, ought to serve as a lesson to the topographer. 

 It is not possible to study even the site of ancient Rome without 

 taking into account the vicissitudes of history in which this site 

 has been involved. 



I would accordingly ask your attention today to an attempt to 

 sketch in its outlines the development of the city of Rome from its 

 earliest beginnings through the Gallic catastrophe. Such a bio- 



PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC, XLVIII. I92 J, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 2, I909. 



