Lived space and social change in late antique Rome: the Campus Martius

This chapter examines the evolution of the Campus Martius in Late Antiquity, examining the relationship between lived space and social change. It analyses how different social groups, from emperors and their officials to workers and beggars helped to shape this part of Rome as an area of political display, exploitation, and resistance, at the same time that their experiences were shaped by the spaces they frequented. The chapter argues that the physical transformation of Campus Martius played a crucial role in the social life of this area, at the same time that it expressed the broader trends of late antique Rome’s social history.