Urban Decay
There was hardly any wealthy people in Rome. Most of the Romans were very poor. If you were wealthy, you would be living in a house with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. Since most Romans were poor, they lived in small, smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories called islands. One island covered an entire block. There was, at a time, 44,000 apartments within the cities walls of Rome. The first floor was where the more wealthy Romans lived, since rent $400 a year. The upper apartments were where the poor lived because it was hot, dirty, crowded, and dangerous. Another reason why they lived there was also because rent was only $40 a year. Anyone who could not pay the rent, were forced to leave and live out on the streets. Then, the cities began to decay.
No comments:
Post a Comment