New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-04-06
SKY-SCR4PERS or ANTIQUITY.
NOT TO MENTION THE TOWER OF BABEL TEN
AND TWELVE STORY BUILDINGS WERE
NOT UNCOMMON

From the Stuttgart Antiquitaten Zetung.
People Of the present day seem TO have very
erroneous idea OF thu life in the large cities OF
antiquity Il Is generally believed that tnerr "sre
no large cities Of our modern type in antiquity pu;
this is great mistake For Il there nave at Al, AL
existed in the cultivated life OF the a1cients certain
features in which. following our historic researches
we ecosn I'M % b G Tur acamnon Of
beings in large cities, which in point OF SIZE ana
squaor Of wealth ana unniitgated misery d,ner but
little from the large cities or our time. mat We
life in the large cities of Roman Empire counts
among the most interesting examples OF ancient
Prominent in this respect is the height OF the
houses. We inclined to imagine that the ancient
stories while in The Middle Ages the narrow. high
gab.ed structures in the commercial cities and IN
towerike buildings raised by American speculation
are "A type OF the time. We are. however. strongly
We read that the Roman Empire had its sky
scrapers tower houses just as We find them now
number Of f)ur-story houses: some cities In East
India carried many Of their houses TO height Of
ings six stories high: while in Rome the police au-
maximum OF houses to height not exceeding
twenty metres which considering the low-studded
seven stories In about 800 A. d. Constantnople
allowed the construction Of houses to a height or
30 metres wholly Indifferent to their deprivng the
neighbors OF both light and air--in fact. there
that time quite number OF ten and tweve-story
houses such as In New-York in our day
There then, moreover points which
made these high buildings far remarkable and
more dangerous than in our day-the manner OF
construction and the narrowness of the streets.
Private houses in ancient Rome were in many in
stances badly built that their collapse was
matter OF frequent occurrence rendered all the more
dangerous from the fact that they chiefly built
OF wood. which would easily produce conhagration.
and be all the more destructive OF life and limb
there were few regular staircases. the communica-
ton between the different stories being kept up by
simple ladders For this reason the Roman fire
brigade was constantly inspecting the kitchens,
the most vulnerable parts OF the houses and
most likely TO cause fires. which. once broken out.
IT almost impossible 10 put out.
The streets in Rome and In nearly all the large
cities OF antiquity narrow that no vehicles
could pass them. The largest streets in Rome had
width OF seven metres. most OF the others barely
four five metres-the width of the sidewalks In
many OF the large cities % the present day. Two
OF the great arteries In Rome were the Vicus Tuscus
and the Vlcus Ingarius-the former was A. and
the latter 50 metres wide II We contrast these
with some OF our modern streets OF from 20 TO
80 metres IN width. with houses OF height OF 10
metres on each side. idea may be formed Of
the appearance Of the narrow lanes In Ancient
Rome with their three and four story houses.
which at times must have looked like a hive OF
swarming bees II furthermore take into con-
sideraton the irregular mode OF construction OF
the ancients, who had no idea care OF proper
alignment OF their houses which either receded from
or projected beyond that Of their neighbor; and
finally the Indifferent pavements OF the streets
II any pavement at all-t Will readily be seen that