Suburra
area of the city of Rome, Italy located below the Murus Terreus on the Carinae
The Suburra, or Subura (from the Latin Subura) was a vast and populous neighborhood of Ancient Rome, located below the Murus Terreus on the Carinae and stretching on the slopes of the Quirinal and Viminal hills up to the offshoots of the Esquiline (Oppian, Cispian and Fagutal hills).
Since the lower part of the neighbourhood – although overlooking an area of monuments and public services – was home to an urban underclass who lived in miserable conditions, as well as a pleasure district, the term suburra has remained in the Italian language with the generic meaning of 'disreputable place", "place of ill repute" or similar.
Julius Caesar lived in a family home (domus) in the Suburra until, in 63 BC, he was elected pontifex maximus at the age of 37. The Suburra had grown up around the property many years before his birth. The poet Martial also lived there.
History
The Suburra was originally part of the so-called Septimontium, an area of the city associated with a religious procession that was celebrated on 11 January of each year since the reign of Numa Pompilius.
The neighborhood was crossed by the street called Argiletum (broadly corresponding to the present Via Leonina and Via della Madonna dei Monti), which came to a fork near the Cispian Hill: the Vicus Patricius (now Via Urbana), towards the Porta Viminalis in the republican wall, and the Clivus Suburanus (now Via in Selci), towards Porta Esquilina. This last street marked the border between the Regio IV and the Regio V of the Augustan subdivision of the city.
Beginning in the 1st century BC, the lower part of the valley was first occupied by the Forum of Caesar, inaugurated in 46 BC under the eastern slope of the Capitolium, and then by the Forum of Augustus, inaugurated in 2 BC. Further additions towards the valley of the Colosseum were the Temple of Peace in AD 75, the Forum of Nerva inaugurated in AD 97 and finally – following the excavation of the hollow between the Quirinal Hill and the Capitolium – the Trajan's Forum, inaugurated in AD 112. In the time of Augustus, these monumental areas were protected from fires, which frequently broke out in the popular tenements of the Suburra, by building the massive wall that still survives today and represents the only trace of the ancient Suburra within the modern city.
“Suburra” enters the record as area of the city of Rome, Italy located below the Murus Terreus on the Carinae. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Suburra, area and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Suburra” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Suburra, area and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1548355. VIAF identifies the subject as 2278150808952719000007. Authority coordinates are 41.897, 12.497. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Suburra”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Suburra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.