Biography

Pamela O. Long is an independent historian who has published widely in the history of premodern science and technology, and cultural history. She has focused on the relationship of artisanal to learned culture, on “technical” writings, and on the Vitruvian tradition. Her writings include numerous articles and several books, including Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance (2001), and Artisan/Practitioners and the Rise of the New Sciences: 1400-1600 (2011). For further information see her website www.pamelaolong.com.

Project Summary

This book project focuses on civil and hydraulic engineering—flood control, aqueduct repair, the construction and repair of sewers and other conduits, and the construction and paving of streets—in Rome in during the years 1557 -1590. It concerns the renewal of Rome but also the re-envisioning of the city that occurred in the late sixteenth century by means of topographical studies and maps.