RESPECT AND ABUSES OF THE PRIVATE AGAINST THE URBAN PUBLIC SPACE. LITERARY SOURCES, EPIGRAPHIC, LEGAL AND A CASE STUDY: OSTIA

This article presents a comprehensive re ection on the relation between public space and private dwellings in Rome. The literary and epigraphic sources, which we have collected, provide information about the way in which private appropriation of public space was prosecuted and show that the phenomena was a constant problem of urban development. The article is based on a case study of the site of Ostia. Despite the fact the only epigraphic evidence is provided by the cippi of caninius, the archaeological data clearly seems to show that many structures were not built in a fully licit way and were presumably the result of a private appropriation of public land.