The Romans built mainly for commercial and agricultural purposes. The first settlements had to have two roads passing through the city: from south to north and from east to west. Both were supposed to come into contact with each other in the city center, on the forum, which was the actual center of social and commercial life of the city. With time, more and more routes were built in the city.
Cities had to have mainly public buildings. Many of them were funded by influential aristocrats who wanted to gain the support of the crowd in this way. Cities together with the territorial development of the Roman state were created in various regions of Europe. With time, the center of the Roman Empire moved to the East, where other major metropolises developed around enormous Constantinople. Roman cities rich in sculptures, villas, beautiful public buildings were the crowning of Roman architectural genius.
