Storage in Rome

Only small parts of the many warehouses in the Emporium have been excavated. If we know their plan, it is mainly because it can be seen on the fragments of the marble plan of Rome.

Plan of the Emporium. Image: Wikimedia.

Directly behind the quays was a building made up of a row of deep bays covered by barrel vaults, 487 meters long and 60 meters deep. It is usually called Porticus Aemilia, but the identification is not certain. The building was erected in the Republican period as shipsheds (navalia) of the navy. In the Imperial period it was converted to a warehouse, after the navy had started using Misenum and Ravenna as headquarters.

Remains of the "Porticus Aemilia". Photo: Wikimedia, Lalupa.

An enormous building to the south-east has been identified as the Horrea Galbae or Galbana, named after land owned by the family of which the Emperor Galba was a member. The building meaures approximately 167 x 146 meters. The rooms are arranged around three courtyards. We know that olive oil was stored here, because an inscription found in Ostia documents a procurator who was responsible for the oil in Ostia, Portus, and this warehouse: procurator ad oleum in Galbae Ostiae Portus Utriusque.

PRO SALVTE ET REDITV IMP(eratoris) ANTO NINI AVG(usti) FAVSTINAE AVG(ustae) LIBERORVMQVE EORVM ARAM SANCTAE ISDI NVMINI SARAPIS SANCTO SILVANO LARIB(us) C(aius) POMPONIVS TVRPILIANVS PROC(urator) AD OLEVM IN GALBAE OSTIAE PORTVS VTRIVSQVE D(onum) D(edit)	For the well-being and the return of Emperor Antoninus Augustus, Faustina Augusta and their children, the altar for sacred Isis, the divine power of Sarapis, sacred Silvanus, the Lares, Caius Pomponius Turpilianus, procurator of oil in the Galba Warehouse, of Ostia and the two ports, donated.
Marble altar found in Ostia, near Tor Boacciana. W. 0.595, h. 0.72, d. 0.415. Date: 161-180 AD. Vatican Museums, Galleria Lapidaria. Photo: RICIS 503/114.

Also in this area, towards the south, must have been the Horrea Seiana and the Horrea Lolliana. The name of the latter building can be read on the marble plan. Rooms are arranged around two courtyards. To the right of the building the Tiber quay is depicted, with two staircases leading down to the river.

Fragment 25 of the marble plan of Rome with the Horrea Lolliana. Photo: Stanford University.

Many warehouses could be found elsewhere in Rome. The number of warehouses in the city in late antiquity is recorded in two catalogues, the Curiosum and Notitia Regionum XIV. Region XIII, the Aventine area with the Emporium, has the greatest numer: 35. In most of the fourteen regions of the city the number varied between 16 and 27.

Next to the Forum Romanum, below the Palatine hill, are the Horrea Agrippiana. The name refers to Marcus Agrippa, friend and aide of Augustus. The building was partly excavated in the early 20th century, but is partly still buried. In a small shrine an inscribed base was found for a statue of the Genius horreorum Agrippianorum. The ground floor consists of a courtyard surrounded by rooms covered by barrel vaults. Apparently the building was also used for retail, because many of the rooms have shop-thresholds, with grooves for wooden, vertical shutters. There was at least one upper storey.

Remains of the Horrea Agrippiana. Photo: Wikimedia, Lalupa.

The Horrea Piperataria was a warehouse for pepper and spices from Egypt and Arabia, built during the reign of Domitianus. The remains are buried below the Basilica of Maxentius. The building was partly excavated in the 1920's and early 1930's, and in 1989. It may also have been used for self storage. It has been suggested that it was this warehouse in which the famous physician Galenus had placed many objects that were all lost in a fire in 192 AD:

Trusting the warehouses located along the Via Sacra, that they believed would never be touched by a fire, people deposited there their most precious treasures, and they were confident because there was no wood, except for the doors, and they were not close to a private house, and furthermore because they were watched over by a military guard, since the archives of four procurators of Caesar were kept in that place. When I left for Campania, I stored in that storeroom everything I had at home - instruments, remedies and books, together with a not negligible number of silver objects - so that they could be guarded during my absence. As for the fire, it broke out towards the end of the winter, when I planned I would bring to Campania at the beginning of summer both my books destined to remain there and those to be sent to Asia in the period of the Etesian winds.

Galenus, On the avoidance of grief 8, 10 and 23. Translation Pier Luigi Tucci ("Galen's storeroom, Rome's libraries and the fire of AD 192", JRA 21 (2008), 133-149).

Paper was stored in the Horrea Chartaria. Apparently candles could be found in the Horrea Candelaria, and probably also other things related to lighting. The latter warehouse can be seen on a fragment of the marble plan. It is rather curious that only a large open area seems to be depicted.

Fragment 44 of the marble plan of Rome with the Horrea Candelaria. Photo: Stanford University.

The names of some more warehouses are found in ancient texts, inscriptions, and on the marble plan: Horrea Aniciana (or Anicetiana), Faeniana, Graminaria, Leoniana, Nervae, Peduceiana, Petroniana, Postumiana (in Rome or Ostia), Sempronia, Severiana, Ummidiana, Vespasiani, Volusiana, horrea of Q. Tineius Sacerdos.