Before discussing the ancient name of the square we should first discuss the word statio. It is the word commonly used by sholars for the rooms on the square. It occurs in statio 14, the "statio of those from Sabratha". It is the most likely explanation for the single-letter abbreviation S in stationes 34 and 38, and it may have been used in statio 55 (but this is most uncertain). Lewis and Short explain it as "a place where persons or things stay or abide", and it is widely applicable.[1]
Comparisons have been made with stationes in Puteoli and Rome. A Greek inscription from 174 AD mentions stationes in these cities that were rented by naukleroi and emporoi (navicularii and negotiantes - mercatores) from Tyrus (Tyre, Lebanon). A series of inscriptions from the Forum Romanum mentions stationes of mostly eastern cities and probably Tibur. No remains of these stationes have been identified. They seem to have been primarily meeting places for people from a certain city or region, where religious activities were important. The sheer size that can be deduced from the texts suggests that they should be compared to the seats of guilds (scholae), rather than to the small rooms on the square.[2]
A large mosaic inscription in the Terme della Trinacria (III,XVI,7) reads STATIO CVNNVLINGIORVM, in a black frame (3.33 x 0.50). Becatti dates it to the late second century AD. The size and the accuracy with which it was made show that it was not a "mosaic graffito". It is hard not to see it as an echo of the mosaics on the square. Becatti regards it as an ironic reflexion. Kleijwegt speculates that we see the unofficial nickname of a iuventus-type organisation. Panciera suggests it marks a place where men offered sexual services to women.[3]
In antiquity the square might have been called "Porticus", but there are a few clues that it was "Forum Ostiense". A forum is mentioned on a lead token, found in Ostia. It has a hole, a portrait of Commodus, and the text STATFERRFOROST.[4] Rostovtsew reads STAT(ionis) FERR(ariarum) FOR(i) OS[t(iensis)], so an office related to iron mines and import. Such an office is not to be expected on the main forum, where there are few suitable rooms anyway. A Forum Vinarium is documented in inscriptions, while the Historia Augusta mentions a Forum Aureliani. The latter square was near the sea, but the precise location is unknown. The Wine Forum was near Trajan's hexagonal basin in Portus. The statio of the token may well have been on the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, called on the tessera Forum Ostiense.
Iron mines and import could in Ostia be linked to the food supply, witness an inscription from the second century, documenting Titus Petronius Priscus, procurator Aug(usti) ferrariarum et annonae Ostis. The inscription almost certainly comes from the square.[5] Hirt discusses the socii and societates ferrariarum, and the procuratores ferrariarum.[6] Following Sablayrolles he suggests that Petronius Priscus held the Imperial office of procurator ferrariarum in Rome or Ostia. He adds: "Ostia seems a likely candidate as a 'hub' of Roman iron-mining administration: a votive inscription [to Silvanus] commissioned by Hilarus, servus socior(um) vect(igalis) ferr(ariarum) between AD 102-117 at Ostia [7] and the find of an undated 'tessera nummularia' inscribed with soc(iorum) ferr(ariarum) in Rome [8] corroborate this assumption. Moreover, a lead tessera naming a statio ferrariarum fori Ostiensis further highlights the importance of Ostia". A further inscription from Ostia should be mentioned in this context: STATIO ANTO[nini] AVG(usti) N(ostri) XXXX (= quadragesimae) G[alliar(um)] ET HISPANIAR[(um)] HIC.[9] It belongs to an office that is "here", controlling tax levies ("the fortieth part") for Gaul and Spain (the portorium). Iron mines are documented in relation to Gaul.[10] Is there a relation between this statio and the one mentioned on the tessera?[11]
It is the mentioning of a public weighing place or weigh masters (sacomarium, sacomarii) that leads me to relate a further inscription, mentioning a forum, to the square. In the early second century Cnaeus Sentius Felix is patronus togator(um) a foro et de sacomar(is? io?).[12] The togati,[13] men wearing togas,[14] are a foro et de sacomar: from a forum and from a weigh house.[15] This forum could well have been the square, with a branch of the main weigh house. Had it been the Forum Vinarium, then this would have been mentioned explicitly. There will have been a similar installation on that forum however: Publius Lucilius Gamala installed pondera ad macellum et mensuras ad forum vinar(ium) s(ua) p(ecunia).[16]
The weigh masters are also mentioned on the Altar of the Origins of Rome that was found in the south-west corner of the square: [A]RAM SAC [AD ANN?]ONAM AVG GENIO [3] SACOMAR[---]. The altar has been dated stylistically to the Flavian and Hadrianic period. It carries an inscription from 124 AD, which like all the other inscriptions seems to have been placed on available space, rather than space meant for an inscription. The relation between the various inscriptions on the altar remains complicated.[17] The altar also has the words votum Silvano, and Silvanus Augustus was related to the weigh masters: L. Calpurnius Chius was quinquennalis collegi Silvani Aug(usti) maioris quod est Hilarionis functus sacomari (iunctus, or functionis sacomariae?).[18] On the altar the Genius of the weigh masters seems to be mentioned in relation to Annona.
The importance of the activity of the weigh masters is described by Arnaud.[19] He points out that continuous control of weights, measures and coins was necessary to protect commerce, and for customs. It would take place when ships were loaded or unloaded, and when goods were taken to or left the warehouses. Variations and fraud had to be detected. It was the work of the mensores and sacomarii, professions that could be combined in Puteoli: mensor idem sacomarius.[20]
In Carthago, in the late fourth century, a mensor olei fori Karthaginiensis is documented. Procopius mentions a "Maritimos Agora", a Maritime Forum, in that city.[21]
(1) France - Nelis-Clement 2014. Statio in the context of harbours: Flamerie de Lachapelle 2014.
(2) Sosin 1999; Rohde 2009, 42-49.
(3) Becatti 1961, 141 nr. 277; Kleijwegt 1994; Panciera 1999 ("In the mosaic pavement from the Terme della Trinacria in Ostia there is an inscription which reads statio cunnulingiorum. Although it has attracted relatively little attention, the inscription is an interesting piece of evidence for the history of ancient sexuality. The placement of the inscription in front of a bench and the fact that it was planned as an element of the mosaic pavement raise the possibility that it was intended not in a humorous vein, but instead had a serious purpose. It is proposed that the inscription marks a place in the bath where men who offered cunnilingus as an act of prostitution could be found. A survey of literary sources, especially Martial, reveals that Roman society (in particular Roman men) loathed the idea of cunnilingus and consequently the possibility that the inscription was some sort of practical joke is remote. The graffiti from Pompeii reveal a similar bias. Yet, in theory, certainly from a Roman woman's point of view, cunnilingus would have had much to recommend it. It provides great pleasure, very little chance of disease, no risk of pregnancy, and it would have been quite affordable, if we use the asking price for fellatio in Pompeii as comparison. Indeed, three men are said to provide cunnilingus for a fee in Pompeii. Two of them may be invective, but one of them, involving a certain Isidore, appears legitimate. Finally, I return to the bath in Ostia and the argument is put forth that in an era of mixed bathing the inscription was not only a marker of the place where the cunnilingi could be found, but also a warning to respectable Roman men not to sit down in that corner of the bath").
(4) CIL XIV S, p. 773, addendum ad 4326; R. Garrucci, Revue Numismatique 1862, 417-418 with a drawing (Pl. XV,8).
(5) CIL XIV S, 4459; Rohde 2012, 149-150.
(6) Hirt 2010, 144 note 207.
(7) CIL XIV S, 4326.
(8) EDR073069.
(9) CIL XIV S, 4708; EDR072925. A marble slab, h. 0.31, w. 0.52, d. 0.04. Found in Ostia, place of discovery unknown, out of context according to Calza (1923, 399-402). See De Laet 1949, 161-162, 286, 291-293.
(10) For the administration of iron mines in Gaul see Hirt 2010, especially pages 144, 237, 242 and 287. In Carales (Cagliari, Sardinia) we hear of the procurator ad vectigal ferrariarum Gallicarum (CIL X, 7583, 7584), in Arelate (Arles, France) of the promagister f[errariarum] provincia[rum] Narbonens(is) Lu[gdun(ensis)] Aquitanic(ae) Belgi[cae] (CIL XII, 671), and in Narbo Martius (Narbonne, France) of a sevir Augustalis of Narbo who is cond(uctor) ferrar(iarum) ripae dextrae (CIL XII, 4398).
(11) There is no consensus about the reasons why the statio for Gaul and Spain is located in Ostia, and not in those provinces, as one would expect. For a summary of the issue see France 2001, 135-138, 322-323.
(12) CIL XIV, 409, funerary inscription of Cnaius Sentius Felix, erected c. 135-150 AD (Cébeillac-Gervasoni - Caldelli - Zevi 2010, 276-279).
(13) On the form togatensis see Arnold 1889. Arnold writes: "The 'QQ. corporis trejectus togatensium' is also curious. Some relation between 'togatensis' and 'togatus' presumably exists; but what is it?" And gives up. The togati may have given their name to a ferry service (to the north of the square then), operated by the corpus treiectus togatensium (CIL XIV, 403).
(14) According to Hermansen togati indicates that the men were civil servants (Hermansen 1982, 59). CTh 6,2,26: togati quoque praetorianae atque etiam urbicariae praefecturae; CTh 7,8,10: administrator togatus apparitor ullus. On the latter text see Peyras 1995, 173-178, 183. Here however patronus indicates that we are dealing with a guild.
(15) Lewis and Short s.v. "de": "the going out, departure, removal, or separating of an object from any fixed point. Accordingly, it occupies a middle place between ab, away from, which denotes a mere external departure, and ex, out of, which signifies from the interior of a thing".
(16) CIL XIV, 376; 161-180 AD.
(17) CIL XIV, 51. Ducati 1906; Picard G.-Ch. 1987, 254-257; Helbig III(4), nr. 2306.
(18) CIL XIV, 309.
(19) Arnaud 2016, 127-131.
(20) CIL X, 1930.
(21) EDCS-12700179, EDCS-12700180, EDCS-12600055, EDCS-16300640 (late fourth century); Arnaud 2016, 130; Procopius, De aedificiis VI,V,10: "Furthermore, he [Justinianus] built stoas on either side of what is called the Maritime Forum, and a public bath, a fine sight, which they have named Theodorianae, after the Empress."