CASTRA MISENATIUM
barracks occupied by sailors from
the imperial
fleet stationed at Misenum, who were detailed for service
in the city,
especially in the Colosseum and naumachiae (
RE iii. 2638;
Jord. ii. 116;
Hist. Aug. Corn. 15). These barracks were between the
thermae Traianae
and the via Labicana, where inscriptions relating to them
have been
found (
CIL vi. 1091;
IG xiv. 956 B. 15). The name
occurs on a
fragment (5) of the Marble Plan, and in the Regionary
Catalogue in
Region II.
It is uncertain whether we should assign to them a long
row of small
chambers in brickwork of the same size and plan which
runs along the
north side of the via Labicana between the thermae of
Titus and the
church of S. Clemente (LF 30;
NS 1888, 727; HJ 302).
Numerous
concrete foundation walls were cut in making a drain from
S. Clemente
to the Colosseum in 1912-1914, when the mithraeum and
the house under
the church were successfully freed from water (see
Nolan, Basilica of
S. Clemente 250, and the series of photographs of the
sections of the drain
then prepared-for private circulation-a copy of which is in
the library
of the British School at Rome).
