PORTICUS MINUCIA
built by M. Minucius Rufus, consul in 110 B.C. (
Veil.
ii. 8. 3:
per eadem tempora clarus eius Minuci qui porticusi quae hodieque
celebres sunt, molitus est, ex Scordiscis triumphus fuit). This use of
the plural is no evidence that the porticus was double, or that there
were two buildings, for Velleius uses it elsewhere of a single porticus
(ii. I. 2), as do other writers (e.g. Plin.
NH xxxv. 14). In it Antonius,
and probably other officials, set up their tribunals (Cic.
Phil. ii. 84: in
porticu Minucia), and it is mentioned in Apuleius (de mundo 35:
alius
ad Minuciam frumentatum venit) and in the Historia Augusta (Commod.
16:
Herculis signum aeneum sudavit in Minucia per plures dies). In
the calendars it occurs twice (Praen. ad xi Kal. Ian., CIL is. p. 238: laribus
permarinis in porticu Minucia; Filoc. ad prid. Non. Iun., CIL i. p. 266:
ludi in Minicia; cf. p. 338), and in several inscriptions of the first four
centuries (see below), but always alone and in the singular.
Chron. (p. 146) places a Minucia vetus among the buildings of Domitian,
and Reg. has (Reg. IX)
porticus Philippi Minuciam veterem et frumentariam (Cur. Minucias duas veterem et frumentariam), cryptam Balbi.
Apparently, therefore, by the time of Domitian at least a Minucia
vetus was distinguished from a newer Minucia, presumably the frumentaria of the Notitia. From the time of Claudius the distribution of grain
to the populace took place in the porticus Minucia (cf. Apuleius, loc. cit.),
the earliest evidence being an inscription of his reign or Nero's (
CIL vi.
10223:
Ti. Claudius Aug. lib. Ianuarius curator de Minucia die xiii
ostio xlii). This together with two others of pueri alimentarii (CIL
vi. 10224:
frumentum accepit die x ostio xxxix; 10225 1: frum(entum)
ac(cepit) d(ie) vii ostio xv), the late ascription of frumentatio to Servius
Tullius preserved in the Chronograph (p. 144:
hic votum fecit ut quotquot
annos regnasset tot ostia ad frumentum publicum constitueret), and a
lead tessera (Rostowzew, Sylloge No. 336; Klio,
Suppl. iii. 21-22) with
Minucia on the reverse side, show that the porticus Minucia was divided
into 45 ostia or sections, in which definite groups of people received their
doles in definite days in the month. The officials of this department
are mentioned in three other inscriptions of the second century (
CIL
xi. 5669:
proc. Aug. ad Minuciam;
vi. 1648:
proc. Mini(ciae);
iii. 249:
proc. Min(uciae) ), and perhaps in two more (vi. 1408: cur. Min(uciae);
xi. 4182:
prae(fectus ?) Minicia).
Beginning with the time of Severus the name of the porticus appears
in inscriptions of officials of the water department (v. 7783:
curator
aquarum et Minuciae;
vi. 1532:
cur. aquar. et Miniciae;
x. 4752:
consulari aquarum et Minuciae;
xiv. 3902:
curator aquarum et Miniciae;
NS 19O1, 129-131; cf. Mommsen,
Staatsrecht ii. 1053-1054). Whether
this indicates that one man held both offices, or that the Minucia now
belonged to the department of water and not of grain, or that both offices
were housed in one building, or that the Minucia of the inscriptions is
the Minucia vetus, while the distribution of grain still took place in the
frumentaria, is doubtful. The relation of the vetus and frumentaria
is very uncertain, whether they were separate buildings, or parts of one;
and when the second building or part was erected. It is natural to assign
the frumentaria to Claudius, but the absence of any differentiation, except
in the Chronograph and Regionary Catalogue, is curious (Hirschfeld,
Phil. 1870, 63-67; Kaiserl. Verwaltungsbeamtens 238; Klio, ii. 244,
271;
Suppl. iii. 15-16;
DE iii. 268-269;
RE vii. 177-178; Marquardt,
Staatsverwaltung ii. 128-130;
Gilb. iii. 144, 286).
There is also divergence of opinion as to the site of the porticus.
The prevailing view at present is that there were two separate buildings,
near the porticus Philippi and theatre of Balbus (cf. Not.), one of which,
the vetus, enclosed the temple of the Lares Permarini (fast. Praen.) and
perhaps that of Hercules Custos (cf. Hist. Aug. Corn. loc. cit.), and
therefore was situated north of the circus Flaminius and east of the
porticus Pompei, on both sides of the Petronia stream (
AR 1909, 76, pl. i.;
KH ii.). The frumentaria Hilsen then places about 200 metres south
of the vetus, and identifies with ruins that lie close to the probable site
of the crypta Balbi (Sangallo,p.9,47). In the Via dei Calderari, No. 23, two
travertine pilasters with engaged columns and the entablature are built
into the front of the house, and there are traces of a second row of columns
and a wall behind. Drawings of the sixteenth century show that this
colonnade had an upper story, with columns standing on the centre of
the arches below. There are also blocks of travertine pavement (NS 1891,
336;
1892, 265;
Mitt. 1892, 321 ;
1893, 318; this view of HUlsen's is
expressed on his map of 1912). Hfilsen is further inclined to derive the name
of S. Maria de Publico (so called in a bull of 1186 and generally till the end
of the fifteenth century), now known as S. Maria in Publicolis,
2 from the
frumentum publicum distributed here (HCh 361;
BC 1927, 94-100).
Another theory (Canina, Edif. ii. pl. 149; LR 513; LF 28; Delbriick,
Die drei Tempel am Forum Holitorium, Rome 1903, I) is that the
porticus lay between the foot of the Capitol and the theatre of Marcellus,
thus identifying the two buildings with ruins on the east side of the Piazza
Montanara and in the Vicolo della Bufala (
NS 1879, 314;
1891, 316;
Mitt. 1892, 292). This view, however, Lanciani has recently abandoned,
chiefly because of the small area available, and thinks that the porticus
was farther north-west, between the hill and the porticus Octaviae
(
BC 1917, 187-192). There is no conclusive evidence for any of the
views that have been held.
