HORREA GALBAE
warehouses in the district known as
PRAEDIA GALBANA
(q.v.) between the south-west side of the Aventine and the Tiber. Here
was the tomb of Ser. Sulpicius Galba, consul in 144 or 108 B.C. (CIL i².
695=vi. 31617; cf.
NS 1885, 527;
BC 1885, 165;
Mitt. 1886, 62),
and about that time, or before the end of the republic, the horrea were
built and called Sulpicia (Hor.
Carm. iv. 12. 18) or Galbae (Porphyr. ad loc.;
Chron. p. 146;
CIL vi. 9801, 33743;
xiv. 20; cf. Galbeses, vi.
30901; Galbienses, vi. 710=30817; Not. Reg. XIII: Galbes, 33886;
IG xiv. 956 A. 29:
ἐπὶ τῷ Γάλβῃ ). Other forms of the name are horrea
Galbana (Not. dign. occ. iv. 15 Seeck;
CIL vi. 338=30740) and Galbiana
(vi. 236, 30855, 33906). They were enlarged or restored by the Emperor
Galba and therefore, in later times, their erection seems to have been
ascribed to him (Chron. 146:
(Galba) domum suum deposuit et horrea
Galbae instituit (cf.
CIL vi. 8680=33743 [
Bonae Deae 1 vel Tutelae]
horriorum (sic) [S]er(vii) Galbae Imp. Aug.). These warehouses were
not only the earliest of the many in this and other parts of the city, but
apparently always the most important (cf. Not. Reg. XIII; Not. dign.
loc. cit.: curator horreorum Galbae), and were depots not only for grain,
but for goods of all kinds (Porphyr. loc. cit.:
Sulpicii Galbae horrea dicit
hodieque autem Galbae horrea vino et oleo et similibus aliis referta sunt;
CIL vi. 980 :
piscatrix de horreis Galbae, 33906:
sagarius; 33886:
negotiator marmorarius; cf.
BC 1885, 110-112;
DE iii. 967-986).
These horrea came under imperial control at the beginning of the
principate and provided space for the storage of the annona publica.
Their staff of officials was organised in cohortes,
2 and iodalicia (CIL
cit.;
Gilb. iii. 285 ;
BC 1885, 51-53). In the sixteenth century excavations were made on this site (
LS iii. 175), and since 1880 the whole
district has been laid out with new streets. During this process a large
part of the walls and foundations of the horrea were uncovered. Before
191 the principal part excavated was a rectangle on each side of the
present Via Bodoni, about 200 metres long and 155 wide, enclosed by a
wall and divided symmetrically into sections separated by courts. These
courts, three in number, were surrounded by travertine colonnades,
through which opened the chambers of the warehouses (see LF 40;
BC 1885, 110-129; LR 525-526; HJ 175-176). More recent excavations
3
at various points indicate that the horrea were much larger, extending
north-west beyond the present Via Giovanni Branca and as far as the
river to the south-west (
BC 1911, 206-208, 246-260;
1912, 152;
1914,
206;
NS 1911, 205, 317, 340, 443;
1912, 121-122;
AA 1913, 144).
The construction was mostly in opus reticulatum. Lead pipes with an
inscription of Hadrian were found, and a hoard of coins (149-268 A.D.).
More recently remains of horrea were found just upstream of the new
Ponte Aventino (see
EMPORIUM). The descriptions of these horrea by
earlier writers, such as Benjamin of Tudela of the twelfth century (
Jord.
ii. 68) and Fabretti (de aquis, 1680, 165;
RE viii. 2461) are of doubtful
value, as they probably did not distinguish accurately between the
horrea and surrounding buildings, like the
EMPORIUM (q.v.). The
remains of the '
horrea publica populi Romani' were sufficiently conspicuous to give their name to a mediaeval region; and we have
records of three churches called ' in horrea ' (HCh 266, 272, 416).
