Identification: Subura The fragment has been joined to the bottom left corner of the large fragment 10g (PM 1960, p. 69, pl. 18; AG 1980, pl. 7) in slab VIII-3 which identifies it as a section of the Subura. The alley in this fragment continues onto fr. 10g where it joins the clivus Suburanus. The structure visible in the right corner is completed with the join to 10g; it seems to be a large, open space, perhaps a common work area or living area for the owners of the six shops in front that face the clivus Suburanus. Although no openings are indicated, there must have been access to the area from the tabernae in front.

Archaeological and epigraphical evidence, in conjunction with the names of Medieval churches and quotes from Martial, locate the residential and commercial district called the Subura. It began near the Argiletum and the Roman forum, and from there stretched, at least in imperial times, northward up the valley between the Quirinal and Viminal Hills and eastward between the Oppian and Cispian Hills, where it probably reached as far as the Esquiline Gate (LTUR IV, p. 379). An inscription (CIL 6.9526) indicates that in the imperial period the area was divided into two sections: the Subura maior and the Subura minor. The greater Subura has been identified with the largely commercial area near the Forum Romanum, between the Viminal and the Oppian Hills, and the lesser Subura with the upper section between the Cispian and Oppian Hills where the major thoroughfare of the Subura, the clivus Suburanus, ascended towards the Esquiline Gate (LTUR IV, p. 380).

Roman poets like Martial and Juvenal described the Subura as a sordid commercial area, riddled with violence, brothels, and collapsing buildings. In reality, it was probably not different from any other neighborhood in Rome, where commercial activity intermingled with the religious and political life in the great public monuments and smaller local shrines and the meeting rooms of the local collegia, and where the large domus of the rich stood next to the decrepit apartment buildings that housed the poor. An abundance of evidence demonstrates that even in imperial times the Subura housed senators (probably on the upper slopes) as well as sandal makers, blacksmiths, and cloth sellers. Commercial activity was probably concentrated all along the clivus Suburanus. The many epigraphic references to the synagogue in the Subura, probably located in the Subura minor near the Esquiline Gate, suggest it was the center for the largest Jewish congregation in Rome (LTUR IV, pp. 382-383).

Significance The tabernae, narrow alleys, work areas, and multi-storeyed buildings depicted in this fragment put a face on the words of poets like Martial and Juvenal, who described the Subura as a crowded, noisy, busy, and predominantly commercial area of Rome, where artisans worked and sold their goods and where the poor lived in tall, decrepit apartment buildings (see references to Martial and Juvenal in LTUR IV or Richardson 1992).

Text by Tina Najbjerg