Identification: Horti Maecenatis (?) E. Rodríguez-Almeida joined these fragments to each other, to fr. 10v, and to fr. 10lm in slab VIII-3, thereby identifying their location as the area just east of the Porticus of Livia and the Baths of Trajan (Rodríguez-Almeida 1970-71, pp. 107-109). Excavations in the area, which revealed the remains of the circular feature depicted in the joining fr. 10v near the entrance to the Brancaccio gardens, confirm this identification (Rodríguez-Almeida 1975-76, p. 278; LTUR III, p. 72). The circular structure has tentatively been identified with Rome's first warm water swimming pool, which Maecenas is known to have constructed ([Cass. Dio 55.7] Rodríguez-Almeida 1975-76, p. 278). If this interpretation is correct, the area in these fragments just south of the "pool" originally must have been part of the Gardens of Maecenas. This is consistent with the theory of some scholars that the gardens were bordered on the north by the porticus Liviae and the vicus Sabuci (LTUR III, p. 72). The apartment buildings and shops in these fragments are therefore most likely post-Neronian construction that gradually encroached upon the N boundary of the original horti after Maecenas' death. Not much is known about the gardens. Their creation was perhaps made possible by the reorganization of Rome's water supply in 33 BCE by Augustus and Agrippa. Maecenas had a domus within the gardens, and he bequeathed the entire estate to Augustus after his death (LTUR III, pp. 71-73). The original extent of the gardens is still debated (see LTUR III, pp. 71-73, for a summary of the many theories regarding the boundaries and fig. 42 for a map of the area).

Identification: Subura (?) It is uncertain whether this area was part of the residential and commercial district called the Subura. Rodríguez-Almeida suggests that the densely packed and crowded structures in these fragments match the descriptions of the Subura as an inorganized and chaotic neighborhood (AG 1980, p. 78). Archaeological and epigraphical evidence, in conjunction with the names of Medieval churches and quotes from Martial, locate the approximate boundaries of 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 scholae, 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 (LTUR IV, pp. 382-383).

Significance If the identification of this area as having formerly been part of the Gardens of Maecenas is correct, then these fragments offer a rare insight into the gradual encroachment of city architecture upon a luxurious, private garden in the early Empire. The fragments provide a realistic view of the crowded shops and apartment buildings in this area, and they help visualize what must have been a striking contrast between this type of architecture and the gargantuan bath complex and public porticus next door.

Text by Tina Najbjerg