Identification: Praedia et horrea Galbana For years, scholars who identified this fragment as having been part of the inscription that labeled the horrea Galbana on the FUR, tried in vain to position it near the three buildings in fr. 24a and 24c which were assumed to be the actual horrea. In 1977-78, however, E. Rodríguez-Almeida demonstrated that fr. 91 with the letters IA was from the same inscription as this piece, and that the entire label read [PRAED]IA [ET HORREA G]ALB[ANA]. Based on archaeological evidence recorded by Lanciani and on FUR fragments 24a, 24c, 24A, and 24B, he showed that the praedia et horrea Galbana covered a vast area from the porticus Aemilia in the N to an unknown point past the Monte Testaccio in the S, from the slopes of the Aventine Hill in the E to the horrea Lolliana in the W. It was therefore not necessary for an inscription labeling the entire estate to have been placed in frs. 24a and c; it could have been situated further southward, i.e. toward the top of the Plan. He then positioned the two fragments in the lower left corner of slab IX-8 (fr. 24A) and along the right side of slab IX-7 (fr. 24B)(Rodríguez-Almeida 1977-78, p. 21, figs. 3, 5).

Originally belonging to the family of Servius Sulpicius Galba, probably the praetor of 187 BCE, the private estate later became imperial property, most likely during the reign of Galba (LTUR III, p. 40). The proximity of a funerary monument (visible in fr. 24c) to a later family member of the same name, perhaps the consul of 144 BCE (Ferrea 1998) or of 108 BCE (F. Coarelli, LTUR III, p. 42) confirms the identity of the Republican property, which may at an earlier state have been called the praedia Sulpicia and have incorporated the horrea Sulpicia, mentioned by Horace (Carm. 4.12.18)(LTUR II, p. 40). The abundant epigraphical evidence suggests that the residential spaces of the imperial complex gradually yielded to large warehouses for the storage of the public grain supply, and of oil, wine, food, clothing, and marble (LTUR II, p. 41; Richardson 1992, p. 193). The mountain of discarded amphoras that constitutes the nearby Monte Testaccio is a testimony to the large scale operation of these horrea. Inscriptions also suggest that the many warehouse workers, variously referred to as horrearii, operarii Galbenses, or Galbenses, to name a few, were organized into three cohortes and that there were different collegia, or societies to which they could belong (LTUR II, p. 41). The latter implies that the complex included scholae for the meetings of these collegia, and most likely also bathing establishments, both of which are probably included in the neighboring horrea Lolliana, visible in fr. 25.

Significance Rodríguez-Almeida's location of this fragment in the lower left corner of slab IX-8 helped demonstrate the vast extent of this imperial estate/warehouse complex by the Tiber. The combination of this fragment with fr. 24B, which showed that the FUR label recorded the dual name of the complex, also helped explain why there was no label placed across the three buildings in frs. 24a and 24c which were known to have been part of the estate.

Text by Tina Najbjerg