ID AND LOCATION
| Stanford #
| 296 |
| AG1980 #
| 296 |
| PM1960 #
| 296 |
| Slab #
| III-12 |
| Adjoins
| none |
CONDITION
| Located
| false |
| Incised
| true |
| Surviving
| true |
| Subfragments
| 1 |
| Plaster Parts
| 0 |
| Back Surface
| smooth |
| Slab Edges
| 0 |
| Clamp Holes
| 0 |
| Tassello
| no |
TECHNICAL INFO
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| ANALYSIS
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| Description The entire right side of the fragment is occupied by a vertical row of tabernae, facing towards the left. It may be back to back with another row of shops. On the left, the shops are faced with an arcade that is not, however, completely parallel to the tabernae but approaches it at an oblique angle.
Identification E. Rodríguez-Almeida has suggested that this fragment belongs in slab III-12 along with other fragments that show similar characteristics, such as marble color and condition, thickness, veining, and style of engraving (Rodríguez-Almeida 2000). Back-to-back tabernae like those depicted here are common on the Plan. The luxury of having a covered sidewalk or portico in front of a row of shops was apparently not restricted to such grandiose areas as the slopes of the Palatine, facing the Circus Maximus (see fr. 8bde). Frs. 33abc, 34a, 34b and 34c depict a large, predominantly commercial area by the Tiber which abounds with rows of tabernae and arcades. This fragment might belong to either such areas. These covered arcades or porticoes signify that there was a second storey or a mezzanine level above the shops, which would have provided the shop owners with additional living room (Reynolds 1996, p. 158).
Significance 3D digital matching may allow us to join this fragment with already identified and located areas on the Plan.
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| HISTORY OF FRAGMENT |
| Like the majority of FUR fragments, this piece was discovered in 1562 in a garden behind the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. From here, it was transferred to the Palazzo Farnese and stored there. The fragment was later used as building material in the 17th c. construction of the Farnese familys Giardino Segreto (Secret Garden) near the Via Giulia, and was rediscovered in 1888 or 1898 when the walls of the garden were demolished. Since then, it has been stored with the other known FUR fragments in various places: the storerooms of the Commissione Archeologica (1888/1898-1903), the Antiquarium Comunale (1924-1939), the Capitoline Museums (1939-1955), the Palazzo Braschi (1955-1998), and since 1998 in the Museo della Civiltà Romana in EUR under the auspices of the Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali del Comune di Roma. (This fragments history corresponds to Iter E as summarized in PM 1960, p. 56.) N.B. PM 1960 does not reveal the whereabouts of the fragment between 1903 and 1924.
Text by Tina Najbjerg
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| KEYWORDS
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| tabernae, arcade |
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