La controversa storia della Porticus Aemilia
In: Archeologia Classica: 63, 2012
Permalink: http://digital.casalini.it/2634853
According to the authors of an article published in the latest issue of this journal, the building
in opus
incertum at Testaccio, commonly identified with the
the porticus Aemilia,
was meant to receive
people and wares, but not for any length of time: the porticus, in accordance with its etymological
root porta/portus,
is taken to have been a place of transit. However, the rear wall of the building,
without entrances, belies this reconstruction and supports identification as Republican shipsheds.
The missing letters of the preliminary inscription on fragment 24 b of the Forma Urbis are of limited
relevance and do not justify the rebuttal (based also on a number of misunderstandings) of identification as navalia.
It is likely that the actual porticus Aemilia,
one of the several porticoes built in
the first half of the second century BC, was simply a porticoed street, located between the Forum
Boarium and the Tiber.