Spices were as valuable as gold in Imperial Rome, especially for their medicinal use, and the emperors guarded them with zeal in some stores that have now been brought to light in the Forums and in which Galen himself could investigate , one of the most famous doctors of Antiquity.
It was the Emperor Domitian (51-96 AD) who ordered the construction of the "Pipeline Horrea", warehouses where they accumulated the spices that arrived from all the cardinal points of their domains and then were used in the preparation of drugs and ointments .
At the moment a rectangular building has been excavated, with a porticoed patio and a bathtub in the middle, divided into a series of rooms that served as a warehouse, and was located in the medical district, next to the Via Sacra of the Forum, to Two steps from the Colosseum .
And that place was buried at the beginning of the fourth century to allow the construction of the monumental basilica of Maxentius , one of the most impressive buildings in the archaeological area.
Now a team of researchers from the University of La Sapienza in Rome, led by Professor of Archeology Domenico Palombi, strive to study this excavation, secured with props about five meters below the pavement of the basilica.
SPICES AS A WAY OF POLITICAL POWER
Palombi directs the visit through this space that he considers crucial for the Roman power of the time, since he controlled and distributed the raw material with which the drugs that were later used by the court, the powerful army, the officials and finally the people were elaborated.
In short, "it was the instrument with which the emperor and his bureaucracy controlled one of the most important resources of the Empire," says the expert.
Doctors went to this complex to obtain ingredients for their healing potions, or to study their properties, although those that served the imperial family always had priority.
However, the 14 public doctors who attended Roman citizens in the different neighborhoods, paid by the state coffers, and even the specific doctor who treated the virgin priestesses of Vesta, also used this store.
AFTER THE STEPS OF GALENO, THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PHYSICIAN
One of the characters who surely frequented these stores was Galen, the famous Greek doctor who arrived in Rome in the middle of the second century AD and whose fame would end up opening the doors of the palace to serve Marco Aurelio and his son Comfortable.
It is known that this famous doctor, philosopher and theoretician, with permission of Hippocrates, was in this place, because he himself recognizes this in the numerous written documents he bequeathed for posterity.
In these texts he spoke of a district dedicated to medical sciences nestled in the Roman Forums, at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where you could buy all kinds of products, raw materials and surgical instruments.
But he also recognized his appreciation for a triumphal building that borders the warehouses, the "Temple of Peace", ordered to be built by Emperor Vespasian between AD 71 and 75 to commemorate the victory over the Hebrews and the taking of Jerusalem.
This complex had an impressive library , one of the most important of the moment, and in its auditoriums Galen showed his scientific skills with master classes and animal dissections.
Palombi insists that Galen's laboratory has not been discovered, as they insist on writing the media in Italy, but a very important place for power, for the control he had over medicine, which he probably frequented and used the famous doctor.
Therefore, he points out that this Roman public apothecary can be considered as an important place in the performance of his work, and it is even known that it was made with a property in which he kept valuables when he left that "caput mundi" Rome.
A NEW PAGE IN THE FORUM HISTORY
The "horrea", these spice stores, are "a place never studied and unpublished", according to Palombi. For this reason, the managers of the Archaeological Park finalize a project that will allow the visit of the public foreseeably at the end of 2020.
The idea is that the visitor finds this place intact , as it has been after the passage of time: "We will leave everything as we have found it," explains the architect in charge of the project, Cristina Collettini.
The visits will be in small groups , since the space is certainly reduced, and will run along a suspended walkway from which explanatory projections can be seen.
The director of the Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, celebrated that the excavations in this place have brought to light important phases of its history, with architectural settlements that take place over four centuries.
And it emphasizes that the Forums, with their 77 hectares of extension, continue to surprise: "History is increasingly enriched by archaeological research", ditch.
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