Excavated: 1881 (NSc 1881, 119; Lanciani). Seen by Lanciani for the first time on April 25th 1881. It was described in the legenda of his plan only, because it had just been found.
Mosaic: SO IV, 67 nr. 87, tav. 187 (top).
Inscription: ---.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV); 200-210 AD (Clarke).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015-0.02 (SO IV).
Mosaic
General descriptionThe floor of the back room has not been preserved. The west and east part of the mosaic in the front room are lost, in between a depiction has been preserved. It is surrounded by a wide, black frame (10 tesserae wide). In the south-west corner of the preserved part is an ancient restoration of black tesserae and alternating black and white tesserae. On the model a black band surrounds the front rooms of stationes 4 and 5, with no band separating them, as if they were an entity. The model also has a similar band surrounding the back rooms of stationes 5 and 6, again with no band separating them, as if they were an entity.
TextNo text has been preserved.
DepictionsIn the frame we see a man kneeling on a black floor. His left hand is over a grain measure, in his right hand is the leveling stick (rutellum). Below the measure are six short, vertical white lines.
Becatti
Male figure and grain measure. Una figura maschile giovanile vestita di ampia e lunga tunica manicata, inginocchiata di profilo verso destra, con la mano sinistra poggiata sull'orlo superiore di un moggio cilindrico, leggermente rastremato in alto, che ha piedi rettangolari e due fasciature bianche. Con la mano destra è in atto di tenere una rasiera (rutellum) per pareggiare il grano dentro il moggio. Una larga zona nera indicante il pavimento serve di piano di posa e alcuni trattini bianchi sotto il moggio simboleggiano forse chicchi di grano. Il disegno è alquanto sommario, mal reso lo scorcio della spalla destra, pochi dettagli bianchi indicano le pieghe del panneggio, i tratti del volto e la calotta ricciuta di capelli..
Masonry
The back room has a rear wall of opus latericium, and side walls of opus vittatum simplex (three and two layers preserved). On the plans of Lanciani, Vaglieri and Gismondi there is no north wall. On the plan of Vaglieri there seems to be a wall or bench set against the south wall and east wall, continuing into statio 6 and almost reaching the door in the back wall of that statio. The model also has a bench here and no north wall.
Interpretation
On the square several grain measures are depicted, but this is the only one that is accompanied by a human figure. It is therefore more than a symbol. We see a mensor frumentarius at work, as already suggested by Lanciani. His kneeling shows that he is working: had he been standing, it would have been a mere pose. Axel Gering prefers to see only a slave and a water boiler.[1] It is conceivable that the mosaicist was inspired by such depictions, as suggested by a mosaic, said to have been found in Ostia, that is now in Detroit. In this way ambiguity would be created, as also seen elsewhere on the square.
This was the statio of the corpus mensorum frumentariorum, an annex, so to speak, of their guild seat (I,XIX,1-3). The mensores had three subdivisions: acceptores (checking cargoes on arrival), adiutores (registering the grain as it entered and left the horrea), and nauticarii (overseeing the loading of the river boats taking the grain to Rome).[2] All roles were relevant on the square, where we find both navicularii marini and codicarii (skippers of tow boats on the Tiber).
The six white lines below the measure might be a counter of the contents of the measure, perhaps referring to the sextarius, which is mentioned in the inscription of the mosaic of the Aula dei Mensores.[3] Becatti suggests grain seeds.
(1) Gering 2018, 243 note 786.
(2) As explained tentatively by Meiggs, 1973, 282.
(3) The sextarius is the sixth part of a measure, and the sixteenth part of a modius. For the explanation of the inscription see Minaud 2004.