Excavated: 1914 (Calza; after cleaning: NSc 1920, 166 with fig. 7; Paribeni); 1970 (Pohl 1987, trench a).
Mosaic: SO IV, 78-79 nr. 116.
Inscription: CIL XIV S, 4549 nr. 40.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.015 (SO IV).

Photos and drawings:

Front room and back room (gh2)

Front room (gh2)

Back room (in the foreground, from the north) (gh2)

Statio 41 + statio 40 (centre + right) (gh2)

Text (NSc 1920, p. 166, fig. 7)

Text (et)

Mosaic

The floor of the back room has not been preserved. Parts of the west part of the floor of the front room have been preserved. In the south part of the passage to the back room are a few slabs of white stone. In the west part of the passages to stationes 39 and 41 black bands can be seen. Along the southern one is a white line, probably of tesserae, on the axis of the central column. The northern one is three tesserae wide. Directly to the south of it is a text. In the west part of the passage to statio 39 might be a black rectangle.

The text in the north part of the front room is (h. of letters 0.21):

[---]XANDRIN

The text stops at the black band separating the room from statio 39. Of the last four letters only the upper part has been preserved, but enough to trust DRIN. On NADIS inv. nr. 644 a thick triangle ( /\ ) can be seen a bit to to the left, possibly the upper part of a depiction.

The text mentions Alexandria. Paribeni suggests [naviculariorum Ale]xandrin(orum). We also encountered the city in cluster 26-28, in a part of square that is dominated by navicularii, contrary to the west portico, so that the cluster may be assigned to them. For this statio we may think of the curatores of the Alexandrian fleet, an interpretation that is strengthened by the text of the nearby statio 42 that most likely mentions the curatores navium.

Two inscriptions from the harbours mention the Alexandrian grain fleet, both from Portus and in Greek. One is a statue base in honour of Commodus, set up by the navicularii of the Alexandrian merchant fleet. It is the earliest specific evidence that the Alexandrian fleet had been redirected from Puteoli to Ostia-Portus.[1]

Ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας καὶ διαμον̂ῆς
τοῦ κυρίου Αὐτοκράτορος
《Κομμόδου Σεβαστοῦ》
οἱ ναύκληροι τοῦ πορευτικοῦ
Ἀλεξανδρείνου στόλου

The other is dated to 201 AD. It is a dedication with a prayer for the preservation and safe return of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, coupled with a prayer for the safe voyage of the whole Alexandrian fleet. It was set up by C. Valerius Serenus, curator (epimelètès) of the fleet.[2]

Ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας καὶ ἐπανόδου
καὶ ἀϊδίου διαμονῆς τῶν κυρίων
Αὐτοκρατόρ(ων) Σεουήρου καὶ Ἀντωνίνου
καὶ Ἰουλίας Σεβ(αστῆς) καὶ τοῦ σύνπαντος
αὐτῶν οἴκου καὶ ὑπὲρ εὐπλοίας
παντὸς τοῦ στόλου τὴν Ἀδράστιαν
σὺν τῷ περὶ αὐτὴν κόσμῳ
Γ(άϊος) Οὐαλέριος Σερῆνος νεωκόρος
τοῦ μεγάλου Σαράπιδος
ὁ ἐπιμελητὴς παντὸς τοῦ
Ἀλεξανδρείνου στόλου
ἐπὶ Κλ(αυδίου) Ἰουλιανοῦ ἐπάρχου
εὐθενείας

Suggested reading:

[CVRATORES NAVIVM ALE]XANDRIN(arum)

Becatti describes a kind of rosette in the centre of the front room, consisting of an ellipse with two curved lines inside. It might be the object shown on the NADIS drawing.

Masonry

The rear wall of the back room is of opus reticulatum. The room does not have a north wall. In the west part of the passage to statio 41 is a wall of opus vittatum mixtum B, apparently showing the core of the wall at the east end. According to Gismondi's plan the wall was only in the west part, on the model it continues.

Interpretation

The statio seems to have been used by the curatores overseeing the Alexandrian fleet.

(1) IG XIV, 918; Meiggs 1973, 59.
(2) IG XIV, 917; Meiggs 1973, 387; Sirks 1991, 103-105.