Excavated: 1914 (GdS 1913, 331 (November 1-30); NSc 1914, 71; Calza); 1970 (Pohl 1987, trench a).
Mosaic: SO IV, 79 nr. 118, tav. 190.
Inscription: CIL XIV S, 4549 nr. 43.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.01-0.015 (SO IV).

Photos and drawings:

Front room and back room (gh2)

Front room and back room (gh2)

Back room (ss)

Back room (dga)

Back room (gh)

Statio 44 + statio 43 (left + right) (gh2)

Text (top) (SO IV)

Text (kh; 2013)

Mosaic

The rear half of the back room is a separate room, not connected with the statio. Nothing is known about its floor. The floor of the front half of the back room is preserved almost entirely. It is framed by a black band, four tesserae wide, partly missing at the north end. It emerges from the passage to the front room, then turns outward, and continues to the back wall. The band also frames the west end of the floor, just in front of the wall of the separate room in the rear part.

The floor of the west part of the front room has been preserved. It is framed on the south and north side by the continuation of the black band, four tesserae wide. To the east of the passage to the back room is a single line of text, not in a tabula ansata. Above the final letter is a small black patch.

The text in the west part of the front room is (h. of letters 0.18):

CODICARI DE SVO

The text is not in the centre of the room, but moved slightly to the north. The first C was not seen by the excavators and is modern. In front of DE is the upper part of a leaf.

Becatti suggests c]odicari de suo.

Suggested reading:

[C]ODICARI DE SVO

No depictions have been preserved.

Masonry

The back wall of the separate room in the rear part is of opus reticulatum, largely missing. There might have been a door or passage in it. The north wall of this room is of opus vittatum mixtum B or rather rubble masonry. There is no south wall. The wall dividing the two parts of the back room is of opus vittatum mixtum, or rather restored rubble masonry. The front part of the back room is not flanked by walls. Pohl's plan shows a dividing wall in the separate room in the back room, between stationes 43 and 44.

Interpretation

The members of the corpus codicariorum operated the tow boats with which cargoes were transported to Rome over the Tiber. The boats were drawn by men or oxen, walking on tow paths. The guild had its own curatores.[1] It makes sense that the office of the codicarii is not amongst those of the navicularii sailing the Mediterranean sea.

(1) Meiggs 1973, 293-296; Sirks 1991, 275-276.