The Cryptoporticus of the Forum
About
Built around 25-10 BCE as the load-bearing foundation for the Forum of Arelate above it, this U-shaped network of vaulted stone galleries covers roughly 3,400 square meters, six meters underground. Its narrow airshafts still ventilate the space exactly as Roman engineers designed them. It likely doubled as a grain store and administrative annex for the bustling forum overhead. By 117 CE it had spent well over a century silently holding up the civic heart of the city above it.
What happened here
Rows of identical rooms off a central courtyard, with a wide gate, a weighing station and a guard. Floors are raised on low walls so air passes underneath and grain does not sweat. Space is rented by the room or the amphora, and the operator takes a fee for storage and another for security; valuables go into strongrooms with iron doors. Everything is inventoried by clerks who are usually slaves and who are very good at it. Grain, oil, wine, marble, salt fish, timber — most of it in transit rather than stored long. Rats, damp and fire are the constant enemies and there are contracts covering all three. Around the entrance, porters wait for work by the day.
Sources
Nearby
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Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →