Macellum Liviae

The Macellum Liviae, a market building on the *Esquiline, is mentioned only by late-antique and mediaeval sources, which place it near the Church of S. Vito (called in macello), the arch of Gallienus (s.v. *Porta Esquilina), the Nymphaeum Alexandri and S. Eusebio (e.g., CIL VI 1178=ILS 5592: MA]CELLO LIVIAE). It was thus identified by Lanciani with remains that came to light in Via Principe Amedeo and Via Napoleone III outside the *Servian Wall, just N of the Porta Esquilina (accepted by Pisani Sartorio, Rodríguez Almeida, Häuber, de Ruyt). This structure consists of a rectangular open court (in which stood a fountain) surrounded by porticoes and shops; the walls date from different periods, but one wall of opus reticulatum may be dated to the 1st c. A.D. (de Ruyt 163-66 with fig. 62). However, the strong connection between the macellum and Livia in the later literary sources dates the first phase of this structure to the Augustan period. It is not mentioned by Augustan sources. The τεμένισμα (precinct) of Dio Cassius (55.8.2), often applied to the Macellum Liviae, refers to the *Porticus Liviae; Dio generally uses μάκελλον to refer to a market (de Ruyt 167). It is thus incorrect to assert, as does Pisani Sartorio on the basis of Dio, that the Macellum Liviae was dedicated in 7 B.C.Alternatively, the Macellum Liviae has been identified with a large rectangular peristyle under S. Maria Maggiore, which included 4th-c. A.D. frescoes of the calendar (Magi). This view has been disproven by de Ruyt: its ground-plan does not suggest a macellum; more importantly, the Liber Pontificalis states that the Macellum Liviae was ‘next to’ not ‘on top of’ S. Maria Maggiore, and of the 7 sources between the 10th and 16th c. which mention the Macellum Liviae, only one puts the structure within the Servian Wall, based on autopsy of some ancient remains (de Ruyt 166-71).The identification of the structure outside the Servian Wall as the Macellum Liviae follows both the mediaeval and modern communis opinio; the remains date mostly from the mid-2nd c. A.D., but given the survival of one wall in opus reticulatum, it is possible that later renovations followed the original Augustan ground-plan.