The Horrea Galbae were warehouses (''

horrea A ''horreum'' (plural: ''horrea'') was a type of public warehouse used during the ancient Roman period. Although the Latin term is often used to refer to granaries, Roman ''horrea'' were used to store many other types of consumables; the giant Hor ...

'') in the southern part of ancient

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, located between the southern end of the Aventine Hill and the waste dump of

Monte Testaccio Monte Testaccio (; alternatively spelled Monte Testaceo; also known as Monte dei cocci) is an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of ''testae'' ( it, cocci), fragments of broken ancient Roman pottery, nearly all discarded amphorae d ...

. They ran for a substantial distance, possibly extending as far as the Porta Ostiensis in the east and the

Porticus Aemilia Porticus Aemilia was a portico in ancient Rome. It was one of the largest commercial structures of its time and functioned as a storehouse and distribution center for goods entering the city via the Tiber river. History and description The porti ...

on the banks of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

. The ''horrea'' were most likely built on the site of a suburban

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

owned by the Sulpicii Galbae, a distinguished noble family of whom the 1st century AD Roman Emperor Galba was a member. (There are many alternative spellings of the name: ''Galbana'', ''Galbiana'', ''Galbes'' and so on.)Lawrence Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'', p. 193. JHU Press, 1992. The tomb of

Servius Sulpicius Galba Servius Sulpicius Galba may refer to: * Servius Sulpicius Galba (consul 144 BC) * Servius Sulpicius Galba (consul 108 BC) * Servius Sulpicius Galba (praetor 54 BC), assassin of Julius Caesar * Galba, born Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman emperor fro ...

(probably the consul of 108 BC, rather than his better-known father of the same name) stood in front of the warehouse complex. It is not clear when the ''horrea'' were founded, but presumably it was some time after the tomb was built. The complex was probably originally known as the Horrea Sulpicia, after the nomen of the gens Sulpicia, but acquired its later name during the time of the emperor Galba. Archaeological excavations and the remains of the

Forma Urbis Romae The ''Forma Urbis Romae'' or Severan Marble Plan is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211. Matteo Cadario gives specific years of 205–208, noting that the map was based on pro ...

show that the Horrea Galbae comprised three long rectangular courtyards set out in parallel, each surrounded by colonnades or arcades of

taberna A ''taberna'' (plural ''tabernae'') was a type of shop or stall in Ancient Rome. Originally meaning a single-room shop for the sale of goods and services, ''tabernae'' were often incorporated into domestic dwellings on the ground level flanking ...

e, with a single entrance positioned on the axis at a short end. They were used to store the ''annona publica'' (the public grain supply) as well as olive oil, wine, foodstuffs, clothing and even marble. The size of the Horrea Galbae was enormous, even by modern standards; the horrea contained 140 rooms on the ground floor alone, covering an area of some 225,000 square feet (21,000 m²).David Stone Potter, D. J. Mattingly, ''Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire'', p. 180. University of Michigan Press, 1999. It is thought that

, the giant mound of broken

amphora An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

e that lay behind the Horrea Galbae, was associated with the complex. Olive oil imported from far-away

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basi ...

(in modern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

) was emptied into bulk containers, probably in the ''horrea'', and the original import vessels were smashed and dumped on Monte Testaccio. The scale of the imports can be judged by the fact that Monte Testaccio is estimated to contain the remains of at least 53 million olive oil amphorae, in which some 6 billion litres (1.58 billion gallons) of oil were imported.Bryan Ward-Perkins, ''The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization'', pp. 91-92. Oxford University Press, 2005. . Little now remains of the Horrea Galbae. Walls and brickwork, dating probably from the 1st century AD, have been discovered by archaeologists along with large lead pipes bearing inscriptions from

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

's reign in the following century.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Ancient Roman pottery Rome R. XX Testaccio Galba