Insula Volusiana

During works of arrangement of the sacred area of S. Omobono in Foro Boario, a stone was found containing an epigraph that provides information on construction of the Insula Volusiana.

Imp(erator) [Caesardivi f(ilius)] / Aug(ustus) [co(n)]s(ul) VI[Ia]d[tribuit] / Ti(berius) Claud(ius) Caesar Au[g(ustus)] / Germ(anicus) pontif(ex)max(imus) trib(unicia) / po[t]est(ate) VIIIimp(erator) XV p(ater) p(atriae) / L(ucius)Vitellius censores / cognita causa ad/tribu-tionem divi / Aug(usti) pertinentem ad /insulam Volusianam / con[fi]rmaverunt

This epigraph made it possible to know the name of the insula which had already been partly excavated during adjustments of the last century that had affected the entire area of the Foro Olitorio and the Foro Boario placed in ancient times between the slopes of Capitol Hill and the bank of Tiber.

The identified area was public property because it was located in a nerve center where the roads of the political, religious and commercial life of Rome crossed, from here the processions of the Triumphs from Campo Marzio passed, from here the religious processions passed and here every day the mercatores did their business. The constructions that insisted on these areas took place only by virtue of a concession that was made by the state property and which could not be accessed by all citizens of Rome, unless they had knowledge capable of favoring them.

One of the most lucrative activities was to build insulae, these were large buildings where several families housed and which had the possession behind payment of a rent. The insulae were generally composed of a floor at street level overlooked by the tabernae that were rented to artisans or traders and these usually had an internal staircase that connected to the house, then externally there were stairs leading to the upper floors where the cenacula were, that is apartments whose ceiling became lower and lower on each floor.

Renting tabernae and ceanacula was a real bargain because rents in Rome were four times more expensive than in other cities; the inhabitants of the insulae were merchants, artisans and workers, however free men who could pay a rent; the owners were mostly belonging to the aristocracy or in any case very rich men.

Among the great owners of the insulae there was Marcus Licinius Crassus but also men like Marcus Tullius Cicero obtained their income from the rent of the insulae.

The Volusian insula was one of the most coveted complexes and was certainly inhabited mainly by merchants who had their business in the Forum Boarium or in the Forum Olitorius because it was located right in the center of the streets that from the two important market squares then led to the Roman Forum, the heart of public life in Rome.

On one side it overlooked the Vicus Iugarius, just behind the Temples of Ceres and Mater Matuta at the Foro Boario (which today are identified as pertinent to the area of S. Omobono due to the church erected on part of their foundations), and on the side towards the Palatine it faced the Via Triumphalis, whose route (according to Filippo Coarelli) would today be partly occupied by the modern building and partly retraced by Via Bucimazza. The Volusian insula was located along one of the most important commercial routes and its tabernae were occupied by retailers who, it is assumed, exhibited the goods inside the taberna but also in the arcades, while the mezzanines were used like small warehouses.

From the excavations carried out in a taberna of the Volusian insula, the pondera were discovered, that is the weights used in the markets of Rome that were controlled by Quintus Junius Rusticus when him as Praefectus Urbi had among the tasks of urban police also the control of trade and therefore of libra (weight measurements). For the public control of the measures there were sample measurements that were kept in the public buildings that were located on the Capitolium and at the Temple of Castor and Pollux while, for the verification of the weights in daily commercial activities and in public places where commercial exchanges were concentrated of the "pondera" sample and just a group of these was found in the taberna. It was a group of 6 elements with the words “ex auctoritate Q. Iuni Rustici” imprinted; Quintus Iunius Rusticus in 160 AD, as a magistrate in charge of verifying the suitability of the measures, had stamped the visa authorizing its use ...