Abstract:

This work presents some results of an ongoing research on amphorae in the collection of the
Museo dei Fori Imperiali in Rome. A considerable part of the collection is made up of amphorae
from the excavation of the fossa aggeris of the Servian walls, near the Praetorian camp, studied
by H. Dressel between the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s of the XIX century. On that
occasion, one of the first typologies of Roman amphorae was developed, which later merged into
the famous typology of the amphorae of Rome attached to the XV volume of the CIL. The overall
analysis of the materials collected during the excavation of the fossa aggeris suggests the possibility
of a different chronology of the context, which H. Dressel dated between 45 and 50 AD, relating
it in some way to the nearby Praetorian camp. The research so far has focused on Hispanic
amphorae, which are widely documented. Although almost all the tituli picti studied by H. Dressel
have now vanished, the analysis of the variegated typological repertoire of the Hispanic amphorae
in the collection gives a particularly interesting picture of the commerce of Hispanic foodstuffs
transported in amphorae; thanks to the stamps and graffiti it was finally possible to identify some
of the amphorae of the fossa aggeris studied by H. Dressel.