Brickstamp, Portus Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1872.1488.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1872.1488(6) AshLI 185 Coll. Ref: 6 Roman catalogue: 370

A circular orbicular brickstamp (0.10), damaged on one side, with a large orbiculus (0.041) extending into the central section of the stamp. The central circle remains blank.

Brick: 0.092+ 0.122+ 0.047+

There are two lines of letters around the edge of the stamp, running in concentric circles. In line 1, only the left curved side of the Q is now visible. The last letter at the end of line is clearly V (as recorded by Dressel), not I (contra Steinby 1978: p.164, no.465, who suggested reading SABINI(ANVM)).

 0.013-0.014 (outer line); 0.011-0.012 (inner line). According to Dressel (1891) and Lanciani (1868: p.175), it was found in the ‘palazzo imperiale’/ ‘imperial palace’ at Portus. AD 123 (consular date). This brickstamp is part of a collection of brickstamps from Rome, Ostia, and Portus given to the Ashmolean by J.H. Parker, Keeper of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum (1870-84), after a visit to Rome in the winter months of 1871/2. It is currently in store. The number 370 has been used twice in labelling the brickstamps in this collection: see also AN1872.1489(6*) (no.370). Photograph Photograph
ex praedis Quinti Pompei Pae(?) Sabinum opus Paetino et Aproniano consulibus

Sabine product from the estate of Quintus Pompeius Pae(?). In the consulship of Paetinus and Apronianus.

The complete text was supplemented by Dressel on the basis of another brickstamp in Paris, of unknown origin, in which line 1 preserves EX PR Q POMPE PAE SA[---].

The name of the owner of the estate, abbreviated here as Q. Pompeius Pae(?) cannot be fully restored, but he was owner of the praedia Sabina from AD 123 (Steinby 1974-75: p.82; Setälä 1977: p.166). This brickstamp belongs to Hadrianic repairs (Lanciani 1868: p.175) or further modifications identified during Period 3 in the development of the so-called ‘imperial palace’ at Portus, a large complex at the centre of the Trajanic harbour installation, which appears to have been constructed in the later years of Trajan’s rule (Keay, Earl, Felici 2011: p.77, 84). The year AD 123 marked an exceptional and sudden upsurge in the marking of bricks with stamps bearing a consular date, with some 700 different brickstamps known for this one year alone. Quite why this was the case is still the matter for debate, but it is probable that Hadrian’s government imposed a requirement upon brick producers in this year to include a date upon their bricks (Bloch 1959: p.237).

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities MS. Accession Register 1872.1488 (6); CIL XIV no.4089,19 (Dessau 1887); CIL XV.1 no.531, 1 (from an impression sent by Waldstein) (Dressel 1891); Bloch 1938: p.101 no.21; Thylander 1952: p.435 B 386, 8.

Online: EDCS-21200456 [accessed 24/11/14].

Bloch H. 1983 I bolli laterizi e la storia edilizia romana Rome C. Colombo Bloch H. 1959 The Serapeum of Ostia and the Brick-Stamps of 123 A.D. A New Landmark in the History of Roman Architecture American Journal of Archaeology 63.3 225-240 Keay S. Earl G. Felici F. 2011 Excavation and survey at the Palazzo Imperiale 2007-9’ in Portus and its Hinterland Portus and its Hinterland S.Keay L.Paroli London Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 18 67-91 Lanciani R.A. 1868 Ricerche topografiche sulla città di Porto Annali dell’ Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 40 144-95 Setälä P. 1977 Private Domini in Roman Brick Stamps of the Empire. A Historical and Prosopographical Study of Landowners in the District of Rome Helsinki Academia Scientiarum Fennica Steinby M. 1974-75 La cronologia delle figlinae doliari urbane Bullettino della commissione archeologica comunale di Roma 84 25-132 Steinby M. et al. 1978 Lateres Signati Ostienses Rome Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae vol. 7.1 Thylander H. 1952 Inscriptions du port d’Ostie Lund Gleerup