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Ancient Rome’s greatest treasures were not only made of precious metals and sparkling gems. Basic spices like salt and pepper, and exotic imports such as cardamom and cinnamon may have been even more valuable to the empire than all the gold of imperial Rome, resorts The Jerusalem Post. Spices were used to pay wages, barter, heal, worship, and, of course, to flavor and preserve food.
A team of archaeologists from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy recently uncovered an ornate ancient spice warehouse in the capital city that dates back to the first century, that attests to the central role aromatic herbs played in ancient Roman culture. Now, the warehouse has, for the first time, opened its doors to the public.
The Horrea Pippertaria
This warehouse, called the Horrea Pippertaria, housed herbs of all types, including exotic spices from faraway Egypt, Arabia, and India, such as cardamom, cinnamon, and pepper. The spices weren’t just used to flavor foods. Some were employed as incense in religious ceremonies. Others were used as medicinal herbs.
This was no ordinary warehouse, it was fireproofed and always controlled by the imperial guard, according to Galen of Pergamon, a Greek physician who lived in the second century and wrote about the Horrea Piperataria, where he rented space for his books and cures. He described it as the safest space in Rome.
The Horrea Pippertaria, the Wanted in Rome website, shares, claimed central real estate in the Rome of yore. It was located on the Vicus ad Carinas, the ancient thoroughfare that connected the Roman Forum to the city center in Equilino.
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The Carinas street spanned over several tiers and contained shops, courtyards, and drainage wells, reports the Jerusalem Post. The streets were paved in opus spicatum, an ornate brickwork pattern common in ancient Rome.
Both the Horrea Pippertaria and the Velia were lost to history for thousands of years after a devastating fire, called the Commodus fire, leveled that part of the city in 192 CE. The ruins were located under the Basilica of Maxentius.
Open to visitors
In 2019, the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum partnered with Sapienza University to excavate the ancient street. Domenico Palombi, the archaeology professor spearheaded the project alongside a group of students, according to ANSA.
The Carinas exhibition, including a tour of the Horrea Pippertaria spice warehouse, opened to tourists in December of 2024.. The tour, which lasts 75 minutes consists of a video followed by a guided walk through the ancient streets. Multimedia presentations along the pathway show visitors how the area has changed over time, and a glass walkway lets tourists glimpse the ancient brickwork below them.
“It is an important day because we are returning to visitors a sector of ancient Rome that is particularly significant. We are all excited,” Alfonsina Russo, director of the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum told ANSA.
When you walk the ancient streets of Rome and inhale the fragrant scents, take time to remember that spices were once with their weight in gold.
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