mail: Bill Thayer

Italiano

Help

Up

Home

 p141  Crypta Balbi

Article on pp141‑142 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Crypta Balbi: mentioned only in the Notitia (Reg. IX),º but probably built by Balbus in 15 B.C. at the same time as his theatre (q.v.). The  p142 name is best explained as a term used for a vaulted passage lighted from above (RE IV.1732), and this building may have been a sort of ambulatory round the cavea of the theatre. No traces of it have been found,​a and the remains in the Via dei Calderari, formerly identified as the Crypta Balbi, belong to another structure (cf. Porticus Minucia; HJ 521, 545; Jord. II.534; Gilb. III.329).

Thayer's Note:

a The building was finally found, and to a large extent excavated, between 1981 and 2000 when an interesting museum was opened in part of it. It is more of a monumental complex than a mere building, covering about an hectare (two and a half acres), and including among other things a well-preserved Mithraeum.

Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
The Dictionary's table of bibliographical abbreviations is here; it includes links to those complete works that are online.
UP TO:	Platner & Ashby	Topographia Urbis	Rome	Roman Gazetteer	LacusCurtius	Home
OFF SITE:	Beni Culturali
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.