Archaeologists just opened Rome’s ancient Imperial Spice Warehouse to the public, and the scale of their global trade network is absolutely mind-blowing.

[u/Augustus_Ceaser-Rome]

[u/marintkael]

Galen is the best witness to what these storehouses on the Sacra Via meant. In his letter On Avoiding Distress he describes losing his drugs, his books and his own recipes in the fire of 192, when the warehouses burned. People kept valuables there precisely because the buildings were stone and guarded, so they were thought safe. Maxentius later built over the ruins, which is part of why the site stayed buried.