Parole come immagini. Un riesame delle fonti letterarie ed epigrafiche relative alla biblioteca della porticus Octaviae e agli schiavi pubblici in essa impiegati

The paper aims to examine all the literary and epigraphic evidence that refers to the porticus Octaviae and the library housed therein, in order to offer an updated overview of the history and the organization of the entire complex. Focusing on the attestations of public slaves employed as librarians, the second part of the article discusses the political significance of their use into the administration of the library of the porticus Octaviae and, more generally, into the management of the city of Rome under Augustus. For the first time, some public slaves employed in the library, such as Montanus Iulianus and Philoxenus Iulianus, Hymnus Aurelianus, and Soterichus Vestricianus, are interpreted as slaves previously owned by Augustus, M. Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messallinus, and T. Vestricius Spurinna respectively.