I forgot to mention that in the midst of our Arles rain walk we took a brief tour of the cryptoporticus, a “semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures aboveground” such as the forum which served as the Roman marketplace of the city.
No one is quite sure went on down there during Roman rule, but it is conjectured that it might have been a barracks for slaves. If so, I can’t imagine a more horrible place to dwell. It had the murky damp thick-aired atmosphere of an abandoned mausoleum. This echoing underground wasn’t even fit for the dead.
