THE IMPERIAL ATRIUM OF THE FIFTH PERIOD. 47 
Gratian, our knowledge is very slight. It is probable, however, that it served 
for several centuries as a residence for the officials of the imperial court, to 
one of whom doubtless belonged the treasure of the three hundred and ninety- 
seven coins found in 1899 beneath the pavement of the corridor on the south.’ 
The greater number of these coins,” which belong wholly to the fourth and 
fifth centuries, are of the emperor Anthemius (467-472 A. D.). With the 
passing of time, as the building fell into decay, the poorer classes found 
shelter within its walls in huts built among the heaps of rapidly accumulating 
debris, while the marbles of the walls and the statues furnished a source of 
supply for at least two limekilns located in the building itself.? At this time 
probably the pedestal dedicated to Coelia Claudiana, which was found in 
1868 in the stadium on the Palatine, was removed from the Atrium.* That 
the Atrium was not yet wholly abandoned in the tenth century is shown by 
the remains of a small house in the northwest corner of the court, beneath 
the pavement of which in 1883 a vase was found containing over eight hun- 
dred Anglo-Saxon coins® of the ninth and tenth centuries. From the fibula 
found with these coins, which bore the name of the pope Marinus, it is clear 
that the owner of this house was an official of the papal court. After this 
time the Atrium Vestz was, so far as can now be ascertained, not only wholly 
abandoned, but its site was forgotten until 1883, when in the course of 
the excavations it was once more brought to light. 
1 Plan E, 42. 3 Lanciani, Not. d. Scavi, 1883, 485. 
2 For a description of these coins, see Not.d.Scavi, ‘4This base has within a few years been restored 
1899, 327ff. The coins are now in the to its original place in the Atrium. 
Museo delle Terme. 5 These coins are now in the Museo delle Terme. 
