Ostia
Ostia, Ostia, port at mouth of Tiber
- a seaport town in Latium, at the mouth of the Tiber, built by Ancus Marcius, still called Ostia: Ostiam urbem ad exitum Tiberis in mare fluentis Ancus Marcius rex condidisse fertur, Paul. ex Fest. p. 197 Müll.; cf.: urbs, quam secundum ostium Tiberis (Ancus Marcius) posuit, ex quo etiam Ostiam. id. s. v. Quiritium, p. 254 ib.; Enn. ap. Paul. ex Fest. s. v. quaeso, p. 258 ib. (Ann. v. 145 Vahl.): in ore Tiberis Ostia urbs condita, Liv. 1, 33 fin.; Cic. Rep. 2, 3, 5.—Form Ostia, ōrum, Liv. 9, 19, 4; 23, 37, 1.—Hence,
- II Ostĭen-sis, e, adj., of or belonging to Ostia, Ostian (class.): Ostiensis ager, Cic. Att. 12, 23, 3; Liv. 8, 12: populus, id. 27, 38: quaestor (L. Saturninus), Cic. Sest. 17, 39: portus, Plin. 9, 6, 5, § 14: provincia, the duty of one of the quaestors to superintend the aqueducts leading to Rome, and the supplying of Rome with corn, Cic. Mur. 8, 18; Suet. Claud. 24: incommodum, the capture of the Roman fleet by pirates at Ostia, Cic. Imp. Pomp. 12, 33.
O´STIA(Ὠστία: Eth. Ostiensis: Ostia), a city of Latium, situated at the mouth of the Tiber, from which position it derived its name. It was on the left bank of the river, at a distance of 16 miles from Rome, by the road which derived from it the name of Via Ostiensis. ( Itin. Ant. p. 301.) All ancient writers agree in representing it as founded by the Roman king Ancus Marcius; and it seems certain that it always retained the position of a colony of Rome, and was at no period independent. From its position, indeed, it naturally became the port of Rome, and was essential to that city, not only for the purpose of maintaining that naval supremacy which it had established before the close of the regal period, but for securing its supplies of corn and other imported produce which was carried up the Tiber. Ancus Marcius at the same time established salt-works on the site, which for a long time continued to supply both Rome itself and the neighboring country in the interior with that necessary article. (Liv. 1.33; Dionys. 3.44; Cic. de Rep. 2.3, 18; Strab. 5. p. 232; Flor. 1.4; Eutrop. i 5; Fest. p. 197.) There can be no doubt that the importance of Ostia must have continued to increase with the growing prosperity and power of Rome; but it is remarkable that we meet with no mention of its name in history until the period of the Second Punic War. At that time it appears as a commercial and naval station of the utmost importance; and was not only the port to which the corn from Sicily and Sardinia was brought for the supply of Rome itself, as well as of the Roman legions in the field, but was the permanent station of a Roman fleet, for the protection both of the capital, and the neighbouring shores of Italy. (Liv. 22.11, 37, 57, 23.38, 25.20, 27.22.) It was at this time still reckoned one of the coloniae maritimae;but on account of its peculiar importance in relation to Rome, it enjoyed special privileges; so that in B.C. 207, when the other maritime colonies endeavoured to establish a claim to exemption from levies for military service, this was allowed only in the case of Ostia and Antium; the citizens of which were at the same time compelled to be constantly present as a garrison within their own walls. (Liv. 27.38.) On a subsequent occasion (B.C. 191) they attempted to extend this exemption to the naval service also; but their claim was at once disallowed by the senate. (Id.36.3.) Even after the complete establishment of the naval power of the Roman Republic, Ostia seems to have continued to be the usual station of a Roman fleet: and in B.C. 67 it was there that a squadron, which had been assembled for the repression of the Cilician pirates, was attacked by the pirates themselves, and the ships either destroyed or taken. ( Cic pro Leg. Manil. 12; Dio Cass..) Ostia itself also suffered severely during the civil wars of Sulla and Marius, having been taken by the latter in B.C. 87, and given up to plunder and devastation by his soldiers, .(Appian, App. BC 1.67; Liv. Epit. lxxix; Oros. 5.19; Flor. 3.21.12.)
But its position at the mouth of the Tiber, as the port of Rome, secured it from decay: and so important was the trade of Ostia become, especially on account of the supplies of corn which it furnished to the capital, that it was made the place of residence of one of the four quaestors of Italy, and gave name to one of the provinciae quaestoriaeinto which that country was divided. (Cic. pro Muren. 8, pro Sest.17; Suet. Cl. 24.) But the increasing commerce of Ostia rendered its natural disadvantages as a port only the more sensible; and there can be little doubt that those disadvantages were themselves continually increasing. It had been originally founded, as we are expressly told, close to the mouth of the Tiber, from which it is now distant above three miles; and the process of alluvial deposition, which has wrought this change, has been undoubtedly going on throughout the intervening period. Hence Strabo describes in strong terms the disadvantages of Ostia in his day, and calls it a city without a port, on account of the alluvial deposits continually brought down by the Tiber, which compelled the larger class of vessels to ride at anchor in the open roadstead at great risk, while their cargoes were unloaded into boats or barges, by which they were carried up the river to Rome. Other vessels were themselves towed up the Tiber, after they had been lightened by discharging a part of their cargoes.(Strab. v. pp. 231, 232.) Dionysius gives a more favourable view, but which does not substantially differ from the preceding account. (Dionys. 3.44.) These evils had already attracted the attention of the dictator Caesar, and among the projects ascribed to him, was one for forming an artificial port or basin at Ostia (Plut. Caes. 58): but this was neglected by his successors, until the increasing difficulty of supplying Rome With corn compelled Claudius to undertake the work.
That emperor, instead of attempting to cleanse and restore the original port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, determined on the construction of an entirely new basin, which was excavated in the seashore about two miles to the N. of Ostia, and which was made to communicate with the river by an artificial cut or canal. This port was protected and enlarged by two moles projecting out into the sea, so as to enclose an extensive space, while in the interval between them a breakwater or artificial island was thrown up, crowned by a lighthouse. (Dio Cass.; Suet. Cl. 20; Plin. Nat. 9.6, 16.40. s. 76; Juven. 12.75--81.) This great work was called the PORTUS AUGUSTIon which account its construction, or at least commencement, is by some writers referred to the emperor Augustus ; but there is no authority for this; and Dio Cassius distinctly assigns the commencement as well as completion of it to Claudius. Nero, however, appears to have put the finishing hand to the work, and in consequence struck coins on which he claims it for his own. (Eckhel, vol. 6. p. 276.) After this it was considerably augmented by Trajan, who added an inner basin or dock, of a hexagonal form, surrounded with quays and extensive ranges of buildings for magazines and storehouses. This port was called by him PORTUS TRAJANI;and hence we afterwards meet in inscriptions with the Portus Augusti et Trajani,and sometimes Portus uterquein the same sense. (Juv. l. c.,et Schol. ad loc.;Gruter, Inscr. p. 308. 10, p. 440. 3.) At the same time he enlarged or repaired the artificial channel of communication with PLAN OF OSTIA.
PLAN OF OSTIA., AA. Main channel of the Tiber.
B. Right arm of ditto, the Fossa Trajana, now called Fiumicino.
C. Fiunme Morto, dry bed of ancient course of the Tiber.
D. Modern village of Ostia.
E. Ruins of ancient Ostia.
F. Portus Augusti.
G. Portus Trajani.
H. Insula Sacra.
the Tiber, which now assumed the name of FOSSA TRAJANA,and is undoubtedly the same which still exists under the name of Fiumicino, and forms the right arm of the Tiber, from which it separates about a mile and a half above the site of Ostia,
The new port thus constructed soon gave rise to the growth of a new town around it, which was generally known by the name of PORTUS OSTIENSIS,sometimes also Portus Urbis or Portus Romae, but more frequently, at least in later times, simply PORTUS. It seems to have been designed more particulaly for the importation of corn for the supply of the capital, an object of which the importance became felt more and more, as the population of Rome continued to increase, while it became more absolutely dependent upon foreign produce. The adjoining district on the right bank of the Tiber was portioned out among a body of colonists before the time of Trajan (Lib. Colon. p. 222); and a new line of road was constructed along the right bank of the Tiber from Rome to the new port, which obtained the name of Via Portuensis. In the reign of Constantine the city of Portus was erected into an episcopal see (Anastas. Vit. Silvestr. 34); and the same emperor surrounded it with strong walls and towers, which are. still in considerable part extant.
Meanwhile Ostia itself was far from sinking into decay. Repeated notices of it during the earlier periods of the Roman Empire show it to have been still a flourishing and populous city, and successive emperors concurred in improving it and adorning it with public buildings. It was particularly indebted to the care of Hadrian (Gruter, Inscr, p. 249. 7) and Septimius Severus, numerous inscriptions in honour of whom have been discovered among its ruins. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. ii. pp. 434, 468.) Aurelian, also, we are told, adorned it with a Forum, which bore his name, and which was decorated by his successor Tacitus with 100 columns of Numidic marble. (Vopisc. Aurel. 45; Tac. 10.) The existing remains confirm the inference which we should draw from these accounts, and show that Ostia must have continued to be a flourishing town till towards the close of the Roman Empire, and far superior in the number and splendour of its public buildings to the neighbouring town of Portus. But the security of the latter place, which was well fortified, while Ostia was wholly unprotected by walls (Procop. B. G. 1.26), must have contributed greatly to the advantage of Portus; and the artificial port seems to have obtained an increasing preference over the natural mouth of the Tiber. Rutilius says that in his time (about A.D. 414) the left arm, or main channel of the river, was so obstructed with sand as to be wholly deserted (Itin. 1.181); but this would appear to be an exaggerated statement, as Procopius more than a century later describes them as both navigable (Procop. l. c.). Ostia was, however, in his day already in a state of great decay, and the road which led from thence to Rome (the Via Ostiensis) was neglected and abandoned, while the Via Portuensis on the other side of the Tiber was still the scene of considerable traffic. The importance of Portus became more developed when Rome itself became exposed to the attacks of hostile barbarians. In A.D. 409 Alaric, king of the Goths, made himself master of the port, and with it of the stores of corn for the supply of the capitals which compelled the senate to capitulate on the terms that he chose to dictate (Zosim. 6.6); and again during the wars of Belisarius and Vitiges (in 537) the Gothic king, by making himself master of Portus, was able to reduce his adversary to severe distress (Procop. B. G. 1.26, &c.). The decline of Ostia continued throughout the earlier part of the middle ages: in 827 it is described as altogether in ruins, and the continued incursions of the Saracens throughout that century seem to have completed its desolation.
But meanwhile the artificial ports of Claudius and Trajan were beginning in their turn to suffer from the deposit of sand which is constantly going on along these shores; and no attempt being made in these ages of confusion and disorder to arrest the progress of the evil, they were both gradually filled up so as to be rendered altogether useless. In the 10th century, the port of Trajan was already Deduced to a mere lake or pool, altogether cut off from the sea, and only communicating by a ditch with the Tiber. (Ughelli, Italia Sacra, vol. 1. p. 134.) The consequence was that for a time the trade was again forced to have recourse to the left arm of the river; and the modern Ostia, where a castle or fort had been founded by Pope Gregory IV., a little above the ruins of the ancient city, became again for a period of some centuries the landing-place of travellers and the port of Rome. It was not till 1612 that Pope Paul V. once more caused the canal of Trajan to be restored and cleared out, and continued to the present line of sea-coast, where a small port called Fiumicinowas constructed; and from this time the whole traffic carried on by the Tiber with Rome (which is however but inconsiderable) has been confined to this arm of the river. The main channel, on the other hand, having been completely neglected, has become so obstructed with sand near the mouth as to be wholly impracticable.
The modern village of Ostiais a very poor place, with the ruins of an old castle, but retains little more than 50 permanent inhabitants, who are principally employed in the neighbouring salt-works. Its climate in summer is extremely unhealthy. The ruins of the ancient city begin about half a mile below it, and extend along the left bank of the Tiber for a space of near a mile and a half in length, and a mile in breadth. Though extensive, they are for the most part in a very dilapidated and imperfect state, so as to have little or no interest as architectural monuments; but among them may be distinctly traced the remains of a theatre, a temple of the Corinthian order, the forum, with several of the public buildings that surrounded it; and near the Torre Bovacciana, close to the Tiber, are the ruins of buildings that appear to indicate this as the site of the actual port or emporium of Ostia in the imperial period. The great number and beauty of the statues and other works of art, which have been brought to light by the excavations carried on at successive periods on the site of Ostia, are calculated to give a high notion of the opulence and prosperity of the ancient city.
The ruins of Portus, which are also very considerable, are of an entirely different character from those of Ostia. They are found on the right bank of the Tiber, about 2 miles from the present line of sea-coast at Fiumicino, and are still known as Porto;while the inner basin of Trajan, the hexagonal form of which may be distinctly traced, though it is in great part filled with sand, is still popularly known by the name of Il Trajano. The quays of solid masonry that surrounded it are still well preserved; while extensive, though shapeless, masses of ruins adjoining it appear to have been those of the magazines and storehouses attached to the port. The remains of the port of Claudius are less distinct; the line of the moles which bounded it may, however, be traced, though they are altogether buried in sand; the tower of the lighthouse or Pharos was still visible in the 15th century, when the ruins were visited and described by Pope Pius II., but has now entirely disappeared. A considerable part of the ancient walls with which the city was fortified by Constantine is still visible; they were strengthened with towers, and closely resemble, in their style of construction the older portions of those of Rome.
Between the site of Ostia and that of Portus is the island, formed by the two branches of the Tiber, which is about 3 miles in length by 2 in breadth. It is commonly known as the INSULA SACRA,an appellation first given to it by Procopius, who describes it in detail ( B. G. 1.26). The origin of the epithet is unknown, but it appears to have been in Christian times regarded as consecrated, having been, according to Anastasius, bestowed by Constantine upon the church. It is described in exaggerated terms by a writer of the 5th century (Aethicus, Cosmogr. p. 716, ed. Gronov.) for its beauty and fertility, whence he says it was termed Libanus Almae Veneris:but in spring it is still covered with fine pastures abounding with beautiful flowers. The formation of this island obviously dates only from the construction of the right arm of the Tiber, now known as Il Fiumicino, which, as already shown, is probably wholly artificial. No writer before the time of the Roman Empire alludes to more than one mouth of the river.
The topography of Ostia and Portus, and the vicissitudes and changes which the two ports at the month of the Tiber have undergone, are fully traced, and the existing ruins described in detail. by Nibby ( Dintorni di Roma, vol. 2. p. 426--474, 602--660); as well as by Preller, in the Berichte der Sächsischen Gesellschaftfor the year 1849 (pp. 5--38). The preceding plan is copied from one given by the latter writer.
[E.H.B]A town at the mouth of the river Tiber, and the harbour of Rome, from which it was distant sixteen miles by land, situated on the left bank of the left arm of the river. It was founded by Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome, who is said to have established salt-works there, was a Roman colony, and became an important and flourishing town. The emperor Claudius constructed a new and better harbour on the right arm of the Tiber, which was enlarged and improved by Trajan. This new harbour was called simply Portus Romanus or Portus Augusti, and around it there sprang up a flourishing town, also called Portus. The old town of Ostia, whose harbour had been already partly filled up by sand, now sank into insignificance, and only continued to exist through its salt-works (salinae), which had been established by Ancus Martius. The modern town bears the same name as the old.
A city on the W coast at the mouth of the Tiber. By tradition it was first settled by Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, to supply Rome with salt, but no such settlement has yet been found. The earliest Ostia known to us was built ca. 350 B.C. some 200 m S of the Tiber near its mouth and occupied only a little more than 2 ha, providing for some 300 families. Its original function was to guard the coastline and the river, and it was protected by strong walls of large tufa blocks quarried near Fidenae. Within the walls, which had four gates, the area was divided by narrow streets in a grid pattern. The colony increased in importance when Rome began to need imports from overseas, for the river mouth had to serve as Rome's harbor. During the wars against Carthage, Ostia also became an important naval base. In the 2d c. B.C. the growth of Rome's population increased the demand for imports from overseas, particularly grain. During the resulting increase of population in Ostia to service the growing volume of shipping the town expanded beyond its walls. By the early 1st c. B.C. the small fort had become a substantial town and the new walls that were then built enclosed 64 ha.
By now the main lines of the town plan were established. The centers of the original colony became the forum of the enlarged town where the two main roads crossed. The decumanus maximus continued in a straight line E to the Porta Romana by which the Via Ostiensis entered the town. To the W it forked a little W of the colony's wall, the main branch proceeding to the seashore, the other (Via della Foce) to the river mouth. The cardo maximus ran in a straight line to the river; southwards it turned SE after leaving the forum. The most important area for trade and commerce was the land between the river and the decumanus—Via della Foce, whose development was strictly controlled and reserved mainly for warehouses and public buildings. The most attractive residential area was in the SW towards the sea. The least impressive was the SE quarter which shows little sign of considered planning.
Ostia was neglected in the late Republic, but felt the benefit of Augustus' approach to social and economic problems. The expansion of trade in the early Empire showed that the river harbor was too restricted for the shipping now needed to maintain Rome, and the larger merchantmen could not negotiate the sand bar at the river mouth.
About 3 km N of the Tiber mouth Claudius built a large artificial harbor, and two canals were dug linking the new harbor with the Tiber and thus with Rome. In A.D. 62, however, 200 ships were sunk within the harbor according to Tacitus: the expanse of shallow water was too large to provide shelter except near the moles. It was not until Trajan added a large hexagonal basin, excavated from the land, that Rome's harbor problem was satisfactorily solved.
Though the new harbors were directly linked with Rome they brought increased prosperity to Ostia for a hundred years. The Ostian council and magistrates controlled the area, though imperial officials were responsible for the harbors themselves, and the majority of the harbor workers lived in Ostia. During the first half of the 2d c. Ostia was transformed. Her population was more than doubled, her housing was revolutionized and her public buildings and amenities reflected the new prosperity. These dramatic developments were made possible by the energy and initiative of Ostia's own citizens but they were also encouraged and aided by the emperors at Rome. Hadrian was almost certainly the emperor to whom Ostia owed most. In an inscription of 133 he was honored by the city “for having preserved it and enhanced it with all indulgence and generosity.” Nearly half the Ostia we now see was built while Hadrian was emperor and the new work is notable for the coherent planning of large areas. Two of these building programs probably derived from imperial initiative. The first comes from the beginning of his reign and involved the building of a series of large warehouses NW of the forum, the remodeling on a more handsome scale of the cardo between the forum and the river, and the building of a new Capitolium to dominate the forum. The second, on the N side of the W decumanus, comes from the last years of Hadrian. At the center of this plan are two large public buildings, to the N the barracks of the Vigiles, the fire-fighters detached from the cohorts at Rome, and to the S of the barracks a large set of public baths, handsomely appointed. An inscription records that Hadrian paid for the building and that his successor added what was needed to complete the work after Hadrian's death. On the E and W sides of these two buildings, blocks of apartments and shops form part of the comprehensive plan.
The rebuilding of Ostia was needed to provide for a sharply increasing population in an area restricted by the town walls and the necropoleis lining the roads outside the gates.
Ostian architects profited from the experience of Rome's rebuilding after the great fire under Nero. There had been changes in the use of building materials since the Republic, when tufa had dominated. Buildings that had to be either strong or impressive were then built with large blocks of tufa; after concrete had been developed in the 2d c. B.C., houses and secondary walls of public buildings normally had a core of concrete faced with small blocks of tufa, at first of irregular shape, opus incertum, and by the end of the Republic of regular squares set diagonally, opus reticulatum. Travertine from the Tivoli quarries, stronger but more expensive, was used economically; Italian marble was introduced on a small scale under Augustus. By the 2d c. A.D. the brick industry, based on the rich clay fields near Rome, was competing successfully against tufa, at first in association with large panels of small tufa blocks, opus mixtum, but alone by the end of Hadrian's reign. Travertine was now used in place of the cheaper tufa for columns and thresholds, and marble was freely used in public buildings—Italian marble for large surfaces, but a wide range of foreign marbles, from Greece, Asia Minor, and Africa for columns and paneling.
The most interesting feature of the rebuilding of Ostia is the type of housing adopted to meet the increase in population. Down at least to Augustus there were still many houses of Pompeian type with a series of rooms surrounding an atrium, sometimes with a second set of rooms surrounding a garden court, the peristyle. These houses looked inward for their light, and could expand only horizontally. With the increasing pressure on space it was necessary to build high and the private house gave way to the apartment block. These blocks had strong walls and could have as many as five stories. Some were purely residential, others combined shops on the ground floor with apartments above. The shopkeeper often lived in a mezzanine floor above his shop, reached by a staircase with its first treads in brick and the rest in wood; for the other tenants of the block there were separate staircases from the street. These multiple dwellings are either built round an open court, drawing light from outside and inside, or they have no court and draw their light exclusively from outside. The apartments vary in size and elegance, but many of them conform to a common plan, in which the rooms open off a wide corridor-hall, replacing the atrium, with the two largest, for reception and dining, at either end and the secondary rooms between. This plan is found with a varying number of rooms and is used in the cheapest as well as the most expensive blocks. In the better apartments the floors, except in kitchen and latrine, were covered with mosaics, usually in simple geometric patterns; figured scenes are more rare. The poorer apartments had to be content with herringbone pattern brick or cocciopesto. The painting on the walls is normally the work of house decorators rather than artists and depended for its effect primarily on contrasting masses of color.
The elevations of these blocks on the streets are plain and effective. The brick is rarely concealed behind plaster and there is no superfluous decoration. The main effect comes from the size and spacing of the windows. Doorways framed by columns or pilasters and pediment add distinction without fuss to some blocks.
The revolution in private accommodation was accompanied by an impressive improvement in public building and amenities. In the Republic the population had to rely on wells. In the Early Empire an aqueduct was built to bring a constant flow of water from the high ground 6.4 m to the E. The supply of water to private houses was limited but public fountains, and cisterns were provided in the streets. The aqueduct also made possible the extension of bathing facilities. The proliferation of public baths in a harbor town is one of Ostia's most engaging features. In the first half of the 2d c. A.D. three sets were built which must have dwarfed their predecessors. The bath by the seacoast outside the Porta Marina were built under Trajan, the Baths of Neptune on the N side of the E decumanus under Hadrian, and the forum baths off the SE corner of the forum under Antoninus Pius. From an inscription we know that the Baths of Neptune were paid for by Hadrian and his successor; there are also reasons for believing that the other two sets were imperial benefactions. All three sets covered large areas and were handsomely decorated with statues and fine mosaics, and the forum baths heralded a change in architectural fashions, from rigidly rectangular planning to the curving lines of apse, niche, and round temple. In addition to the three “imperial” baths, there were at least 14 smaller establishments.
The large number of public baths shows that a large proportion of the population must have attended regularly. The theater on the other hand was small. The original building under Augustus cannot have held more than 3000, and when it was rebuilt and enlarged at the end of the 2d c. there was room for not more than 4000. It is probable that gladiators and wild beasts attracted much larger audiences but no amphitheater has yet been found. There may have been one S of the river.
To match the reconstruction in so many parts of the town it was important to give more dignity to the civic center. Hadrian was probably responsible for the building of a new Capitolium at the N end of the forum. In order to dominate the tall blocks in its neighborhood, the new temple was built on a high platform, approached by a monumental marble stairway. The walls were originally lined with Italian marble, the fluted columns of its fronting portico were of pavonazetto marble from Asia Minor and the massive threshold stone of the wide doorway was a single block of African marble weighing some two tons. At the same time porticos were added to the E and W side of the forum.
Before the imperial harbors were built, Ostia's primary function was to provide the essential services for ships carrying cargoes for Rome and storage capacity for Rome's reserves. Ships up to ca. 150 tons could make the passage to Rome by a combination of sail and oars, but larger ships and especially ships carrying corn had to unload at the harbor and their cargoes had to be transferred to smaller boats that could be towed up river. During the summer months the volume of shipping was so large that it would have been impossible to keep the harbor open had it been necessary to send all cargoes to Rome when they arrived. The imperial harbors eased the problem but they did not ease the congestion on the Tiber route to Rome, and the problem became more acute when ships that had previously unloaded their Roman cargoes at Puteoli now came to the imperial harbors. How much storage capacity was provided by the Claudian harbor we do not know, but Trajan's harbor was almost entirely surrounded by warehouses. Storage capacity for Roman corn and perhaps other goods was still needed at Ostia, for it is certain at least that the number and capacity of horrea increased dramatically in the 2d c. Earlier warehouses, to judge from surviving evidence, were limited to a single floor; in the 2d c. there were normally stairs to one or more upper stories. The grandi horrea N of the W decumanus, near the forum, which had been built under Claudius were completely remodeled shortly after the middle of the 2d c. with stronger internal walls and stairways to additional storage above. In another warehouse, W of the Piccolo Mercato, only one wall was left, and the rest entirely rebuilt. The new granaries marked an improvement on the old, not only in their increased capacity, but by raising the floors on low brick walls to facilitate the circulation of air underneath.
Another type of warehouse can be recognized by large earthenware jars sunk in the ground, dolia defossa. Four such deposits can be seen and the largest, NE of the forum, has more than 100 jars with a total capacity of more than 84,000 liters. These jars contained oil or wine and since Roman supplies would have been stored in their containers we should regard the operators of these horrea as Ostian wholesalers supplying local demand.
The most interesting illustration of Ostia's importance to Rome is the double colonnade behind the theater, off which in the 2d c. were 61 small rooms, many fronted by mosaic designs, some accompanied by inscriptions. In one an elephant with the legend, STAT(IO) SABRATENSIUM, signifies that this was the office of the traders whose main trade was in ivory from Sabratha in North Africa, for which there was a brisk demand in Rome. Another mosaic, set up by the shippers and traders of Cagliari in Sardinia, shows a merchantman between two grain measures. The shippers of Narbonne show a merchantman approaching the famous lighthouse at the entrance of the Claudian harbor. The rooms behind these mosaics, too small for the sale of goods, were offices where representatives of overseas shippers and merchants, and also of Ostian business firms could take orders and supply information.
Ostia's main importance was the service she rendered to Rome, but a considerable part of the labor force was needed for the maintenance of Ostia herself. Her own resources were limited. There was enough good land to the S of the city and across the Tiber to produce all the vegetables and fruit that were needed and there was plenty of oak and ilex in the woodland to the S, but grain, most building material, and the raw materials for her industries had to come from outside. Most production seems to have been on a small scale, and it was common practice for goods to be sold from the premises on which they were made. The number of shops in Ostia (over 800 are known) is one of the most striking features of the town. They line nearly all the streets and even the rich could not resist the economic attraction of using the street front of their houses for shops. In the whole excavated area only two bakeries have been found; both are very large. Most of the fullers' premises are small, but one, which is built round an arcaded court, has three big rinsing tanks in the court, sunken jars in the arcade for dyeing, and fixtures in the brick piers for hanging cloth. Some of the trades are illustrated in terracotta or marble reliefs inserted over the entrance to a tomb to show the occupation of the deceased. Probably the two biggest employers were the building and the ship-building industries.
Most of the main trades of Ostia had their guilds which were primarily social institutions. They had their own guild centers and elected a grand hierarchy of officials. The largest of them could afford to use expensive sites. The builders' premises, for example, immediately adjoined the forum on the S side of the E decumanus. It is significant that five of the rooms on the ground floor were permanently equipped as dining rooms with stone couches on which the diners reclined.
Religious patterns in Ostia reflect the town's history. The earliest established cults are those shared with the early Roman Republic and they remain prominent in the town plan. The greatest of them was the Capitolium. The earliest surviving temple is dedicated to Hercules and was built in the first half of the 1st c. B.C. on the N side of the Via della Foce leading to the river mouth. A relief found by the temple shows that this Hercules delivered oracles and suggests that the archaic cult statue was dredged from the sea. But the most important of the colony's cults and the most deep-rooted was the cult of Vulcan whose pontifex was the chief religious authority in the town. The restoration of Vulcan's temple is recorded in an inscription but the temple has not yet been found. Two temples of Bonn Dea, whose fertility cult was reserved for women, have been excavated; both were built in the imperial period but they continue a cult which doubtless was established in the Republic. The Ostian games of Castor and Pollux were celebrated by magistrates from Rome and attracted distinguished entrants; a temple to the twins is recorded but not yet identified. Other cults which are of Augustan origin or earlier include those of Venus, Ceres, Fortune, and Hope.
Most of these cults were maintained in the Empire and their temples were restored, but it was inevitable that a population of such mixed origins as Ostia, including old families of Roman stock, newcomers from other towns of Italy, traders from overseas, slaves and ex-slaves from E and W, should increasingly feel the influence of the oriental cults that spread so vigorously through the empire. The cult of Kybele, the Phrygian Great Mother, was officially established at Rome towards the end of the 3d c. and Ostia is likely to have followed the capital. In the great rebuilding a large area by the walls near the Laurentine Gate was reserved for the goddess. In front of a small tetrastyle temple there was a large triangular field, flanked on its S side by a marble colonnade. This was the scene of the taurobolium in which a bull was sacrificed in honor of the goddess, and blessings were invoked for the emperor and the Roman senate and for the magistrates and council of Ostia. At the E end of the area was a temple for the associated cult of Bellona, and a guild house for the hastiferi who performed ritual dances in her honor; nearby was a shrine of Attis, Kybele's consort. Towards the W end of the town a temple was built, also under Hadrian, to Egyptian Serapis and inscriptions record a Temple of Isis and her priestesses. The discovery of a large and handsome synagogue near the seashore shows that in the Empire there was a strong Jewish community in Ostia. But the cult which has left the most widespread evidence is Mithraism. No less than 15 shrines of Mithras, none very large and some very small, can still be seen, built between the middle of the 2d c. A.D. and the end of the 3d. Mithraism seems to have made little or no impact on the ruling classes at Ostia, but it had wide appeal among the common people. During the 3d c., however, it found an increasingly strong rival in Christianity.
The archaeological evidence for Christianity in Ostia before the 4th c. is very slight. Ostian bishops attended church councils in the early 4th c., and Constantine is said to have endowed a basilica dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul. But the only 4th c. church so far found within the city is on the W decumanus: a small and unpretentious basilica which reused old walls. More impressive is a very handsomely decorated hall near Porta Marina. The walls are lined with bands of elaborate design in colored marbles (opus sectile) including two portrait heads, one of which represents a bearded Christ. This hall was violently destroyed and the last of the series of coins found in the building dates from the time when Rome's pagan aristocrats made a final bid to bring the old gods back. This movement must have evoked some sympathy in Ostia for it was at this time also that the Temple of Hercules was restored. The Christian hall was almost certainly destroyed by Ostian pagans.
Christian opposition to Mithraism was not always passive. In the Late Empire a Christian basilica was built in the W wing of a set of public baths N of the Via della Foce. Beneath it, in what had been a service corridor of the baths, a Mithraeum had been built and here the excavators found a marble sculpture of Mithras slaying the bull. The sculpture was found in scattered fragments, deliberately broken.
By the time Christianity was firmly established at Ostia the city was in decline. Ostia had lost her importance to Rome because the settlement by the imperial harbors could now service the reduced flow of shipping. The new situation was made explicit when Constantine gave the harbor settlement its own charter as Civitas Flavia Constantiniana Portuensis. In Ostia the population had shrunkconsiderably. After the early 3d c. there was very little new building and some large buildings destroyed by fire were not replaced. Most repairs were carried out with old material and necropoleis were rifled for paving stones. In the Late Empire a new social pattern emerged. Private houses, which were eclipsed during the expansion, now became prominent again while the large multiple dwellings decayed. Many of the new houses made use of old walls but they shared common features. They expanded horizontally rather than vertically, fountains became a fashionable extravagance and marble was lavishly used to line floors and walls. These houses were occupied by rich men, among them Roman senators; for with trade concentrated at the harbors, seaside Ostia was more attractive to residents. That is why St. Augustine, returning with his mother to Africa, stayed at Ostia rather than at Portus. But with the collapse of Rome's power, Ostia soon became vulnerable to invaders and pirates. From the 5th c. conditions deteriorated until in the 9th c. the town was evacuated and Pope Gregory built for the survivors a small fortified settlement E of the ruins which took his name, Gregoriopolis. Nature gradually buried the ruins of the old town. Through the Middle Ages it became a quarry for building materials and lime; in and after the Renaissance it was a hunting ground for treasures. Systematic excavation was begun in the late 19th c. and sharply accelerated between 1938 and 1942 until roughly two-thirds of the town was uncovered. There is an excellent museum on the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYScavi di Ostia, Libreria dello stato, Rome: I. Topografia generale (G. Becatti et al.) 1953; II. I Mitrei (G. Becatti) 1954; III. 1. Le tombe di eta repubblicana e Augustea (M. F. Squarciapino) 1958; IV. Mosaici e pavimenti marmorei 2 vols. (G. Becatti) 1961; v. 1. I ritratti (R. Calza) 1964;VI. Edificio con opus sectile fuori Porta Romana (G. Becatti) 1969; L. Paschetto, Ostia colonia romana (1912); R. Calza & E. Nash, Ostia (1959) P; R. Meiggs, Roman Ostia 2(1974) MPI; J. E. Packer, The Insulae of Imperial Osda, MAAR 36 (1971) PI; “The Horrea of Ostia and Portus” in G. E. Rickman, Roman Granaries and Store Buildings (1971) PI.
R. MEIGGS