Ostia Antica

Lore & Background

Ostia may have been Rome's first colony. According to legend, Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, established the new colony 10 km (6 mi) further west and closer to the sea coast. However, no inscription confirms the establishment of the old castrum in the 7th century BC; the oldest archaeological remains date to the 4th century BC. The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum; of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). Ostia probably developed as a naval base, and the quaestor Ostiensis, primarily responsible for the grain supply (annona), was established later, traditionally in the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC—not during the First Punic War. During the 2nd century BC its role as a commercial port for the import of grain to Rome gradually became prevalent. In 67 BC, the town was sacked by Cilician pirates, who set the port on fire and kidnapped two senators. This attack caused such panic in Rome that Pompey the Great arranged for the tribune Aulus Gabinius to pass the lex Gabinia in 67 BC, giving Pompey command to raise an army and destroy the pirates. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated.

In Their Own Story

During the Augustan age, Agrippa had the theatre built (18-12 BC). The city forum was probably built under Tiberius and under Caligula (37-41 AD) an aqueduct was built. Due to the small size of the harbour at Ostia, Claudius commissioned a massive new harbour at Portus on the northern mouths of the Tiber. Insufficiently protected from storms, Claudius' project was later supplemented by the hexagonal harbour built by Trajan and finished in 113 AD. The development of port activities increased the prosperity of Ostia, which maintained its function as an administrative centre for the corn supply so that it is estimated that in the 2nd century AD it had around 50,000 inhabitants. The city underwent major construction under Hadrian, who twice held the main city magistracy of duumvir. Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require: a large theatre, many public and private baths (such as the Thermae Gavii Maximi), numerous taverns and inns and a firefighting service. The popularity of the cult of Mithras is evident in the discovery of eighteen Mithraea. Ostia also contained the Ostia Synagogue, the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe, likely constructed in the late 1st century AD.

Reader's Guide

Ostia Antica is now a large archaeological site. As in Pompeii, Ostia's remains provide details about Roman urbanism that are not accessible within the city of Rome itself. The republican castrum at the core of the settlement had a typical rectangular plan built on two main roads that crossed at right angles in the centre: the cardo and the decumanus maximus, the latter on the route of the Via Ostiense coming from Rome. The cardo and the decumanus exited the walls of the castrum through four gates. Its walls are just over 1.5 m thick in square blocks of Fidene tuff arranged irregularly. The subsequent expansion of the city outside the walls of the castrum followed these routes, giving a disorderly appearance to the urban plan. Inside the city, another important road was the Via Semita dei cippi, from the cippi (stones) on which was the Semitic inscription hor(reorum) (warehouses) where the grain was stored. The city was mentioned by St Augustine when he passed there in the late 4th century. On their way back to Africa after Augustine's conversion to Christianity, Augustine's mother, Saint Monica, died in 387 in Ostia. The church (titulus) of Santa Aurea in Ostia was built on her burial site.

Did You Know?

• The name Ostia derives from Latin os 'mouth', referring to its location at the mouth of the Tiber.
• Ostia may have been Rome's first colony, established by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius.
• In 67 BC, Cilician pirates sacked Ostia, set the port on fire, and kidnapped two senators.
• Ostia contains the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe, likely constructed in the late 1st century AD.
• Saint Monica, mother of St Augustine, died in Ostia in 387 AD.