Ostia Antica, Rome’s Pompeii

Ostia Antica is a vast archaeological site about 30 km from Rome. Once an Ancient Roman port town with up to 100,000 inhabitants, today Ostia Antica is one of Italy’s most amazing tourist attractions; its proximity to the city makes it a popular day trip from Rome or from the nearby Fiumicino international airport.

Instead of the volcanic ash that enveloped Pompeii near Naples, the ancient coastal city of Ostia Antica simply silted up after the fall of the Roman Empire, surviving down through the centuries covered in a thick layer of mud.

With hundreds of well-preserved buildings and artworks, Ostia Antica could be considered the Roman equivalent of Pompeii. Unlike Pompeii, however, Ostia was not destroyed by a volcanic eruption – it simply fell into decay over the centuries. Today, it’s possible to explore the ruins of ancient theatres, temples, apartment blocks, baths, brothels and much more. On a tour of Ostia Antica you’ll get a real sense of what it would have been like to live in a Roman town, strolling down cobbled streets and wandering through the remains of shops and taverns where the painted “menu” is still visible on the wall.

The origins of Ostia Antica

Legend suggests that Ostia was one of Rome’s first military outposts, founded around 620 BC, just over a century after Rome itself. The town was perfectly positioned to guard against seaborne invasions at the mouth of the River Tiber leading up into Rome. In fact, the town takes its name from its coastal location, as the Latin for mouth is “os” which became “ostium.”

Gradually, over time, Ostia built its wealth on trade. In the early years, the main cargo was grain - the staple for flour, bread and beer - from Sicily, Sardinia and Egypt. But as the Roman Empire expanded, the goods coming through Ostia expanded too. At its height, ships were bringing in wine from Bordeaux, horses and metals from Cadiz, silk and spices from the Silk Road to China, treasures of Greece and animals from Africa. As Rome grew in size, the city needed more and more provisions to feed its people. The easiest cargo route into the Eternal city was along the River Tiber, turning Ostia into an enormous domestic and commercial harbor for Mediterranean merchant ships. By 100 AD, Ostia Antica was a thriving, bustling, cosmopolitan city and home to over 100,000 people from all over the ancient Roman Empire.

Surviving frescoes and statues also show that the city was multi-faith, with one of the oldest synagogues, various temples and several mithrae for worshippers of Mithras, a religion imported from the east, especially popular with the military. It’s the daily life of shops, houses, baths, shipping companies and theatres that we see preserved today.

Ostia Antica today

Today Rome’s ancient port of Ostia Antica still sprawls over around 10,000 acres of countryside. Fortunately, the city wasn’t buried in volcanic ash like Pompeii, but the gentle silting up of the River Tiber gradually moved the shoreline away from the city, land locking it over 2 miles from the sea and condemning it to history. Over the years, grass and trees took over with local shepherds using the ruins for grazing or shelter for their sheep. Luckily, the mud that eventually buried the harbor also managed to protect it from the worst medieval scavengers looking for stone to build their houses. So today, you can take a leisurely stroll through the ruins, exploring the classic Roman grid street system that dates back more than 2000 years to its military foundation. 

Wandering around the ruins, entering streets and courtyards you notice black and white mosaics everywhere. And thankfully many are still in situ instead of in a museum. But unlike in other Roman cities, the mosaics in Ostia Antica were more than mere ornamentation, they were designed as durable pavements and signposting. So you’ll find the typical geometric patterns adorning the floors of baths while mythical characters decorate the floors of various houses. And you’ll also find entire pavements covered in mosaics indicating where rows of shops once stood. These were the original signs for traders selling to an illiterate population and today offer a fabulous insight into the shops, guilds and businesses that dotted the city. Look out for the exotic elephant that advertises the office of traders from Africa. It’s a great game to see how many you can find and decipher! Near the theatre is a large, rectangular forum which was once home to the offices of various shipping companies. To find the right company, you would have to inspect the mosaics in front to see what services they offered – the trade of grain, leather, wild animals or…sea nymphs?

Some other buildings of note include bakeries, brothels and a launderette. You may need the help of a guide on an Ostia Antica tour to find some of these buildings, as they’re not easily identifiable, but a couple of the bakeries still have large grain mills. In the fullo (launderette) you can see the remains of a basin where they would have once washed clothes. Ostia Antica also has an ancient equivalent of a fast food restaurant – a tavern where the sink, marble counters and painted menu are still in place. The fresco shows meat, wine and vegetables, presumably indicating what was on sale.

              adapted from an article in the Italo-American

Underground Rome – Part One

Underground Rome – Part One

While walking through the streets of Rome, no matter where you stroll, there are 3000 years’ worth of ancient human activity beneath your feet. Remains of the earliest settlement, temples from republican Rome, and ruins of the imperial period slowly come to light as the modern city evolves. Construction of the subway has brought out many old villas, mosaics and frescoed walls.

In addition to the well-known ancient underground attractions, others have been recently opened to the public: underground areas of the Terme di Caracalla, the Vergine aqueduct under the Rinascente department store, and the Domitian stadium under Piazza Navona.

Some underground sites have the advantage of having been protected over the years by later construction above them. One such example is the area under San Clemente.

The Basilica of San Clemente, http://basilicasanclemente.com/eng, named for the fourth pope, who died around the year 100, during the reign of Trajan, is a time machine of the city across the centuries. Constructions from the first, third, fourth centuries, Middle Ages and then additions in the eighteenth century are overlaid on four levels.

Three churches were successively built on this spot. After the Normans sacked the fourth century church in 1084, it was reconstructed at the beginning of the twelfth century. The main structure that we see today of the Basilica is from this period, but the atrium, the portico and the façade were added in the eighteenth century. Toward the middle of the nineteenth century excavations were begun that brought to light the remains of the fourth century church below, which, in turn, had been constructed over an earlier building that once housed the imperial Roman mint.

Be prepared to go back in time, in the labyrinth of a sacred and profane world. San Clemente is an incredibly suggestive place and the underground exploration culminates in a visit to a space in the form of a grotto dedicated to the mysterious god Mithras. As you descend, there are well-situated lights and appropriate restorations, which allow you to see old frescoes and part of the ruins incorporated into the walls. On the left is a marble pagan inscription, which, when you turn it over shows that it has been reused for a Christian burial. “To Sorus, rest in peace, erected by his brother Euritidiranus.”

 

Continuing the descent, observe how the arches of the old church have been filled in to better support the newer church above. The fourth century basilica is also formed by a nave and two aisles, and is directly under the new. The numerous frescoes from the eighth to the eleventh centuries are rather faded, but an interesting fragment of a ninth century Last Judgment stands out. Frescoes of the lives of Sant’Alessio and San Clemente are also painted here.

Proceeding still lower, we find structures from the first and third centuries. On this third level, there are the ruins of an enormous rectangular building with walls of tuff and travertine about two feet thick that was the imperial Roman mint. Part of this massive edifice supports the current architectonic complex, that is the western wall, two side walls of the building, two walls of the twelfth century church and three walls of the fourth century basilica.

In the courtyard of a first century apartment block a mithraeum was erected, which included a pronaos (vestibule) and triclinium (dining room). In the latter, we see the altar and the benches where the participants of this mysterious religion sat. The god Mithras was born from a rock and ascended into heaven. The vault of the grotto represented the heavens, that is, the universe. On the ceiling were stars and constellations known at that time.

Mithras was a Persian god introduced to Rome by the soldiers stationed in the east. Like Jesus, Mithras was a savior god, come to earth to show the way and oppose evil; he died and rose again. His followers were baptized in bull’s blood. The legionnaires built temples to the god Mithras all over the empire. This religion was very popular with the Roman aristocracy and was in direct competition with Christianity until it was outlawed in 395. This religion put emphasis on loyalty and faith and, for this, held particular sway on the military. The Roman legions introduced it in all parts of the empire and remains of mithraeums have been found in many countries.

The muscular god Mithras is represented while killing a bull, whose blood makes the earth fertile. Even though the cult originated in Persia, a bearded and reclining Roman god, possibly Oceanus or Neptune, often assists in the foreground of the scene. A dog instrumental in finding the bull is sometimes depicted while the tail of the bull terminates in a large stalk of grain that symbolizes the cycle of life made possible by the blood of the animal.

It has been estimated that during the third century about 2000 Mithraeums flourished in the city. For another example, see the description of the Mithraeum of Santa Prisca in Walk 2 of my book Walk Rome.

The fourth and last layer is mostly unexplored and consists in part of houses that were destroyed during the famous fire in 64 AD during emperor Nero’s reign. One area, not yet brought to light, contains a structure from the republican period. The excavations continue and each year new rooms and floors are discovered. The sound made by rushing water under a grate in the floor is the final surprise.

Excavations were begun on the third level in 1867, but gradually ground water seeped in to make it inaccessible. It rose until it reached the door of the triclinium in 1912, indicated by a sign posted. That same year Cardinal O’Connor of Boston had a canal built 700 yards long to drain away the water that pressed on the foundations. The water pours into the Cloaca Massima, a drainage system, built in the sixth century BC and still functioning, which leads to the Tiber. This channel crosses the fourth level under the church, six yards under the level of the mithraeum, and passes under the nearby Via Labicana.

Transportation in Rome

Transportation in Rome

Traveling to Italy in September and October is more comfortable because it is less crowded and the weather is good. Walking is very pleasant, but sometimes you need to get from one place to another more quickly. Rome’s transportation systems offer you several alternatives.

Many people decide to stay in the area around the centrally located Stazione Termini. There is a lot to do and to see right there. The Terme di Diocleziano, the biggest Bath complex in ancient Rome, Michelangelo’s Santa Maria degli Angeli, Palazzo Massimo, the best museum of antiquities, Eataly, McDonalds, a shopping mall right inside the Station, the subway and many buses just outside.

For a long time it was not the best place to walk around, but during the last years, it has become a safe place also thanks to the constant presence of soldiers protecting the crowd in the station from potential terrorist attack.  

However if you prefer a more quiet accommodation, you can choose a place close to a subway station.  This will allow you to move quickly to different areas of the city that you want to visit.

A ticket vending machine

The symbol for a tobacconist

All local public transport is integrated in Rome. You have to purchase your tickets before boarding any public transport in Rome. Tickets for both the bus system and Metro can be purchased from tobacconists, bars, or vending machines at Metro stations and major bus stops. In front of Termini Railway Station, by the buses, is a row of kiosks selling travel passes and tours. On both buses and metro there is an inexpensive flat fare, whether you go one stop or to the end of the line.

On a bus, insert the ticket to validate it

A single transport ticket in Rome is valid for 100 minutes (1 hour and 40 minutes) from the moment of validation and is good on subway, buses and trams.  That is, the same ticket allows riding the subway and different buses as long as it is within the 100 minutes. The only constraint is that it can only include one Metro trip, which allows transfer to another line. The tickets are cards with a magnetic stripe, and you should validate it on the first use, by either going thru the Metro turnstile, or inserting it into a ticket machine on a bus. It will then stamp the time. There are also tickets for all day, two days, three days, 7 days, etc. The official map: https://www.atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=385

Rome public buses run a comprehensive and frequent system running from about 5.30am to midnight daily. Nearly all bus stops have a sign to list the routes that stop at that bus stop clearly displayed. Each route is detailed with the major stops along the way. A comprehensive bus map is online at the ATAC website https://www.atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=3