A
Day in Ostia Antica
the
ancient port of Rome
NB: The site of
Ostia Antica is open almost every day of the year, EXCEPT Mondays
How I
first discovered Ostia - I first visited this magical site one golden
summer afternoon when I was a sixteen-year-old high school student on a study-tour
from California. Like almost everyone I know who has visited Ostia, I fell
in love with it. I wanted to go back in time to wander its streets, watch
a play in its theatre, visit one of its many baths complexes. That afternoon
in Ostia was one of the experiences that prompted me to study Classics and
become a Latin teacher. A few decades later, when I began planning my series
of children's mystery stories set in ancient Roman times, I decided to have
my main characters live in Ostia.
Then
- Ostia would have been a busy port town, exotic and lively, brimming with
people from all over the Roman empire: Greeks, Egyptians, Nubians, Jews, Syrians
and Gauls. In the first century AD, Ostia's main function was to receive grain
from Egypt and Sicily and to ship it on to Rome and its one million inhabitants.
This grain was stored in Ostia's many warehouses and sometimes made into bread
before being transported by barge along the winding Tiber to the capital city,
fourteen miles away. In addition to the usual residents of a first century
Roman town there would have been sailors, stevedores, ship-owners, storehouse
managers, customs officers, rope-makers, sail-makers, and plenty of unsavoury
types. When I asked one Classical scholar what ancient Ostia would have been
like, he replied 'nowhere to bring up my child if I could avoid it!'
3-D computer generated illustrations on this page by
Marzia Vinci
Now
- Today, Ostia is no longer bustling and dangerous, but quiet and peaceful.
Over the past two thousand years the mouth of the Tiber has silted up, pushing
the coastline away from Ostia. The site is landlocked and long deserted. Wandering
around its ruins, you will find the remains of baths, temples, houses, shops,
taverns, latrines and even a theatre. You can see traces of frescoes on the
walls, half standing columns, marble thresholds and millstones from bakeries.
One of the most distinctive features of Ostia are its black-and-white mosaics.
They are everywhere.
What to wear & How to get there - Although Ostia is not as well-preserved
as Pompeii, it's much more accessible (only a 1 euro metro ticket from Rome)
and much less crowded. If you are based in Rome, an excursion to Ostia is
the perfect day trip. Wear a sunhat and trainers, and dress in layers. Ostia
can be cool and foggy in the morning and blazing hot by the afternoon. Take
the metro's Linea B from anywhere in Rome direction Laurentina to the stop
called Piramide or Eur Magliana, then change to a train destination C.Colombo
(or Ostia Antica), which will take you the rest of the way. BEWARE: the sign
was missing from the platform at Ostia Antica in February 2005. It is the
stop after Acilia and before Lido Centro. You go up and over a blue footbridge,
along a residential street (there is a B&B
here) and straight across a busy road on a blind curve. For more detailed
instructions go HERE.
And for a useful metro & train map, go HERE
You might also enjoy THIS
REPORT by Nick Trend, a dad who took his children to Ostia.
Allo Sbarco Di Enea - The first thing you notice on your right, after
crossing the main road, is a restaurant with chariots parked in its vine-shaded
courtyard. Peer through the fence and you'll also notice statues, frescoes
and a fountain. This is a touristy but fun place where all the waiters wear
tunics. It's called Allo Sbarco Di Enea, which means 'Where Aeneas Got Off'.
Aeneas was the Trojan hero who fled his burning city and eventually settled
in Italy to become the father of the Roman people. The food is mediocre and
the place only comes alive after 9.00pm - Italians eat late - but it can be
a fun experience if you go with a big group.
Umbrella
pines - Something else you notice about Ostia even before you enter the
site are the pines. With their rough textured bark in shades of caramel, nutmeg
and honey, their lofty fragrant canopies provide homes to chittering birds
in winter and spring, chirring cicadas in summer and autumn. These trees offer
cool shade in the summer and shelter from rain in the winter. Today, there
are thousands of these beautiful trees in and around Ostia, making it one
of the greenest suburbs of Rome. The umbrella pine - pinus maritimus
- was a striking feature of the Italian coast even in Roman times. Pliny the
Younger says the cloud emerging from Vesuvius looked like an umbrella pine,
ie. a trunk-like column of smoke rising up and then flattening out at the
top. Of course there are other trees in Ostia: cypress, poplar, oak, mimosa,
myrtle, oleander and other species of pine, but for me the umbrella pine is
Ostia's trademark. Flavia, Jonathan and Nubia catch their first glimpse of
Lupus when he is trapped up one of these Ostian pines by some wild dogs. Today
you can still see (tame) dogs lolling in the dappled shade among the tombs.
The Tombs - Romans were not allowed to bury their dead within the city
but to made sure their departed relatives and friends were as close as possible,
they placed tombs along main roads right up to the town walls. So tombs are
the first thing you'll see when you enter the site of Ostia. They are fascinating,
but leave them for later. Lupus, the youngest member of Flavia's gang, lived
wild among the tombs of Ostia for two years after he escaped the clutches
of Venalicius the slave-dealer.
The
Roman Gate - There is not much left of the Porta Romana now. In Flavia's
time it would have been an impressive arch, faced with marble and flanked
with statues of Victory and Minerva. Once you are 'inside' the town walls,
look ahead and to the left. Beneath some umbrella pines, you can still see
a long stone water trough for the thirsty mules that pulled carts to and from
Rome. It is under the shade of those very trees that Flavia approaches two
gaming cartdrivers and arranges transport from Ostia to Rome in The
Assassins of Rome.
The Baths - The Romans loved their baths. In Flavia's time Ostia had
a population of about 20,000 making it a relatively small town. But it was
served by no less than 18 public baths complexes. Before you carry on down
the main road, have a look at my favourite baths in Ostia: the Cartdrivers'
Baths. You'll find them on your right, opposite the mule trough. Walk behind
the remains of storehouses until you reach the modern tree-lined road giving
access to archaeologists and site workers. Also known as the Termii Cisarii,
the Cartdrivers' Baths were exclusively for the muleteers who drove carts
to and from Rome. Look for the delightful black-and-white mosaic of four mules
with their names written beside them. If you've read The
Assassins of Rome, you'll know what their names mean: Pudes
(Modest), Podagrosus (Lame), Barosus (Dainty) and Potiscus
(Tipsy).
The
Decumanus Maximus - Go back to the main road and carry on past the ancient
shopping arcade towards the Baths of Neptune with their impressive black-and-white
mosaics of tritons and sea-nymphs. A platform here gives a wonderful view
not only of the mosaics but of the whole site. This road is the main road
of Ostia and it's called the Decumanus Maximus. As at Pompeii, you
can see the ruts made by a hundred thousand carts which carried grain and
other goods to and from the port. (The round wishing-well in the centre of
this road is medieval. Ignore it.) The Decumanus Maximus will take
you past brick granaries and the marble theatre to Ostia's forum. Lupus runs
down the Decumanus Maximus in The
Assassins of Rome when he is trying to catch a cart and he almost
knocks over a slave carrying a jar of urine. This liquid was very useful in
the cleaning and bleaching of cloth, so ancient laundries (known as the fullers')
would not have smelled very pleasant.
The Theatre - This was the one of the first buildings in Ostia to be
excavated, over a hundred years ago, because its ruins were visible, poking
up above ground. It has been heavily but accurately restored. As you enter
beneath a cool arch, look up to see the elegant stucco decorations on the
ceiling. In Flavia's time, the theatre held 2,500 people. Today it attracts
cats, doves, wood pigeons and tourists of all nationalities. I was sitting
here in May of 2000 eating pistachio nuts and an apple when I saw a party
of Italian schoolgirls skipping rope on the grassy disused stage. One of the
girls reminded me of Flavia. The mosaic portrait of Flavia on the front of
the British editions is based on a drawing I made from my photo of Francesca.
Plays are still performed here in the summer. Plays are still put on here
in the summer months. Information and tickets can be obtained from the Ostia
ticket kiosk at the entrance to the site. For more information check the Official
Ostia website.
The
Forum of the Corporations - located directly behind the theatre, this
large complex was built on several storeys around a temple of Ceres. This
is where guilds (or 'corporations') of ship-owners, marine-suppliers, importers
and grain-traders had their offices and did business. Shaded by ancient umbrella
pines, the delightful black-and-white mosaics illustrate the different offices.
Elephants, boar, tigers marked the offices of wild beast importers, ships
and images of Ostia's famous lighthouse indicated ship owners, and baskets
with their leveling rods were for the grain-traders. Flavia and her friends
come here in search of clues and interview a wild beast importer in The Twelve
Tasks of Flavia Gemina.
The Forum - Go back to the Decumanus Maximus and into the forum,
the main business centre of ancient Ostia. Here the dominating landmark is
a big brick building atop a stepped platform. This temple to the Capitoline
triad - Jupiter, Juno and Minerva - would have been faced with marble to cover
the brick. Called the Capitoleum, this temple would have had a treasury in
its basement. It is in the shadow of this temple that the evil slave-dealer
Venalicius parades his slaves, including the beautiful young Nubia.
The Basilica - to the right of the Capitoleum - if you are standing
on its steps looking out - is the Basilica of Ostia. Every Roman town had
a basilica to house law-courts and magistrates' offices. Ostia's junior magistrate
Marcus Artorius Bato works here. Flavia first meets him in The Thieves of
Ostia but he appears again in later books to help the four with their investigations.
The Temple of Rome and Augustus - opposite the lofty red-brick temple
of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva you will see the remains of the temple of Rome
and Augustus. Flavia and Nubia come here in The
Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina and find a clue in the face of the
cult statue of Rome, personified as a beautiful Amazon with her foot on the
globe of the world.
Roman
Toilets - while you're in the Forum, don't miss Ostia's most amusing landmark,
the twenty-four seater forica or public toilets, near the Temple of
Rome and Augustus by the Forum Baths. Ancient Romans did their business right
next to each other, with no doors or dividing walls. They sat chatting, gossiping,
even extending dinner invitations. The holes on top of the cool marble bench
are for the obvious thing. The holes at the front are for the sponge-stick,
ancient Roman toilet paper. When you finished wiping your bottom with it,
you put it in a basin of water for the next person to use! Lupus has obviously
never been here, or he'd know a sponge-stick is not for beating a drum as
he thinks in The
Dolphins of Laurentum.
Shrine of the Crossroads - just past the Forum, the Decumanus Maximus
ends in a fork. Crossroads were sacred places in Roman times and there was
a temple here, where two lofty cypress trees stand today. Lupus comes here
one cold December dusk during the festival of Saturnalia, and he makes some
exciting discoveries.
The Museum - Ostia's museum only opens in the morning but doesn't take
long to explore, so make sure you have a quick look before lunch. Ostia's
finest statues have been brought here to keep them safe from robbers and from
the elements.
The Bakeries - near the museum you can find a relatively well-preserved
bakery. Ostia was the bread-basket of Rome. Huge shipload of grain from Egypt
and Sicily were stored in beautiful red-brick warehouses before being towed
on mule-powered barges up to Rome. Sometimes the grain was made into bread
before it was transported, hence the many bakeries in Ostia. Notice the distinctive
hourglass mills (grain grinders.) These would have been operated by blindfolded
donkeys going round and round for hours. You can still see the circular trace
of their hoofprints in the herringbone pattern of the brick floor. The
Code of Romulus is a Roman Mystery short story partly set in an
Ostian bakery. It will be published as a mini-Roman Mystery on World Book
Day 2007. (for more info go HERE)
The
Synagogue - Built in the middle of the first century AD, this one of the
oldest in the world. You will find it at the edge of the site, near perimeter
fence. See the modern highway? That's where the ancient shoreline would have
been. In fact, as you pass Ostia in a car, the synagogue is the building you
can see most clearly. All that's left of it today are a few pillars and blocks
of marble, but you can see Latin inscriptions in some of the marble paving
stones. In spring swifts and swallows swoop in the warm air feasting on tiny
bugs, and you can see butterflies fluttering among the columns and minuscule
red spider mites on the coloured marble floor. Jonathan and his friends seek
refuge in the synagogue when they are being chased by slave-dealers in The
Thieves of Ostia. Later, in The Gladiators from Capua, the friends
'borrow' a disused cube of marble from beside the synagogue to make a tomb.
Flavia's
house - Use your map to find your way through the long grasses from the
synagogue towards the Laurentum Gate. Here in a quieter residential area of
Ostia (these houses date from the time of Julius Caesar) you'll find the residence
of Cartilia Poplicola, a young Roman widow who fancies Flavia's father. Moving
back towards the entrance of the site, parallel with the Decumanus Maximus,
you'll find a fullers', a mithraeum and more storehouses. What you won't find
is Flavia's house, or Jonathan's, or even Green Fountain Street. I made a
conscious decision to have my characters live in an unexcavated part of the
town. One day I hope they'll build a life-sized reconstruction of their houses
- complete with Roman frescoes, fountains, mosaics, furniture and fittings.
Until then, you can sit in the shade of an umbrella pine munching olives,
cheese and bread. Imagine that you are sitting in the tablinum (study)
of Flavia's father, looking into the inner garden. (Another route to the site
of Flavia's house is the little side road leading off the Decumanus Maximus
just before the theatre.)
left: double click the map to bring up a larger printable
version...
If you haven't brought a picnic lunch you can go back to the new snack-bar
near the Museum. Here you can eat a delicious pasta or salad at parasol-shaded
table on a pleasant terrace only a stone's throw from the Tiber River. Just
the other side of this sunny courtyard is a bookshop where you can buy guide
books and souvenirs, including a kit to make your own black-and-white mosaic
of a dolphin. Oh, and the (modern) toilets are here!
