Rome

Colosseum

Forum

Trajan's Column

Circus Maximus

Ostia

Ostia

A 40 minute drive from Rome and situated near the coast is the site of Ostia Antica - the ancient port of Rome, current evidence indicates that it dates from at least 350 B.C. This is the best preserved Roman town after Pompeii and Herculaneum. The town used to be on the banks of the River Tiber and it was where cargo ships would arrive to offload their goods onto barges for transportation to the city centre.

The ruins reflect its commercial, religious and domestic life. There are warehouses such as that of the Dolii with its sunken jars, an abundance of maritime mosaics depicting Neptune, sea creatures and ships.

The entrance of the town is lined with tombs; there are bathhouses, a theatre and a forum, numerous temples including to some of the foreign cults such as Mithras. Domestic accommodation consisted of insulae or blocks of apartments. Whilst little remains of the upper floors there is evidence of staircases etc. As well as commercial mosaics there are ones from houses as well as some evidence of wall paintings.

It is an amazing site that gives a good impression of everyday life in a Roman town. The site includes evidence of 19 thermae (baths), 22 domi (private houses), 66 insulae in 162 apartment buildings, 18 mithraeums (temples or sites in honour of Mithras), 2 mills, 3 laundry dye shops, 1 theatre as well as temples, public buildings and hundreds of taverns (thermopolium). All of which help to show how small businesses in particular flourished in this town.

It could easily be described as a cosmopolitan town attracting people from Rome itself as well as from various areas of the Empire. At its height it had a population of 50,000. Eventually the town itself fell into ruin by the end of the 4th Century A.D.