Recent discoveries at Ostia

Thomas Ashby

doi:10.2307/295955

Recent discoveries at Ostia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2012

Thomas Ashby

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The west coast of Italy between the gulf of Spezia, once the harbour of Luna, and the bay of Gaeta does not at the present day offer a single safe anchorage for ships of any size, and even in early days, when ships were smaller, its harbours and landing places must have seemed very deficient. The cities of south-western Etruria had indeed developed a flourishing seaborne trade by the seventh century B.C. when they were importing freely from Greece, but the ports of their two leading towns, Tarquinii and Caere, which seem to have been at Graviscae and Pyrgi, were merely roadsteads. Strabo, in his summary of the ports along this littoral, mentions none between Monte Argentario and Ostia, and none again between Ostia and the bay of Gaeta. Such ports as there ever were, are of later origin. Centumcellae, the modern Civitavecchia, is a foundation of Trajan; the harbour of Antium, such as it was, was due to Nero, and the port of Terracina is the work of Pius. Even Ostia itself was in Strabo's time deemed a bad harbour and the Tiber estuary hard to enter. Good or bad, however, it was the one approach to a natural harbour on all this coast.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 2 , November 1912 , pp. 153 - 194

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/295955 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Thomas Ashby 1912. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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^{page 153 note 1} C.I.L. xiv, 309.

^{page 155 note 1} Vaglieri, , Bull. Com. xxxix (1911), 225Google Scholar, foll.

^{page 155 note 2} See the map of the Campagna in 1547, preserved in six sheets in the Vatican library. This map will shortly be published with a commentary by myself at the request of the Prefect of the library, Father Ehrle, S.J. A map made early in 1557 and derived from that of 1547, but altered in details, is here reproduced (fig. 18). It shews the forts erected by Alva's troops for their attack on the castle of Ostia, which he took in November, 1556, but lost again early in 1557. On the question of the Tiber mouth in ancient times see further in the appendix to this paper.

^{page 155 note 3} Vaglieri, Notizie Scavi, 1912, p. 95.

^{page 155 note 4} Livy, xxii, 11, 37, 57, etc.

^{page 155 note 5} Gnecchi, Rivista Italiana di Numismatica, 1909, pp. 11, foll. The exact site of the find seems uncertain; compare Vaglieri, Bull. Com. cit. p. 244.

^{page 156 note 1} The third is nearly opposite the opening of the Via dei Vigili.

^{page 157 note 1} So Vaglieri: Delbrück, however, thinks the podium Augustan (Archäol. Anzeiger, 1912, p. 300).

^{page 158 note 1} Notizie Scavi, 1912, p. 23.

^{page 158 note 2} e.g. that of the “Via dei Vigili” (infra, p. 174

^{page 159 note 1} Miss E. B. Van Deman, The date of Roman Concrete Monuments in A.J.A. 1912, 230, 387.

^{page 159 note 2} Whether the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul was situated at Ostia or Portus is disputed: Kehr, , Italia Pontificia, ii, 14Google Scholar: Paschetto, Ostia, 86.

^{page 159 note 3} Variar. vii, 9.

^{page 159 note 4} B.G. i, 26.

^{page 159 note 5} A fragment of an inscription which ran as follows: “Vandalica rabies hanc ussit martyris aulam quam Petrus Antistes cultu meliore novatam,” is referred by Cantarelli, Bull. Com. (1896), 67, to a church on the island; it probably alludes to the raid of the Vandals in A.D. 455.

^{page 160 note 1} Carcopino, , in Mélanges, xxx (1910), 437Google Scholar, n.

^{page 160 note 2} See Tomassetti, Campagna Romana nel Medio Evo, Via Ostiense, 106, f.

^{page 160 note 3} C.I.L. xiv, no. 9, a cippus dedicated to the genius coloniae Ostiensis, still standing on the outside of the cathedral; ibid. no. 292, a sarcophagus now in the Camposanto: cf. also ibid. no. 105. It may well have been the Pisans who carried ibid. no. 346 to a church in northern Sardinia.

^{page 161 note 1} Paschetto, 104, ff.

^{page 161 note 2} The date of Hamilton's first discoveries is given by his own letters (cf. Smith, A. H. in J.H.S. xxi, 1901, 314)Google Scholar. For the inscriptions, cf. Dessau in Eph. Epigr. ix, p. 334Google Scholar. I think it is almost certain that the “very elegant inscription of the time of Trajan” is really C.I.L. xiv, 98: Hamilton was no scholar. In that case these were the baths which the second Gamala rebuilt after a fire (C.I.L., xiv, 376): see below, p. 172, and p. 181, n. 2.

^{page 161 note 3} Michaelis, Anc. Marbles, no. 20 : cf. Hamilton's own letter of May 1st, 1774, published by Smith, Lansdowne Marbles, p. 71; he says that it was found on the mosaic pavement near its pedestal, but at first without its head. Paschetto has not consulted Hamilton's correspondence.

^{page 161 note 4} Reinach, Rép. ii, 298, IGoogle Scholar.

^{page 161 note 5} Lansdowne House, no. 87.

^{page 161 note 6} I cannot identify it.

^{page 161 note 7} B.M. nos. 1574, 1577, 1685.

^{page 161 note 8} Vatican, Sala degli Animali, 139, 141, 208, 213.

^{page 161 note 9} Visconti, , Museo Pio Clem, vii, 41Google Scholar.

^{page 161 note 10} Froehner, Notice, 90; Cat. Somm. no. 1617.

^{page 162 note 1} The Athena and Hygeia at Deepdene (Michaelis, 39, 7).

^{page 162 note 2} Braccio Nuovo, no. 86.

^{page 162 note 3} ibid. no. 38 B.

^{page 162 note 4} Museo Chiaramonti, nos. 567–569, Cort. Belv. 102θ.

^{page 162 note 5} p. 508, ff. In most cases Paschetto has made no attempt to identify the objects mentioned in this list, with the exception of the inscriptions. It is not an easy task, but should not have been omitted: cf. Nogara, Guide to the Vatican Museum of Sculpture, index s.v. Ostia.

^{page 162 note 6} Paschetto, tav. ii, 14. Paschetto has omitted the Ariadne and Endymion sarcophagi in Munich (Glyptothek, 189, 223; cf. Robert, S.R. iii, p. 79, no. 64); nor has he examined Robert's work, which would have told him the fate of the other Endymion sarcophagus (bearing the inscription C.I.L. xiv, no. 565). It was taken to Warwick Castle and destroyed by fire in 1871.

^{page 164 note 1} To the list given by Paschetto may be added the sarcophagus with the myth of Endymion now in Ny-Carlsberg (no. 1299 : Robert, S.R. iii, p. 68, no. 49).

^{page 164 note 2} The full bibliography is given by Paschetto, p. 539, ff.

^{page 164 note 3} Mélanges, xxx (1910), 401Google Scholar.

^{page 164 note 4} See his reports in Not. Scavi, passim.

^{page 164 note 5} The plan and restoration of André, in Mélanges, xi (1891), 492, ff. give an excellent idea of what had been done up till then in this part of the town.Google Scholar

^{page 165 note 1} Bull. Com. 1910, 75, 328; 1911, 225.

^{page 165 note 2} Diss. Accad. Pont. Arch. x, part 2 (1912)Google Scholar, and separately.

^{page 165 note 3} For fuller details on the corporations, see Waltzing, , Les Corporations ProfessionellesGoogle Scholar, and Vaglieri, , Le corporazioni professionali in uno grande porto commerciale dell' antichità (Trieste, 1910)Google Scholar.

^{page 165 note 4} Mélanges, xxix (1909), 341, ffGoogle Scholar; xxx (1910), 397, ff; xxxi (1911), 143, ff.

^{page 165 note 5} Journal des Savants, 1911, 448, ff.

^{page 167 note 1} cf. Paschetto, op. cit. 441, ff. and Not. Scavi.

^{page 167 note 2} C.I.L. xiv, no. 353; Not. Scavi, 1910, 13.

^{page 168 note 1} The statue is fully dealt with by Savignoni in Ausonia, v (1910), 69, ffGoogle Scholar. Mrs. S. A. Strong had suggested the same identification independently in her lectures.

^{page 169 note 1} It was cleared by Prof. Vaglieri. There are small chambers on each side, much altered in late times. At A is a chapel arranged like a Mithraeum, in which, however, dedications to Jupiter Sabazius and the numen caelestis were found (Vaglieri in C.R. Ac. Inscr. et Belles Lettres, 1909, 184).

^{page 169 note 2} Lanciani, in Mon. Lincei, xiii (1903), 133, ffGoogle Scholar; xvi (1906), 241, ff.

^{page 169 note 3} Below were found traces of earlier travertine pillars with steps between them.

^{page 170 note 1} Not. Scavi, 1911, 46, 321.

^{page 170 note 2} In some alterations to the road at the top of the Monti di S. Paolo, the channel of the aqueduct was found 50 feet deep beneath the surface, with two shafts leading to it (Tribuna, 13th Dec. 1912).

^{page 170 note 3} Not. Scavi, 1911, 91.

^{page 170 note 4} An incomplete plan is given by Paschetto. (pp. 266, 267).

^{page 171 note 1} See Calza, G. in Boll. d'Arte, v (1912), 199Google Scholar.

^{page 171 note 2} Not. Scavi, 1911, 262, 452.

^{page 172 note 1} Eph. Epigr. ix, no. 448.

^{page 174 note 1} See Calza, G. in Bull. Com. xl (1912), 103, ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 174 note 2} The vigiles were first sent to Ostia by Claudius (Suet. Claud. 25), but we do not know where they were at first quartered.

^{page 174 note 3} Not. Scavi, 1911, 209; 1912, 165.

^{page 176 note 1} It is carefully described by Carcopino, , Mélanges, xxvii (1907), 227, ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 177 note 1} Paschetto, p. 428. Some of the recently found houses consisted of distinct “apartments,” with separate staircases and approaches.

^{page 179 note 1} According to the Martyrologies, the first bishop of Ostia.

^{page 179 note 2} On one of them is cut in relief an aedicula with a genius sacrificing, and the inscription: Genio kastrorum peregrinori(um) Optatianus et Pudens frum(entarii) fratres ministerio / / / / / votum solverunt (C.I.L. xiv, no. 7).

^{page 179 note 3} Ducati, P. in Mélanges, xxvi (1906), 483Google Scholar; Strong, Roman Sculpture, 241, pls. lxxiii, lxxiv.

^{page 180 note 1} Musluvium was in Mauretania Sitifensis, but the reading of the inscription is doubtful. Sabrata was also in N. Africa.

^{page 180 note 2} Note that in C.I.L. xiv, 409, the mensores frumentarii have the epithet Cereris Augustae.

^{page 180 note 3} Paschetto, 335, ff.

^{page 181 note 1} For a more detailed description see Paschetto, op. cit. 394, ff. The missing relief of Mithras, if we accept the supposition that this is the Mithraeum excavated by Petrini in 1802, is in the Galleria Lapidaria at the Vatican (no. 144a).

^{page 181 note 2} C.I.L. xiv, no. 375; Mélanges, xxxi (1911), 224, ffGoogle Scholar. (see p. 157 above and note). Van Buren follows Mommsen in thinking that there was only one Gamala, who lived under Hadrian, and did not construct, but restored, the temples.

^{page 182 note 1} C.I.L. xiv, no. 376.

^{page 182 note 2} Against the south wall stands a cippus with the inscription aquaeductus per p. p. p. p.—perhaps puteum publicum—(C.I.L. xiv, no. 4147).

^{page 184 note 1} Paschetto, pp. 239, 343.

^{page 184 note 2} cf. Paschetto, p. 423. The whole of the group of buildings going westward from this point has been carefully studied by Carcopino, , Mélanges, xxx (1910), 397, ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 185 note 1} Paschetto, p. 357.

^{page 186 note 1} Paschetto (p. 309, fig. 72) wrongly makes it quite straight. Carcopino's plan is correct.

^{page 187 note 1} Mélanges, xxix (1909), 360, ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 187 note 2} Mélanges, xxxi (1911), 219Google Scholar.

^{page 188 note 1} In the Sala dell' Immac. Concezione (Nogara, Mosaici nei palazzi apostol. p. 35 and pl. lxix, lxx).

^{page 189 note 1} Ann. Inst. (1868), 148.

^{page 189 note 2} op. cit. p. 245.

^{page 189 note 3} Ann. Inst. (1866), 292.

^{page 190 note 1} Paschetto, p. 374.

^{page 190 note 2} Cumont, ii, p. 414, no. *295.

^{page 190 note 3} C.I.L. xiv, no. 324.

^{page 190 note 4} See Annali dell' Instituto, 1868, 144, ff. and the plan in Monumenti, viii, tav. 69.

^{page 191 note 1} Papers, vi, 191.

^{page 191 note 2} Cohen, 2nd ed. 33–41.

^{page 191 note 3} Suet. Claud. 20; Juvenal, xii, 75, etc.

^{page 191 note 4} Not. Scavi, 1907, 734.

^{page 192 note 1} Paschetto, fig. 1.

^{page 193 note 1} The “Stagno” or lagoon marked in the renaissance maps may well have been a part of the ancient salt-marshes: and in any case there was a bridge over the channel which led from it into the sea; this bridge, as an inscription tells us (C.I.L. xiv, 126), was restored by Carinus and Numerianus, and we gather that it marked the boundary of the territory of Ostia towards that of Lavinium. The inscription speaks of Laurentes: but Laurentum had in imperial days disappeared, and its cults had been absorbed by Lavinium, while its place on the coast was partially taken by a village called Vicus Augustanus Laurentium (which did not occupy the same site) with a municipal organisation of its own. But the name Laurentes probably embraces the inhabitants both of the Vicus and of Lavinium: the inhabitants of the latter are generally called Laurentes Lavinates.

^{page 194 note 1} Dion. Hal. iii, 44: ἐν τῷ μϵταξὺ τōῦ πōταμōῦ καὶ τῆσ θαλάττησ ἀγκῶνι πόλιν ὁ βασιλϵὺσ ἐντϵιχἱσασ.

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