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OSTIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 359 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OSTIA , an See also:

ancient See also:town and See also:harbour of See also:Latium, See also:Italy, at the mouth of the See also:river See also:Tiber on its See also:left See also:bank. It lies 14 m. S.W. from See also:Rome by the Via Ostiensis, a road of very ancient origin still followed by a See also:modern road which preserves some traces of the old See also:pavement and remains of several ancient See also:bridges. It was the first See also:colony ever founded by Rome—according to the See also:Romans themselves, by Ancus See also:Martius—and took its name from its position at the mouth (ostium) of the river. Its origin is connected with the See also:establishment of the See also:salt-marshes (salinaesee See also:SALARIA, VIA) which only ceased to exist in 1875, though it acquired importance as a harbour in very See also:early times. When it began to have magistrates of its own is not known: nor indeed have we any See also:inscriptions from Ostia that can be certainly attributed to the Republican See also:period. Under the See also:empire, on the other See also:hand, it had the See also:ordinary magistrates of a colony, the See also:chief being See also:duoviri, charged with the See also:administration of See also:justice, whose See also:place was taken every fifth See also:year by duoviri censoria potentate quinquennales, then quaestores (or See also:financial officials) and then aediles (See also:building officials). There were also the usual decuriones (town councillors) and Augustales. We learn much as to these magistrates from the large number of inscriptions that have been found (over 2000 in Ostia and See also:Portus taken together) and also as to the cults. See also:Vulcan was the most important—perhaps in early times the only—deity worshipped at Ostia, and the See also:priest-See also:hood of Vulcan was held sometimes by See also:Roman senators. The Dioscuri too, as patrons of mariners, were held in See also:honour. Later we find the See also:worship of See also:Isis and of See also:Cybele,the latter being especially flourishing, with large corporations of dendrophori (priests who carried branches of trees in procession) and canephori (See also:basket-See also:carriers); the worship of See also:Mithras, too, had a large number of followers.

There was a See also:

temple of See also:Serapis at Portus. No traces of Jewish worship have been found at Ostia, but at Portus a considerable number of Jewish inscriptions in See also:Greek have come to See also:light. Of the See also:church in Ostia there is no See also:authentic See also:record before the4th See also:century A.D., though there are several See also:Christian inscriptions of an earlier date; but the first See also:bishop of Ostia of whom we have any certain knowledge See also:dates from A.D. 313. The see still continues, and is indeed held by the See also:dean of the sacred See also:college of cardinals. A large number of the inscriptions are also connected with the various guilds—firemen (centonarii), carpenters and See also:metal workers (fabri), boatmen, lightermen and others (see J. P. Waltzing, See also:Les Corporations professionelles, See also:Brussels and See also:Liege). Until See also:Trajan formed the See also:port of Centumcellae (Civitavecchia) Ostia was the best harbour along the See also:low sandy See also:coast of central Italy between See also:Monte Argentario and Monte Circeo. It is mentioned in 354 B.C. as a trading port, and became important as a See also:naval harbour during the Punic See also:Wars. Its See also:commerce increased with the growth of Rome, and this, and the decay of See also:agriculture in Italy, which obliged the See also:capital to rely almost entirely on imported See also:corn (the importation of which was, from 267 B.C. onwards, under the See also:charge of a See also:special See also:quaestor stationed at Ostia), rendered the See also:possession of Ostia the See also:key to the situation on more than one occasion (87 B.C., A.D. 409 and 537)• The inhabitants of the colony were thus regarded as a permanent See also:garrison, and at first freed from the obligations of ordinary military service, until they were later on obliged to serve in the See also:fleet.

Ostia, however, was by no means an ideal harbour; the mouth of the Tiber is exposed to the See also:

south-See also:west See also:wind, which often did damage in the harbour itself; in A.D. 62 no less than 200 See also:ships with their cargoes were sunk, and there was an important guild of See also:divers (urinatores) at Ostia. The difficulties of the harbour were increased by the continued silting up, produced by the enormous amount of solid material brought down by the river. Even in See also:Strabo's See also:time (v. 3. 5, p. 231) the harbour of Ostia had become dangerous: he speaks of it as a " See also:city without a harbour owing to the silting up brought about by the Tiber . . . : the ships See also:anchor at considerable See also:risk in the roads, but the love of gain prevails: for the large number of lighters which receive the cargoes and reload them renders the time See also:short before they can enter the river, and having lightened a See also:part of their cargoes they See also:sail in and ascend to Rome." See also:Caesar had projected remedial See also:measures, but (as in so many cases) had never been able to carry them out, and it was not until the time of See also:Claudius that the problem was approached. That See also:emperor constructed a large new harbour on the right bank, 22 M. N. of Ostia, with an See also:area of 170 acres enclosed by two curving moles, with an artificial See also:island, supporting a lofty lighthouse, in the centre of the space between them. This was connected with the Tiber by an artificial channel, and by this See also:work Claudius, according to the inscriptions which he erected in A.D.

46, freed the city of Rome from the danger of inundation. The harbour was named by See also:

Nero, Portus See also:Augusti. Trajan found himself obliged in A.D. 103, owing to the silting up of the Claudian harbour, and the increase of See also:trade, to construct another port further inland—a hexagonal See also:basin enclosing an area of 97 acres with enormous warehouses—communicating with the harbour of Claudius and with the Tiber by means of the channel already constructed by Claudius, this channel being prolonged so as to give also See also:direct See also:access to the See also:sea. This became blocked in the See also:middle ages, but was reopened by See also:Paul V. in 1612, and is still in use. Indeed it forms the right See also:arm of the Tiber, by which See also:navigation is carried on at the See also:present ..See also:day, and is known as the Fossa Trajana. The island between the two arms acquired the name of Insula Sacra (still called Isola Sacra) by which See also:Procopius mentions it. Ostia thus lost a considerable amount of its trade, but its importance still continued to be See also:great. The 2nd and 3rd centuries, indeed, are the high-See also:water See also:mark of its prosperity: and it still possessed a See also:mint in the 4th century A.D. During the See also:Gothic wars, however, trade was confined to Portus, and the ravages of pirates led to its See also:gradual See also:abandonment. See also:Gregory IV. constructed in 83o a fortified See also:enceinte, called Gregoriopolis, in the eastern portion of the ancient city, and the See also:Saracens were signally defeated here under See also:Leo IV. (847–856).

The See also:

battle is represented in Giulio Romano's See also:fresco from See also:Raphael's See also:design in the See also:Stanza dell' Incendio in the Vatican. In the middle ages Ostia regained something of its importance, owing to the silting up of the right arm of the Tiber. In 1483–1486 Giuliano della Rovere (See also:nephew of See also:Pope See also:Sixtus IV., and afterwards himself Pope See also:Julius II.) caused the See also:castle to be erected by See also:Baccio Pontelli, a little to the See also:east of the ancient city. It is built of See also:brick and is one of the finest specimens of See also:Renaissance fortification, and exemplifies especially the transition from the old See also:girdle walls to the See also:system of bastions; it still has See also:round corner towers, not polygonal bastions (See also:Burckhardt). Under the shelter of the castle lies the modern See also:village. The small See also:cathedral of St Aurea, also an early Renaissance structure, with Gothic windows, is by some ascribed to Meo del Caprina (143o–15o1). Hitherto Ostia does not seem to have been very unhealthy. In 1557, however, a great See also:flood caused the Tiber to See also:change its course, so that it no longer flowed under the walls of the castle, but some See also:half a mile farther west; and its old See also:bed (See also:Fiume Morto) has ever since then served as a breeding ground for the malarial See also:mosquito (Anopheles claviger). An agricultural colony, founded at Ostia after 1875, and consisting mainly of cultivators from the neighbourhood of See also:Ravenna, has produced a great change for the better in the See also:condition of the place. The modern village is a part of the See also:commune of Rome. The marshes have been drained, and a pumping station erected near See also:Castel Fusano. An electric See also:tramway has been constructed from Rome to Ostia and thence to the seashore, now some 2 M. distant, where sea-bathing is carried on.

Excavations on the site of Ostia were only begun towards the See also:

close of the 18th century, and no systematic work was done until 1854, when under See also:Pius IX. a considerable amount was done (the See also:objects are now in the Lateran museum). The See also:Italian See also:government, to whom the greater part of it now belongs, laid See also:bare many of the more important buildings in 188o–1889; but much was left undone. Owing to the fact that the site is largely covered with See also:sand and to the See also:absence of any later alterations, the preservation of the buildings excavated is very See also:good, and Ostia is, with the exception of See also:Pompeii, the best example in Italy of a town of the Roman period. On the east the site is approached by an ancient road, flanked by tombs. On the right (N.) are some small well-preserved thermae, and the See also:barracks of the firemen (vigiles), a special See also:cohort of whom was stationed here. On one See also:side of the central courtyard of the latter building is a See also:chapel with inscribed pedestals for imperial statues (2nd and 3rd century A.D.) and a well-preserved See also:black and See also:white See also:mosaic representing a See also:sacrifice (see J. Carcopino in Melanges de l'Ecole Francaise, 1907). To the south-west is the See also:Forum, an area 265 ft. square surrounded by colonnades, in which were placed the offices of the various collegia or guilds of boatmen, raftmen and others, which had a special importance at Ostia; the names of the guilds may still be read in inscriptions in the mosaic pavements of the See also:chambers. In the centre of the area are the substructions of a temple, and on the south-east side are the remains of the See also:theatre, built in the early imperial period, restored by Septimius See also:Severus in 196–197 and again in the 4th or 5th century. To the south-west of the Forum are the remains of three small temples, one dedicated to See also:Venus, and a well-preserved Mithraeum, with mosaics representing the seven See also:planets, &c. To the sputh-west again is the conspicuous brick See also:cella of a lofty temple, on arched substructures, generally supposed to be that of Vulcan, with a See also:threshold See also:block of africano (Euboean) See also:marble over 15 ft. See also:long: from it a See also:street over 20 ft. wide leads See also:north-west to the river. It is flanked on each side by well-preserved warehouses, another See also:group of which, surrounding a large See also:court, lies to the south-west.

The brick and See also:

opus reticulatum facing of the walls is especially See also:fine. Hence an ancient road, leading between warehouses (into which the Tiber is encroaching), in one See also:room of which a number of well-preserved large jars may be seen embedded in the See also:floor, runs close to the river to a large private See also:house with /herniae, in which five mosaics were found: it (groundlessly) bears the name of " imperial See also:palace." Farther to the south-west are remains of other warehouses, and (possibly) of the docks—long narrow chambers, which may have served359 to contain ships. Here are remains of (earlier) structures in opus quadratum whereas the great bulk. of the ruins are in See also:brickwork and belong to the imperial period. The See also:medieval Torre Boacciana marks approximately the mouth of the river in Roman times. The south-eastern portion of the city has been excavated only very partially. To the south-west of the conspicuous temple alluded to are the remains of a temple of Cybele, with a See also:portico. This See also:lay close to the commencement of the Via See also:Severiana (see SEVERIANA, VIA), and the See also:line of tombs which flanked it soon begins. Farther south-east, a line of sand See also:dunes, covering the ruins of ancient villas, marks the coastline of the Roman period. Some 2 M. to the south-east is the See also:pine See also:forest of Castel Fusano, taking its name from a castle erected by the marchese See also:Sacchetti in the 16th century. It is now the See also:property of the Chigi and is leased to the See also:king (see See also:LAURENTINA, VIA). Here Drs See also:Lowe and Sambon made the decisive experiments which proved that the See also:propagation of See also:malaria was due to the mosquito Anopheles claviger. See Notizie degli scavi, passim: H.

See also:

Dessau in Corp. inscript. Latin. xiv. (See also:Berlin, 1887), pp. I sqq., and the See also:works of M. See also:Jerome Carcopino. (T.

End of Article: OSTIA

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