At The Mouth of The Tiber

Today we did a total of one thing, guys. One thing. We usually try to get in at least to sights or activities. Event if one of those activities is just wandering around, we try to do at least two. Sometimes on our more masochistic days three. Anyway, like I said, one thing. That one thing? Ostia Antica! Whaaaaaaa? What in the pantheon of Roman dieties is Ostia Antica?! Is that like osteoarthritis?! No, my friends. Ostia Antica is not a degenerative disease. That would be a horrible thing to fly thousands of miles to visit.

We took the metro to the urban train that very slowly got us to the stop Ostia Antica was closest to. This stupid thing was really slow despite being on normal tracks and not going into cities without any kind of clear demarcation between train line and rest-of-town.

(Ignore if you don't care about to read a very brief history of the town)

Ostia Antica is the site of the remains of the ancient Roman sea port of Ostia (plural for the word "Mouth" in Latin). It was likely Rome's first colony, and was initially used as a defensive port to protect against raids on Rome coming from up the Tiber river that runs through Rome. There is Castrum (Roman fortification) from the the third century B.C.E. After seeing some action during the civil wars that proceeded the fall of the Republic, Julius Caesar decided to improve the flow of grain from Ostia to Rome. Subsequent emperors added on to the city, and at one point it became a thriving metropolis of over 100,000 inhabitants in the second and third centuries C.E. St. Augustine visited Ostia and his mother, Monica, actually died and was buried there. The town eventually was abandoned in the ninth century C.E. as Rome slowly fell.

When you arrive in Ostia Antica you're met by the town's necropolis (city of the dead). So it's like going to Lynden from Meridian really. :-)  The necropolis is fairly large as you can imagine and there are a number of rooms with niches where they would put the ashes of dead family members, and there are some sarcophagi. We saw a theater that held around four thousand people, and is used today. Behind it was a square with a series of business stalls and mosaics that describe what each shop did in some way with some latin inscription in mosaic. It was really neat to see mosaics in such great shape that are exposed to the elements.

The theater

Mosaic of Neptune in one of the baths

We saw the Castrum (military camp) that still has the original wall consisting of Tufa stone. Within are a number of houses and a place Ostians would eat. There's the original bar with marble top, and a fresco describing generally what one could get there with a series of steps where food could be set out and picked before being purchased. In a lot of ways Romans were very modern.

Behind the bar/counter

The menu

After the Castrum area we grabbed some overly priced food to provide some calories to keep the hanger at bay. We found the Temple of Jupiter and wandered the Forum baths. Emperors really liked to keep people happy with games, food, and baths. If you were fed and entertained it was easy for an emperor to do what they wanted. The Forum baths were great. One of the fun things about Ostia Antica compared to Pompeii is the degree to which you could wander around them. There is much greater access to the ruins of Ostia Antica than Pompeii. In the case of the Forum Baths we could even clime down where the slaves would go to stoke the fires to eat the rooms and water in the baths.

We found a number of bathrooms which was fun, and I found what I think was a well, or water source for a fountain/pond in a peristylum (interior home garden) in a large home. After I went in the narrow passage way a couple of German kids followed. I think their dad later went in. In some ways I liked Ostia a lot more than Pompeii. You could get away form people and have a whole section of the site to yourself despite the amount of school groups, and they were not as restrictive regarding where you could go.

Bathroom with plenty of toilets

Tomorrow is a day that I don't think Libby is looking forward to. We're going to the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's basilica. Libby would like to add that she is looking forward to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's.