The papers of the Fifth Ostian Seminar are largely based on or inspired by the prolific epigraphic and historical publications of the late Mireille Cébeillac-Gervasoni (07.04.1942–29.03.2017), former director of CNRS. They are presented in her memory by her colleagues, pupils and friends. She was a real team player. She published, for example, together with Zevi and Caldelli, Epigrafia latina. Ostia: cento iscrizioni in contesto (2010), which can also be used as an outstanding epigraphic handbook; with the same scholars she edited Epigrafia Ostiense dopo il CIL. 2000 iscrizioni funerarie (2018). She initiated the project ‘EMIRE’ (‘Les élites municipales de l'Italie de la République à l'Empire’, 1994–2010). Research on elites was the main topic of her research. She organised and published with Laubry and Zevi the Third Ostian Seminar ‘Ricerche su Ostia e il suo territorio’ at Rome in 2015 (for my review, see BMCR 2020.06.31). She wrote 31 publications on Ostia (1971–2019). This review is limited to the epigraphic and archaeological contributions on Ostia.

The editors evaluate Cébeillac-Gervasoni's work and present parts of her bibliography. L. Lamoine, G. Bandelli and J. Andreau, in separate papers, pay attention to her research programmes. C. Berrendonner argues that the quaestor Ostiensis did not belong to the quaestores classici as T. Mommsen thought; the magistrate probably dealt with the supply of grain to Rome via the provincia Ostiensis in case of emergency, for example during the Second Punic War, until his function was taken over by the procurator annonae in 44 ce. M. Christol describes the position of equestrian functionaries who played a role incidentally in the supply of oil under Marcus Aurelius. F. Sudi-Guiral deals with the seruitus publica in Ostia, listing 72 liberti (former slaves) who are recognisable by the name Ostiensis or the abbreviation Ost followed by a Greek or Latin cognomen such as the most informative P. Ostiensis coloniae libertus Acutus, but rarely preceded by a praenomen. Some were benefactors. Most of them are undated, and most of their functions are unknown except for an aeditu(u)s Capitoli, an aedituus Romae et Aug(usti), a tabularius, a sevir Aug(ustalis) and a pontifex Volkani. N. Tran tries to reconstruct the meaning of the word ordo in the ordo cor[poratorum---] mentioned in one of two fragments of the album of the corpus lenunculariorum (inv. 6636), dated to 192 ce. He suggests that the ordo was a collegium that gathered in a solemn and hierarchic way in order to make decisions. C. Bruun deals with a passage in the Fasti Ostienses (152 ce) that mentions two statues in honour of the populus Ostiensis, which had been erected in 148 ce. I. Manzini pays attention to an extremely fragmentary funerary inscription (inv. 11636) reading: [Dis Mani]b(us)/ [---] fil(iae) [---]/ [---]ae./ [Cn(aeus) Senti]us/ [Lucilius Gam]ala/ [Clodian]us/ [matri carissim]ae. She holds that Lucilius Gamala was adopted by Cn. Sentius Felix before 102 ce. Not fully convincing, however, is her reconstruction of the cognomen Clodianus as it is based on the incomplete first name [Clodi]ae in the third line. In addition, the cognomen Felix is not mentioned in the inscription. A. Licordari, A. Pellegrino and M. Bruno show that the fratres frumentarii Pudens and Optatianus, who are mentioned in a dedication to the Genius kastrorum peregrinorum (at Rome) on a column behind the theatre, on the south side of the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, are also mentioned on the architrave above the cella of the probably imperial Temple on the same Piazzale, in the age of the Severi. F. Coarelli suggests that the lost statues of Plato (the comedian), Lysicles and Antisthenes, mentioned on bases with Greek inscriptions, the incomplete famous relief of C. Fulvius Salvis haruspexs and the incomplete so-called Theseus and Ariadne relief, all from in the Sanctuary of Hercules, were made when Sulla visited Ostia, soon after 82 bce. This is possible as G. Becatti dated the haruspexs relief for stylistic reasons to between c. 100 and 50 bce. Unfortunately, the victorious commander, Sulla according to Coarelli, towards whom Victoria lies and to whom the haruspexs gives a sors, is missing, and therefore his name. In addition, the inscription [---]s de sua pequnia fecit on the alleged Theseus and Ariadne relief cannot refer to Sulla. Further, the haruspexs relief was dedicated by the seer himself, not by Sulla. According to Coarelli, who follows E. Simon, the alleged Theseus and Ariadne relief shows a seated Theseus and Demeter with her torch held downward, in Eleusis or in the Underworld. C. Valeri also pays much attention to this relief: she does not follow Zevi, who interpreted the figures as Hercules and Atropos, one of the Moirai; instead, she holds that the meaning of the latter's gesture is not clear, but she does not present a better solution. This is understandable since the left part of the relief is missing. P. Pensabene lists comparanda (in Rome, Pergamon and Baalbek) for Ostia's latest temple, the Tempio Rotondo, which started to be built under Heliogabalus. He hypothesises that the temple was not only used for the cult of the emperors but also for the worship of the eastern deities Sol and Magna Mater, though no statues of them were found in situ. Combining different sources, including CIL XIV 98 and 137, M. Turci concludes that the Terme di porta Marina were initiated under Hadrian and finished under Antoninus Pius. Its large apsidal piscina appears to have been a frigidarium. Recent research by M. David casts light on the inscriptions from the ‘Terme Marittime della Marciana e del Sileno’ and the balnea of ‘Musiciolus e dello Scheletro’. He shows that the bath complex changed from public to elite use at the end of the fourth century ce. P. Germoni and Cébeillac-Gervasoni present three unpublished funerary inscriptions from the excavations on the east side of the via Favia in Isola Sacra (1998–1999). S. Panuzzi et alii describe the ongoing archaeological and geological research in the locality of Fiume Morto. J. Bermejo Meléndez et alii (of Huelva University) throw light upon architectural aspects of the east-west pier of Portus Augusti, the ‘Molo della Lanterna’, the straight pier visible on the Tabula Peutingeriana. They conclude that the pier fell into disuse between the fifth and ninth centuries ce.

For completeness’ sake: the non-Ostian papers deal with the intellectual horizons of Italian aristocrats (by F. Santangelo), the local elites of Apulia (by M. Silvestrini), new inscriptions of the consulares Campaniae (by G. Camodeca) and the annual commemoration of feasts and funeral rites (Parentalia and Rosalia) at Philippi, a Roman colony in east Macedonia (by A.D. Rizakis).

To conclude: this collection of well-illustrated papers including many factual and some hypothetical but suggestive contributions is an important addition to our knowledge of Ostia and Portus.