This volume collects the 24 full-text conference papers of the 2015 ‘Third Colloquium on Ostia’ held at the École Française de Rome. Started in 2013, these yearly meetings – in Italian ‘Seminari ostiensi’ – have become an indispensable discussion forum for experts in Ostia-related issues and reflect the state of the art of Ostia's archaeological and epigraphic scholarship. The first three sections are devoted to research on the suburbs of Ostia, which is the main theme of this publication, and the fourth and last section, ‘Varia’, gathers various archaeological, epigraphic and historical papers. This review offers an overview of the volume, touching upon most of its chapters.
The opening section comprises two contributions on the pre-Roman era to the north of the Tiber's mouth. The first paper (by F.R. De Castro, A. Facciolo, M. Gala, M.C. Grossi, C. Morelli, M.L. Rinaldi, D. Ruggeri and S. Sivilli), drawing on Eneolithic and Middle and Final Bronze Age evidence from the area around the Maccarese Lagoon and on material from the Archaic period from near Rio Galeria, reconstructs the emergence of settlements. The second contribution (by V. Acconcia, De Castro and C. Morciano) analyses pottery findings. The presence of pottery and the absence of structures reveal the existence of craft and temporary settlements around the Maccarese Lagoon, while near Rio Galeria the presence of small agricultural communities is attested.
The second section concerns the site Isola Sacra. The section opens with an account (by I. Baldassarre, I. Bragantini. A.M. Dolciotti, C. Morselli, F. Taglietti) of the century-long history of field archaeology in this district. During the excavations carried out between 1968 and 1989 an innovative approach highlighting burial and social behaviours led to a new understanding of the necropolis as a system. For instance, emphasis was given to non-monumental tombs located in the so-called ‘field of the poor’ (‘campo dei poveri’). For these poorer tombs P. Olivanti and M. Spanu offer a detailed chronological frame dating most of them between ad 160 and 180, whereas the monumental tombs extend into the fourth century ad.
E. Borgia's contribution presents a tabella defixionis; although it appears impossible to identify the people whom this plate put a curse on, Borgia's hypothesis is that it addresses a family, since several women are mentioned in the text. Two papers deal with stamped bricks and coins, both co-authored by L. Camilli and Taglietti. On the one hand, the great amount of stamped bricks discloses relevant information about the multiple rationales behind the organisation of each building yard and the diverse origins of building material supplies even in the same necropolis context. On the other hand, coins provide a link to the wider debate whether or not those objects are related to ritual practices. The non-systematic presence of coins in the Isola Sacra burials supports the argument that in this context such grave goods reflect an individual choice rather than funeral rites. L. Bondioli, P. Germoni and P.F. Rossi explore the 2008 recovery and analysis of the looted Muse sarcophagus, which has preserved the corpse of a five/six-year-old child buried with a foot-shaped ring with the word ΜΥΣΤΙΚ inscribed on it, very likely testifying the adherence to a mystery cult.
The last two contributions on Isola Sacra focus on its southern and northern sectors respectively. Germoni, S. Keay, M. Millett and K. Strutt present the discoveries of new sites located on the northern bank of the Tiber. While geophysical surveys and trenches have so far located a warehouse and a defensive wall in the southern sector of Isola Sacra, this evidence, particularly the channel connecting to the Via Flavia, sheds new light on the relationship between Ostia and Portus during late antiquity.
At the end of the overview of the Trastevere Ostiense P. Turi's paper presents the preliminary research findings of the preventive archaeological investigation in northern Isola Sacra. Nineteen inhumation burials located within the trenches reveal that the area – previously occupied by the statio marmorum – became a burial ground in the third and fourth centuries.
The third section explores the preventive archaeological investigations carried out in south-eastern Ostia. Germoni, L. De Gregorio, C. Ninel Pischedda and A. D'Andrea present preliminary data from a sector close to the Pianabella necropolis (Area 12) whose activity covers six phases from the first to the fourth centuries ad. Originally an agricultural field, this suburban landscape became a necropolis and finally met collapse and spoliation. Two further contributions deal with Area 12: Cébeillac-Gervasoni and M. Mimmo analyse its inscriptions, with an appendix on the marbles by M. Bruno; Bondioli, A. Nava, Rossi and A. Sperduti investigate the cremated remains of two individuals. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery of Onesime's urn, surprisingly well-preserved and not affected by post-depositional alteration. The comparison between the epigraphic corpus and anthropological analyses have made it possible to verify the biological assessment of the remains.
Focused on infrastructure and land use, the detailed paper by S. Pannuzi integrates data from preventive archaeology investigations with a vast array of published and unpublished material. Since the Roman age, drainage systems have been developed in the Ostia lagoon in order to ensure human settlement in an area at the confluence of the lagoon, the river and the sea. Pannuzi reconstructs the early-imperial-age drainage technique, based on the use of massive sandy and clay depositions alternating with rows of amphoras. This drainage system boosted the emergence of craft industry, agriculture and other uses in nearby sectors, such as the funerary area. Pannuzi also argues that the necropolis of Porta Romana, Porta Laurentina and Pianabella formed a single whole rather than three independent units and that differences in burial arrangements depended on both chronology and the social status of the dead.
A second paper by D'Andrea, De Gregorio, Germoni and Ninel Pischedda closes the section with the discovery of a stretch of basalt road along the coast south of the synagogue, probably the beginning of the Via Severiana.
In the final section, ‘Varia’, Zevi and Laubry discuss the volume Epigrafia ostiense dopo il CIL. 2000 iscrizioni funerarie, published in 2018. In particular, Laubry explores a conspicuous group of 120 inscriptions shedding light on the iura sepulcrorum, namely the transmission of the rights relating to the tombs or the role of public authorities in these matters.
F. Marini Recchia combines already published inscriptions with recent discoveries. Among this material two dedications are worthy of mention: a newly discovered dedication to Agrippa put in place before the construction of the theatre and a second dedication to Titus, probably from an association and to be placed within a guild seat.
The papers by C. Bruun and F. Van Haeperen discuss public ceremonies, special events and festive days, based on precisely dated dedications and the Fasti Ostiensi respectively. Bruun draws a comparison with other harbour towns (such as Puteoli, Aquileia, Cirta and Leptis Magna, and Rome) and demonstrates that Ostia has a higher percentage of dedications referring to a precise date. This temporal detail is deemed to be an Ostian epigraphic habit and is explained by the fact that specified dates correspond to relevant days of the Roman calendar (Kalendae, Idus and emperors’ dies natales). Van Haeperen traces the origins of glorious and adverse extraordinary events collected in the Fasti Ostiensi, claiming their religious implications. They could have initiated or justified some religious ceremonies in the colony, such as sacrifices, vows or introduction of new cults.
R. Geremia Nucci provides an update of her previous publication on the Temple of Roma and Augustus (Il tempio di Roma e Augusto di Ostia [2013]) thanks to recent research by the Forum Project conducted at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She suggests the existence of a second posterior pediment decorated with a Capricorn-shaped clipeus. The Capricorn, Augustus’ symbol, expressed Tiberius’ will to highlight the dynastic relevance.
L. Lavan describes a new methodological approach articulated in the cleaning up of the site, the selection of small-scale trenches and non-invasive analysis. This kind of intervention has been tested during several campaigns conducted within the Kent–Berlin Late Antique Ostia Project from 2008 to 2012, particularly in the Palaestra of the Forum Baths. The same approach can be adopted to investigate further sectors previously opened during the 1930s and 1940s. M. David's contribution presents the ‘mithraeum of multi-coloured marbles’, located along the Via Marciana. This mithraeum leaves two issues open: first, in comparison with the other Mithraic temples of Ostia dating to the mid-second to mid-third century, this temple is from the fourth century ad; second, the presence of only one podium rather than two. A thronus, some graffiti and the iconographic motifs allowed the team of the Ostia Marina Project to consider it a newly discovered mithraeum.
This collection offers interesting insights into Ostia's peripheral areas and into late antiquity, a period still not fully explored; introduces new data and findings from preventive archaeological investigation projects; enhances previous studies and interpretations; and offers new methodological approaches worthy of further application. The volume reaches out to a vast readership, from national and international scholars, officials and experts working at the Parco Archeologico di Ostia and archaeologists involved in survey and excavation carried out in advance of construction or other land development.
