Ostie

Ostie , in Italian Ostia or Ostia Antica (of Latin meaning mouths ), is an old town of Italy, in the Latium, located at the mouth of the the Tiber, to 35 km in the south-west of Rome. Old évêché, it was famous for its saline Marais S and for its port, which accommodated the cargoes of Céréale S, of Huile, Vin and Garum coming from all the Roman world, and in particular of the provinces of Sicily, of Egypt, Africa or Sardinia. Its situation was all the more advantageous as contrary to the others Fleuve S Mediterranean, the Tiber profited from an astonishing regularity enabling him to be navigable all the year. Ostie is not Ostia Lido .

* It is necessary to nourish 1.200.000 Romans journalièrement; however, the campaigns of Latium are less and less cultivated.

* " The every day, the life of the Roman people is the toy of the floods and the tempêtes."

quotation of the Tacit historian

Chronology

It is on the site of Ostie that, according to the legend, the prince Énée would have unloaded, fleeing the fire of Troy. The city would have been founded towards 640 av. J. - C. by Ancus Marcius, the fourth legendary king of Rome. However archaeological research limits the foundation of Ostie to the year 335 av. J. - C., by binding it to the oldest found object (a Roman currency). Ostie was the maritime outer harbor of Rome until its stranding.

In 278 av. J. - C., the Carthaginian fleet, sent to the help of the Romans, at the time of the war against Pyrrhus, approaches there.
In 267 av. J. - C., the quaestorship of Ostie is instituted, this date marks the departure of the transformation of the small citadel downtown true Roman, larger, surrounded by new walls, envisaging the place for the future development.
In 217 av. J. - C., the boats in charge of the provisioning for the Roman army which was in Ibérie started from Ostie.
In 212 av. J. - C., the corn coming from Sardinia was stored there.
In 211 av. J. - C., Publius Cornelius Scipion share of Ostie with its thirty Quinquérème S.
In 69 av. J. - C., of the pirates burn the town of Ostie.

Evolution

At the time republican, the city was only regarded as the Emporium (the counter) of Rome, with its many shops and its warehouses. Elegant houses with atrium and peristyle were built and the streets were flanked columns and pillars. Under the ways the sewer S ran, whereas the cemeteries were rejected out of the walls in the Nécropole S.

Port of Ostie with Portus

In its time already, Jules César had included/understood the need for creating a new port close to Rome but the had a presentiment of technical difficulties had made there give up. However the increase in the traffic making insufficient the natural damping of the delta of the the Tiber, the emperor Claude Ier made build, starting from 42, a new port with approximately three kilometers in the north of Ostie, connected to the the Tiber by a channel, finished in 46, current the Fiumicino . It was finished by the emperor Néron towards 64 - 66. A new city, Portus, were born and thrived around the new port with the detriment of Ostie.

The port, of about circular form, was created starting from an artificial basin of 90 ha surface and 4 to 5 m of depth, built on a Lagune in formation, the sandy cord constituting a natural protection. The entry of the basin was barred by immense a 758 m length dam and 3 m broad, leaving for the entry of the port, a passage of 206 m, spared between the Digue and a mole of 600 m length and 12 m broad, assemble it Giulio, resting in the North-East on the dry land. Unloading dock S and Horrea were installed on the two arms of the port, doing each one more than one hundred Hectare S, in order to facilitate the unloading and the storage of the goods.
Un Headlight, similar to that of the port of Alexandria, had been set up at the end of the large dam, with as foundation the ship used by the emperor Caligula to bring back from Egypt the Obélisque which one can admire today with the the Vatican. The ship had been filled with rocks, then cast at sea, in order to make emerge a small island artificiel.
According to researchers, work required the work of 30.000 workmen and 1000 pairs of Bœuf S during 20 years.

But this new port was exposed too much to the blades at the time of the storms, Tacite tells that in 62, a storm sent by the bottom 200 ships, and was thus of a too expensive maintenance. Also the emperor Trajan made build a new port, the Portus Traiani , more functional and a little more in withdrawal. Work lasted of 100 with 112, to arrange a basin of hexagonal form and 358 m side and 5 depth m, a surface of 32 hectares, and 2000 m quay. It was connected to the the Tiber by a new channel, the Fiumicino , and a two-lane road connected it to Ostie.

Warehouses

With the Portus Traiani , new department stores on floor and Entrepôt S were built to allow a better conservation of the foodstuffs.

With the ridge of its expansion, Ostie includes/understands immense warehouses covering a surface of ten hectares; it is much vaster in Rome even.

All the products of the Mediterranean Monde ancient are stored there:

Candle S, Torch S, books of Parchment, rollers of papyrus;
foodstuffs: Pepper and spices, quintals of Corn, Amphora S of Wine, Earthenware jar S of Oil;
Clothing S, materials of Construction.

Urban life

With the ridge of its prosperity, with the II {{E}} and III {{E}} centuries of our era, Ostie counted a population of 75.000 inhabitants. In the city were built beautiful buildings the such Basilique and the Curia.

Of 117 with 161, the emperors Hadrian then Antonin the Piles make rebuild and refit the center, with houses on several floors but with vast courses interior and new public edifices, the such new Capitole, the Roman Thermes of Neptune and the Caserne of the Vigiles.

In 180, the emperor Commode makes build new the Théâtre of Ostie.
Of 203 with 217, the emperors Severe Septime and Caracalla make increase and to renovate the Théâtre of Ostie and places it Corporation S which comprised in its medium the Temple of Cérès and was entirely surrounded by a colonnade, behind which the offices of most important trading companies of all the Empire were pressed the, a true “World Trade Center”. The names of the companies were registered on the mosaics of the pavements and on this place the merchants, the craftsmen, the sailors and the bankers met.

To make function the unit harmoniously, the magistrates and civils servant of the empire took care. They were charged:

to supervise the loading and the unloading of the foodstuffs, to control of it quality and the quantity,
to carry out the payments and to take the taxes,
to make ensure the respect of the contracts, in particular those between the State and deprived,
to manage the relationship with the ship-owners,
to supervise the Corporation S of workers of the train ferries, the docks, the shipyards, and the masons in charge of the maintenance of the quays and the warehouses. There was even a corporation of plungers charged to recover the goods fallen to water.

Decline

Starting from Constantin I {{er}}, at the beginning of the 4th century, the State exclusively devotes its effort on the port, and gives up its vision of public service in the management of the city, it is the beginning of a slow decline. Towards the end of the 4th century, holy Augustin of passage to Ostie, attests degradation of the city. His/her mother, Holy Monique, finds death in the inn where they waited to embark for the North Africa. In 414, the poet Rutilius Namatianus assure him also the end of the city for lack of maintenance.

Posterity

It was destroyed at the 9th century, but made new great strides with the Moyen-âge. The ruins, excavated systematically since 1854, are well preserved and only to those Pompéi yield it.

Today, the following the example of Acute-Dead in the Camargue, the ruins of Ostie are surrounded by fields and are located at 4 km of the sea. The the Tiber, with which yellow water is heavily charged in alluvia, form while being thrown in the sea, a coast alluvial, punt and marshy. A seaside resort, the Lido d' Ostie, developed there at the XXe century. This agglomeration was built-in the fascistic commune of Rome at the time .

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

the harbor complex of Ostie
Ostie, the ancient city
Traverse the excavations of Ostie Histoire, photographs and interactive plans of the site
Ostia, harbor city off Ancient Rome
Site gate
Ostia Site gate

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