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The place of bears

The road to the east of the House of the Gorgons has been called Semita dei Cippi by the excavators: Path of the Cippi. Two low, travertine cippi are standing on the east side of the road, not far from each other, firmly embedded in the ground. They have the same text:

HAEC
SEMITA HOR
P       R       I
EST

In Scavi di Ostia volume I the inscription has been interpreted, with some hesitation, as Haec Semita Hor(reorum) p(---) r(---) i(---) or pri(---) est, "This is the path of the store building". There are no parallels for P R I. The letters are far apart and can therefore not be the beginning of one word, pri(---), they must be an abbreviation of three words. One suggestion is p(rincipium) r(egionis) I or p(rimae) r(egionis) i(nitium), "beginning of the first region". An inscription from the third century AD informs us that D. Flavius Florus Veranus was sodalis corp(oris) V region(um/is) col(oniae) Ost(iensis), a member of the guild of the five Ostian regions or the fifth Ostian region (CIL XIV, 352; we know nothing about the activities of this guild). Another suggestion is P(opuli) R(omani) i(ussu) or i(uris), "By order of the Roman people". In that case it remains to be explained what the involvement of the people of the city of Rome could have been in the south part of Ostia. Based on the explanation of hor, the building to the east (V,I,2) has been called Horrea, a warehouse. This cannot be deduced from the remains of the building itself, because it has been excavated partially only.



Location of the cippi and detail of one of them.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

The two cippi seem to have a formal nature. They are quite low and easily overlooked. The absence of parallels for PRI amongst the thousands of Latin abbreviations that we know is significant. Both characteristics indicate that the inscriptions were not meant to be read by the general public. It is also unlikely that they were regular street signs. If so, surely a few more of such signs would have been preserved. Furthermore the presence of two cippi close to each other suggests that they have a connection with the passage between them, not with the road along them.



The cippi seen from the south-west. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

Now a suggestion by Michael Heinzelmann gains importance. In the supposed warehouse behind the cippi is a late, curved wall, possibly from the fourth century, and according to Heinzelmann perhaps belonging to a small amphitheatre (oral communication). We may consider the possibility - more speculative than hypothetical I suppose - that the passage led to an opening in the curved wall through which dead gladiators were dragged out of the arena.



Part of the late curved wall, seen from the south-east.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

This gate in amphitheaters is known as the Porta Libitinensis and mentioned in a late antique biography of Commodus: "He was himself responsible for no inconsiderable an omen relating to himself; for after he had plunged his hand into the wound of a slain gladiator he wiped it on his own head, and again, contrary to custom, he ordered the spectators to attend his gladiatorial shows clad not in togas but in cloaks, a practice usual at funerals, while he himself presided in the vestments of a mourner. Twice, moreover, his helmet was borne through the Gate of Libitina" (Ipse autem prodigium non leve sibi fecit; nam cum in gladiatoris occisi vulnus manum misisset, ad caput sibi detersit, et contra consuetudinem paenulatos iussit spectatores non togatos ad munus convenire, quod funeribus solebat, ipse in pullis vestimentis praesidens. Galea eius bis per portam Libitinensem elata est; SHA, Commodus 16, 6-7, translation David Magie).



Artist's impression of the Porta Libitinensis. Source unknown.

For the undertakers the little arena would have been a convenient place for executions. That would also offer an explanation for the presence of the populus Romanus here. The duoviri of Ostia did not have the power to impose the death penalty on Roman citizens, for that they had to turn to Rome. Therefore lictores, when walking before the duoviri in public, carried a bundle of rods without the usual axe, and the name of the bundle was bacilli, not fasces (Meiggs 1973, 174). As to hor, there are not many words in Latin beginning with these letters. It might be a variant of horror. The expression locus horridus is used for a literary topos, a commonplace, in ancient literature, linked to monsters, dangerous landscapes, the underworld, and openings of the underworld. The expression is modern however (McIntyre 2008, 27). Still, could horridus or horribilis have been applied to the path?

In the Acta Sanctorum many executions of Christians are dealt with in detail. One description is of particular interest here, that of Asterius, during the reing of Claudius Gothicus (268-270 AD). We are told:
" He [the judge Gelasius] gave orders that the entire population should assemble for the spectacle at daybreak.Then he gave orders that a show should be prepared for him in the amphitheatre, and that the blessed Asterius and all the saints should be taken to him. And this is what he said to him [Asterius]: "Drive away the madness of your lies, and promise that you will offer libations to the gods, so that you will not die in torture, and all those perish simultaneously." The blessed Asterius replied, and said: "We are all longing for this, that, like our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for the sinners, we too, undeserving sinners, undergo torture in his name; so that we will reach the desired kingdom of heaven deservedly and safely, cleansed from the filth of this age."
After hearing this the judge Gelasius, driven by anger, gave orders to hand them over to the wild animals. And immediately they were seized by servants, who led them to the place of bears, as it is commonly known, next to a golden sanctuary, because wild animals are fed there. And while all the saints entered the den of the animals, the wild animals were released immediately to kill them. Then the blessed Asterius made the sign of Christ, and said with a clear voice: 'God, omnipotent Lord, who had pity for his servant Daniel in the lion's den, and through him strengthened the prophet Habakkuk, likewise go to see your servants through your holy angel'. And immediately the eager wild animals started to worship the feet of the blessed Asterius, and of all the saints.
And when he had seen this Gelasius said to the people: 'Did you see how they tamed the wild animals through magic?' Many however said, that their God had liberated them. Then he gave orders to drive them out of the den, to be burned. Then the blessed Asterius shouted to the saints: 'Be strong and have no fear, because that fourth person, who amongst the three Jewish children in the furnace was absent, behold, is present with us'. And immediately the flames went out, so that no part of their body was defiled. Then Gelasius, seeing that he had been beaten in all respects, gave orders to drive them outside the walls of the city of Ostia, and to receive the death penalty there, and to strike down others with stones. Then Christians buried their bodies with great care on January 18. In that place a church was built, and there the benefactions of the martyrs flourish until the present day."

There seems to be some genuine local topography in the text. We hear of a bear-pit next to a golden sanctuary (Ursarius, iuxta fanum aureum), somewhere near an amphitheatre. It is located within the city walls, because at the end of the story the martyrs are driven outside the walls of the city of Ostia (foras muros Ostiae civitatis). Were the amphitheatre and the place of bears located next to the House of the Gorgons?