Isola Sacra - South-west part - Bridge and ferries

Archaeologists and historians have long been convinced that there was no bridge over the Tiber at Ostia: it would have been an insuperable obstacle for many ships. Then in 2011 Paola Germoni published a new find in the archives. It is a letter dated 23 July 1879 written by the vice-secretary of the Museo Kircheriano, Angelo Pellegrini, to the Direzione Archeologica del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione: "I have been informed that during the building of the road between Ostia and Fiumicino, the ancient road paved with polygonal basalt blocks was discovered on the Ostia side heading in the same direction. The engineers of that side were surprised, having sampled the bed of the Tiber, in which they recognized the piers of a bridge that led to the Isola Sacra. On this (Isola Sacra) side the basalt paved road continued towards the other artificial channel of the river created by Claudius, the so-called Fossa Traiana, where it is believed there existed another bridge that led to the port of Claudius, now Fiumicino as is demonstrated". Nothing is said about the date of the bridge. It seems that Pellegrini is referring to the area near the ancient Tiber mouth, near Tor Boacciana, that is near the current bridge over the Tiber, the Ponte della Scafa. On the opposite side of the river began the road crossing the Isola Sacra, the Via Flavia. The bridge is also mentioned by Charles-Victor von Bonstetten in the early 19th century.

Near Ostia the Tiber is approximately 100 meters wide. Ferries were used on the river. Inscriptions from the second and third century AD document four services: the corpus lenunculariorum traiectus Luculli, corpus traiectus Marmorariorum, corpus traiectus Togatensium, and corpus traiectus Rusticelii. A traiectus is a crossing, for example of a river. Small boats - obviously rowing boats - called lenunculi were used by the ferrymen. The lenunculi could take people to and from the Isola Sacra and Portus for a variety of reasons. Perhaps some people even commuted to Portus.

The existence of four guilds, with names that may be related to places, suggests zoning. The traiectus Marmorariorum has something to do with marmorarii, marble workers. The traiectus Rusticelii was named after the Rusticelii-family. We also hear of praedia Rusticeliana in Ostia, belonging to the Emperor in the Severan period. The ferry service of Lucullus was named after an unknown person.

[N]VMINI DOMVS AVG(ustae) [co]RPVS LENVNC(u)LARIORVM TRAIECTVS LVCVLLI PECVNIA SVA FIRMIORI ET CVLTIORI OPERE FECERVNT [per]MISSV TI(beri) IVLI FEROCIS CVRATORIS ALVEI TIBERIS ET RIPARVM	For the divine power of the Imperial house, the guild of boatmen of the crossing of Lucullus, at own expense, with more solid and beautiful workmanship made this, with the permission of Tiberius Iulius Ferox, curator of the bed and banks of the Tiber.
Marble slab, found in the Baths of the Forum (I,XII,6). W. 0.825, h. 0.595. Museum Ostia. Date: 101-103 AD. EDR110104. Photo: Van Haeperen 2019, fig. 134.

Sextus Pompeius Maximus, an official of the ferry service of the Toga-bearers (quinquennalis corporis treiectus togatensium), was also "father of fathers" (pater patrum) in the cult of Mithras, apparently the head of the entire Ostian Mithraic community (see the Mitreo Aldobrandini). A president of the corpus traiectus Marmorariorum, Titus Testius Helpidianus, was involved in the Imperial cult as sevir augustalis. Apparently, although the members of the ferry guilds were presumably not very wealthy, they played no insignificant role in Ostian society. Moreover, the guilds had patrons from important families. And there is another indication for a certain degree of wealth.

Inscriptions from the second century record donations to the corpus traiectus Rusticelii. The inscriptions most likely come from the guild seat, the location of which is not known. Examples of the gifts are a head or statue of Lucius Verus, donated on the birthday of Antoninus Pius (19 September 145), and a silver Imperial head carried by a bronze Atlas (imago ex argento cum clipeo et Atlante aereo), given on the birthday of Lucius Verus (15 December 166). Atlas, normally carrying the globe, emphasizes the Emperor as ruler of the world, rector totius orbis terrarum. The guild may have been related in some way to the cultores Larum et imaginum dominorum nostrorum invictissimorum Augustorum praediorum Rusticelianorum, worshippers of the Lares and images of Emperors, of the Rusticelian estate. These people are documented in a reused inscription, but the place of discovery suggests that the property was in the north-east part or to the north-east of Ostia.

Imago ex argento cum clipeo et Atlante aereo.
From Herz 1982, Abb. 1.