Deities in graffiti

The evidence on and in the walls of Ostia tells us only indirectly what the inhabitants felt and thought about religion in the private sphere. Fortunately they also speak to us directly, by means of graffiti. One of these was written on the back of a niche in the courtyard of House V,VIII,1-4. The function of the building, only partially excavated, is unfortunately not clear. The niche has an aedicula-facade. Along the top runs a semicircular brick arch. Its bricks were painted red, its mortar white. There is some red paint on the joints as well, creating the illusion that they are narrow. On the bottom of the niche is a thick white marble slab, protruding in front of the wall and wider than the opening of the niche. The slab rests on three travertine consoles. In the left and right part of the top of the slab, next to the opening of the niche, is a square depression, each with a round depression. The latter show signs of wear due to the action of pivots. The niche was apparently closed off by two doors. Above the niche a thick, white marble slab is protruding from the wall. It may have carried a tympanum. There are no pivot-holes in the bottom of the slab. Here the pivots must have been fastened in small wooden beams, which were attached to the facing of the wall (a little below the left part of the slab, above the left pivot-hole, the facing is slightly damaged; below the right part the facing is modern). Below the niche another thick, white marble slab is protruding from the wall. It rests on one travertine console. In the left part of the top of this slab is a groove, running from the wall to the front of the slab.

The lower part of the niche and the vault are separated by a row of bricks with a cornice. The vault has remains of beige plaster. Above and along the row of moulded bricks a red band has been painted. The transition from the fairly flat shell-vault to the arched vault is indicated by a blue-green band. On the arched vault blue-green spots or smears have been painted. The lower part too has extensive remains of beige plaster. The sides and back are outlined by red bands. Here too blue-green spots have been painted. In the upper left part of this lower part, graffiti have been scratched: IDVS DEC(embribus) and XV KAL(endas) NOV(embres), so December 13th and October 18th. Important dates in the life of the inhabitants were thus recorded.

The niche with aedicula-facade in house V,VIII,1-4.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

Detail of the graffiti in the niche.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

In 215 AD a fire-fighter named Calpurnius wrote a graffito in the Shrine of Silvanus. He wished Emperor Caracalla ten more years of government (the graffito is discussed in more detail on the separate page about the shrine). Like all fire-fighters in the city he came from Rome, for a period of four months. Many similar graffiti have been found in watch-house of the fire-fighters in Rome, in Trastevere.

Detail of the graffito of Calpurnius in the Shrine of Silvanus.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

In the House of the Sun someone wrote in capital letters:

DOMINVS SOL HIC AVITAT

Avitat is to be understood as habitat. Translated: "Lord Sun lives here". The graffito is usually interpreted as a reference to Sol-Mithras, because there is a mithraeum on the other side of the wall, the Mithraeum of the Snakes. A Christian "counter-statement", associating Christ with Sol, cannot entirely be excluded.

Detail of the graffito in the House of the Sun.
Photo: Gerard Huissen.

A long graffito was written in one of the representative rooms of the House of the Priestesses, one of the Garden Houses. It was probably written with a stilus, on red plaster.

VT A[......]SIT PRO SALVTE SVA ET SVORVM XII KAL(endas) AVG[u]STAS PROMISIT VOTVM LVCCEIA PRIMITIVA FORTVNAE TAVRIA NENSI

On July 21 of an unknown year a woman named Lucceia Primitiva promised that she will thank a deity, Fortuna Taurianensis, when she and those who are dear to her will be in good health, after a danger which was mentioned in the first, mutilated line. A floating figure painted near the graffito is not Fortuna, and there are no traces of a shrine. Perhaps a wooden shrine was placed against the wall. For Fortuna Taurianensis we could think of the protective deity of Taurianum, a town in the south of Italy. It is much more likely however that there is a relation with the cognomen Taurianus, which is documented in the Temple of Serapis.

The room with the graffito. It is to the right of the door, to the right of the floating figure, above the white architrave.
Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.

Detail of the graffito in the House of the Priestesses.
Photo: Mary Jane Cuyler.

The north-west part of the House of the Charioteers is made up of a cluster of rooms that has been called an apartment. However, the many graffiti in the rooms rather point to a hotel that was frequented by merchants and shippers. Three religious graffiti have been recognized. In the first one Mercurius, deity of commerce, is mentioned. The fulfillment of a vow is mentioned twice.

MERCVR V(otum) L(ibens) S(olvit / olverunt) P CO [...]AES SOLVVIMVS

Detail of the graffito.
Photo: Francis Brenders.

A Greek trader invoked the same deity, in his own language: "Righteous Hermes, bring profit to Hektikos!"

Detail of the graffito.
Photo: Francis Brenders.

The third one has been read and interpreted as follows:

TMARCIVS INGIINVS SIIRVS DIIVORVM OMMO BONVS

T(itus) Marcius ingenu(u)s (or Ingenu(u)s?) ser(v)us de{v}orum (h)om{m}o bonus

Titus Marcius, a free-born man (or Ingenuus?), slave of the gods, a good man.

The reading of the third line is not without problems (we must wait for the publication of the graffiti by prof. Heikki Solin and his Finnish colleagues in the series Scavi di Ostia). In line 3, instead of VS there seems to be VI, and instead of leaving out the V in DIIVORVM, we can also leave out an I and read DIVORVM ("of the deified Emperors"). From Ostia we have for example T(itus) Marcius Chrysostomus, quinquennalis of the Seviri Augustales, freedmen involved in the Imperial cult (EDR111052).

Detail of the graffito.
Photo: ICCD N014879.

The famous mosaic that gave the Baths of Neptune their name seems to have had a similar impact in antiquity. On a brick in the facade someone scratched NEPTVNI, "of Neptune".

Detail of the graffito on the facade of the Baths of Neptune.
Photo: Robert Harp.