Introduction
The west end of the Via Portuensis and Via Campana, to the east of the airport, is in a confusing area, largely dominated by traffic and recent commercial urbanization. To the south the area is bordered by the Tiber, to the west by Portus, to the north by a drained swamp and hills. Excavations and remote sensing at the end of the 20th century and in the first two decades of this century have provided a lot of new information.
THE ROADS
The western part of the Via Portuensis does not coincide with the modern Via Portuense. The road departed from the city wall of Portus near the so-called Temple of Portumnus (locality Stalla Buoi). The first stretch was a straight line, running west-east, following the aqueduct (see below). Then the road followed the curved bank of the Tiber (locality La Longarina). In antiquity the Tiber was here a bit to the south, because today the road ends in the river. Next, it left the aqueduct and continued, with a straight line, to the north-east (localities Quartaccio and Piana del Sole). The road then reached the presumed intersection with the Via Campana (at locality Ponte Galeria).
The west end of the Via Portuensis. Image: Arnoldus-Huyzendveld 2009, fig. 1. The road was 5.30 metres wide. No basalt blocks were found, these had all been removed in later times. Part of the road rested on a viaduct. Many small bridges were found, most of them with a single arch. The longest one had an length of 17 metres. The road could here be dated to the Trajanic-Hadrianic period. The Via Campana is underneath this stretch. The oldest phase of that road has been dated here to 325-250 BC, the latest to the reign of Claudius. This road showed traces of wheel ruts. It is still not clear how the Via Campana reached the salt pans to the north (see below).
In 2013 our attention was drawn to a curious phenomenon. In the area there is hydrothermal activity related to the volcanic nature of the Alban hills. Vents appear, small holes from which gasses and hot mud ermerge. The phenomenon is at least as old as 2650 BP ± 250 years. Below the foundation of the Via Campana, near bridges, deposits were found of vessels that were used for religious purposes. These are offerings to appease the waters and to make up for the sacrilege of building the road.
THE SALT PANS
There were swamps to the north-east of Ostia and to the north-east of Portus. In modern times the former swamp was known as Stagno di Levante, the latter as Stagno di Ponente or Maccarese. In both, salt pans were installed. These take us to the earliest phase of Ostia. Livius, discussing events in 404 BC, mentions salinae Romanae in the area.
Map of the Ostia-Portus area by G.B. Cingolani ("Topografia geometrica dell'Agro Romano", 1774).
North is to the left. The two swamps are indicated. Below the swamp of Portus is the text "veteres salinae".In 1888 a marble base for a small statue was found in Portus, in the swamp, that was being drained in this period. On the top is an elliptical hole for the base of the statue. On the side is a depiction of a litte boat from which two ropes emerge, continuing on the top and running towards the left foot of the statue that once stood on the base. It looks as if the statue was found in the swamp. On the front and the side are the following inscriptions:
PRO SALVTE IMPP(eratorum) SEVERI ET ANTONINI
AVGG(ustorum) ET [[GE]]TAE NOBILISSIMI CAES(aris) ET IULIAE AVG(ustae)
M(atris) AVGG(ustorum) ET CASTR(orum) GENIO SACCARIORVM SALARIOR(um)
TOTIVS VRBIS CAMP(i) SAL(inarum) ROM(anarum) RESTITVTIANVS CORNE
LIANVS DE XVI A[B] AER(ario) ET ARK(arius) SAL(inarum) ROM[ANARVM CVM]
INGENVA FILIA DONVM DEDITFor the well-being of our Emperors Severus and Antoninus,
Augusti, and of Geta, most noble Caesar, and of Iulia Augusta,
mother of the Augusti and of the camp, and to the Genius of the salt porters
of the entire Urbs of the field of the Roman salt pans, Restitutianus Cornelianus,
one of the sixteen treasury attendants and cashier of the Roman salt pans, with
his daughter Ingenua donated this.DEDICANTIBVS
SALLVSTIO SATVRNINO
ET ORFITO PROCC(uratorum)
AVGG(ustorum) NN(ostrorum)The dedicants are
Sallustius Saturninus
and Orfitus, procurators
of our Augusti.Marble, semicircular statue base. W. 0.30, h. 0.09, d. 0.20.
EDR106126. Photos: Cébeillac-Gervasoni - Caldelli - Zevi 2010, fig. 78.It is a dedication of a statuette for the well-being of Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Iulia Domna, and their children Caracalla and Geta. It can be dated to the years 197-211 AD. On top stood a statue of the Genius of the "salt porters of the entire city of the field of the Roman salt pans". The dedication was made by a financial official of the guild, Restitutianus Cornelianus, and his daughter Ingenua.
The guild fell under the jurisdiction of Rome, not Ostia or Portus. The work of the members was overseen by Imperial procurators. The activities of the porters can be deduced from the mention of both "the entire city" and of the salt pans. In Portus the porters carried sacks of salt to storage buildings and tow boats. In Rome they took care of all the necessary transport.
At the beginning of this century excavations were carried out in the area of the salt pans. Many narrow channels were excavated and an earthen barrier reinforced with a line of more than 1400 amphorae, more than one kilometer long. It was built in the first half of the first century AD. Some of the channels passed through the barrier at right angles. The situation is reminiscent of salt pans near Volterra, described in the early fifth century by Rutilius Namatianus: "We find time to inspect the salt-pans lying near the mansion: it is on this score that value is set upon the salt marsh, where the sea-water, running down through channels in the land, makes entry, and a little trench floods the many-parted ponds. But after the Dog-star has advanced his blazing fires, when grass turns pale, when all the land is athirst, then the sea is shut out by the barrier-sluices, so that the parched ground may solidify the imprisoned waters" (De Reditu Suo I, 475-487; translation J. Wight Duff and Arnold M. Duff).
Map of the area. The location of the barrier (top left) is labelled "Diga ad anfore".
The building in which the new inscription was found (see below) is indicated with a dark-blue rectangle.
Image: Morelli-Forte 2014, fig. 2.In 2003 a building measuring 44 x 11.80 meters was excavated to the south of the salt pans, at a short distance from the Tiber. No traces were found of decorated walls or floors. In one of the rooms a square pit was found, the sides of which were lined with brick tiles. Inside the pit large fragments were found of two identical travertine cippi (2.68 m. high), one with an inscription. In the horizontal surface of both the top and bottom are round holes. In one of these an iron peg fastened in lead had been preserved. Therefore the objects were originally attached in some structure, and three sides must have been visible, because only the back side was not polished. Why they were buried with so much care is not clear; perhaps they had been struck by lightning, which was seen as a divine sign.
Plan and aerial photo of the building. Phase I: blue. Phase II: red. Phase III: green.
The inscription was found in the room marked by a yellow square.
Images: Morelli-Forte 2014, figs. 9-10.
The top of the pit (left) and the bottom. Images: Morelli-Forte 2014, figs. 11-12.
NEPTVNO
SACRVM
CAPPI SALINAR(um)
ROMANAR(vm)
L(ucius) VIRTIVS
EPAPHRODITVS ET
L(ucius) CORNELIVS
HESPER
CONDVCTORES
DEDICATVS
PONTIANO ET
ATILIANO CO(n)S(ulibus)To Neptune
dedicated,
of the site of the saltworks
of Rome,
Lucius Virtius
Epaphroditus and
Lucius Cornelius
Hesper,
contractors.
Dedicated
when Pontianus and
Atilianus were consuls.Travertine cippus. H. 2.68. The inscription has a consular date of 135 AD. The text contains a curious spelling: cappi instead of campi. Dedicatus may refer to a locus. The inscription records a dedication to Neptune of the salt pans by two freedmen, Lucius Virtius Epaphroditus and Lucius Cornelius Hesper, who are commercial operators (conductores) of the salt pans. Neptune is a god of the sea and of water in general. Here we may think of the silt water provided by the Mediterranean See, the water of the salt pans, and the Tiber.
THE NECROPOLIS
OF CASTEL MALNOMEIn 2007 3000 square metres of a necropolis were excavated at Ponte Galeria (intersection of Via di Castel Malnome and Via della Muratella). The excavation started after a tip-off by the police in March of that year: the Guardia di Finanza of Fiumicino located the site after having arrested two local people for possession of ancient artefacts in the summer of 2006.
The excavators found 326 burials and 292 skeletons. The bodies were buried from the end of the 1st to the early 3rd century AD, as can be deduced from coins that were found placed in the mouths of the dead or elsewhere in the grave, as offerings for underworld ferryman Charon. The burials are mostly inhumations (97%), but a few cremations were also encountered. The tombs are simple trenches, covered by wood or by a "roof" of terracotta tiles ("alla cappuccina"). Sometimes the head rested on a brick tile. Iron nails are all that remains of coffins. Pieces of stone and amphorae were used as grave markers. The spaces between the graves were covered by limestone slabs.
Most of the deceased are males, most of them 30-50 years old. Women and children form a minority. One of the males was buried after rigor mortis had set in. Another adult male, who died at the age of 30-35, had a rare congenital disorder that would have made it impossible for him to open his mouth: his lower jaw was fused to his skull. At a young age some of his upper and lower teeth had been removed, so that he could eat; likely through the care of his family, with liquids or semisolids, introduced through the hole made through his teeth.
In the necropolis the lower social classes buried their dead. One in three of the burials comprised simple funerary gifts, mostly vessels of terracotta or glass, and some terracotta lamps. In the tombs of the women bone needles were found, at the feet of the men iron studs of footwear. Exceptional finds were a fragment of a lead mirror, and some gold earrings. One boy, eight years old, held a necklace made from bones, shells and an amber pendant to protect him in the afterlife.
Left: one of the skeletons; top: the necklace of the boy.
Photos: La Repubblica.The diet of the deceased consisted mainly of bread. A vitamin and protein deficiency was found. Many of the deceased had joint and tendon inflammation, compressed vertebrae, hernias and spinal problems. These are signs of stress related to the lifting and transport of heavy loads, and to keep the balance. Obviously the men were salt porters (saccarii salarii), who worked in the nearby salt pans, where they were accustomed to carrying heavy sacks of salt on their shoulders. It is not known where they lived.
Video of the excavations.
THE AQUEDUCT
Another important feature in the area was the aqueduct. The source is unknown. Extensive remains have been excavated. The aqueduct was built during the reings of Claudius and Nero, so in relation to the harbour of Claudius. It rested on arches of 1.50 x 1.20 metres, 2.90 metres apart.
The remains of the aqueduct and several cisterns at localities Longarina and Quartaccio.
Image: Bedello-Bukowiecki 2006, fig. 8.Traces of the aqueduct are also documented in the area between Trajan's harbour and the Tiber. These will be discussed on the next page.
