Famine and a plague
During the reign of Commodus (180-192 AD) an economic impulse was given to Ostia, but the Emperor was not allowed to complete his work: he was murdered on December 31, 192 AD. After his death there was much confusion. The year 193 AD has been called the Year of the Five Emperors. Pertinax ruled for less than three months. After the elimination of Pertinax, the work of Commodus was continued by Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) together with his son Caracalla, and by Caracalla as sole Emperor, after the killing of his brother Geta (211-217 AD).
Several portraits of Commodus have been found in Ostia. One, in the Vatican Museo Chiaramonti, is much damaged. It is of the young Commodus (born in 161 AD), about 15 years old. Another, in the Braccio nuovo of the Museo Chiaramonti, was dug up by the antiquarian Robert Fagan at the end of the 18th century, in the west part of the city. Commodus is here about 23 years old.
Portrait of the young Commodus from Ostia. Around 176 AD.
Vatican, Museo Chariamonti. Scavi di Ostia IX, nr. 20. Photo: DAI Rome.
Portrait of Commodus excavated in 1797 by Robert Fagan near Tor Boacciana. 183-185 AD.
Vatican, Museo Chariamonti, Braccio nuovo. Scavi di Ostia IX, nr. 22. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.The years 189-192 AD were of crucial importance. In 189 or 190 AD there was famine in the city of Rome. A major protest started in the Circus Maximus, and many people marched to a villa in the suburbs of Rome, where Commodus was staying. The ancient historians tell us that influential men were in some way involved, that they had manipulated the grain supply in a struggle for power at the court. Two men in particular are mentioned: Marcus Aurelius Cleander, a chamberlain of Commodus who rose to the rank of Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, and Marcus Aurelius Papirius Dionysius, Prefect of the Food Supply, formerly Prefect of Egypt. Cleander was the first to be blamed and executed, followed by several other high-ranking men in 191-192 AD.[1] It is impossible however to tell what was gossip and what was true.
One of the senators who did not survive the events was Caius Allius Fuscus. He and his father, Caius Allius Fuscianus, are documented in Ostia in relation to guilds. Both are mentioned as patrons in an inscription set up by the ordo corporatorum qui pecuniam ad ampliandum templum contulerunt, "the order of the guild-members who have collected money to enlarge the temple" (we do not know which temple). The name of Fuscus may have been erased on another inscription, from 192 AD, this one set up by the ordo corporatorum lenunculariorum tabulariorum auxiliariorum Ostiensium, "the order of the members of the guild of the auxiliary shippers of Ostia" (perhaps of lighters, unloading ships that could not enter the mouth of the Tiber at full sea).[2] In 1964 C.R. Whittaker even suggested that Ostian guilds were somehow involved in the intrigues. He draws attention to the presence of guilds of Rome (corpora, in Greek συστηματα) forming part of the funeral procession of Pertinax in 193 AD.[3]
Part of an inscription from Ostia, mentioning Caius Allius Fuscianus and Fuscus.
CIL XIV, 246; EDR164513. Updated until 172 AD. Disappeared in Rome at the end of the 16th century.Marcus Aurelius Papirius Dionysius, the Prefect of the Food Supply, was also executed, but perhaps not in relation to these events. He features in an inscription from Ostia, reused in late antiquity to the south of the city. It belongs to a location used by the corpus pistorum, the guild of the bakers. The nature of the location is unfortunately not specified, but "the place was assigned by Papirius Dionysius, then prefect of the food supply" (locus adsignatus a Papirio Dionysio tunc praef(ecto) ann(onae)), with which the city council agreed. In view of "then", the inscription must have been made after Dionysius' death.
The inscription mentioning the guild of the bakers and Papirius Dionysius.
EDR031004. Photo: Zevi 2008, fig. 6.The situation was aggravated by a recurrence of the Antonine plague, which made Commodus withdraw to his villa on the coast to the south of Ostia. And it is in Ostia where we will find some facts about the grain supply.
About this time, plague struck all Italy. The suffering was especially severe in Rome, since the city, which received people from all over the world, was overcrowded. The city suffered great loss of both men and animals. Then, on the advice of his physicians, Commodus left Rome for Laurentum. This region enjoyed the shade from extensive laurel groves (whence the area derives its name); it was cooler there and seemed to be a safe haven. The emperor is said to have counteracted the pollution in the air by the fragrant scent of the laurels and the refreshing shade of the trees. Herodianus I,12. Translation E.E. Echols.
Two "Celtic hounds", excavated in 1795-1796 at Tor Paterno, to the south of Ostia.
In this area was the Imperial villa to which Commodus fled during the plague.
Private collection. Photo: gov.uk.
(1) In the 2016 docudrama "Roman Empire" the events unfold in season 1, episodes 4 and 5: "Rome is burning" and "Fight for glory". The traditional version of the ancient historians is told there.
(2) This is CIL XIV, 251; EDR164516. Capitoline Museums. On the erasure see Kirbihler 2014, 287.
(3) Cassius Dio 75,4,6.
