The Square of the Corporations

Work on the square

In antiquity the square may have been called "Forum Ostiense", mentioned on a lead token found in Ostia. It has a hole, a portrait of Commodus, and the text STAT(ionis) FERR(ariarum) FOR(i) OST(iensis), so an office related to iron mines. Iron mines and import could in Ostia be linked to the food supply, witness an inscription from the second century, documenting Titus Petronius Priscus, procurator Aug(usti) ferrariarum et annonae Ostis. Another inscription from Ostia says that a statio for the control of tax levies for Gaul and Spain is "here". Could "here" be the square? In Carthago, in the late fourth century, a mensor olei fori Karthaginiensis is documented, an "oil weigher of the Forum of Carthago". In the sixth century Procopius mentions a "Maritimos Agora", a Maritime Forum, in that city.

Some authors have described the stationes as VIP rooms, meant only for eating and drinking. The inscriptions and depictions would be mere advertisements. This would then be related to the financing of theatrical performances. But what could have possessed the skippers, traveling back and forth between their home port and Ostia, to do this and then ostentatiously show their wealth to the local population? This curious projection of the modern world on the years around 200 AD underestimates the vital importance for the Emperor of the supplying of Rome. Much evidence from Ostia and Portus indicates that the reigns of Commodus and Septimius Severus were characterized by intensified economic activity. On the square we see three pillars: regular transport of many commodities for Rome; storage and transport to Rome; preparations for emergency transport.

Relief depicting the unloading of a ship, found in Portus. Amphorae are being carried from a ship to the quay.
The three seated persons seem to take notes about the cargo on wax tablets, joined together like a book.
The first porter seems to receive some kind of token. Third century AD. Photo: Pavolini 1986, fig. 26.

In the south-east corner, near the theatre, local and regional guilds were present. Some were involved in the building, maintenance and equipment of ships. Others were transporting materials for construction work in the harbours, fuel for the lighthouse, and wood for ship building. The grain measurers, who played a central role in the storage and transport to Rome, were also represented. In the stationes to the north were skippers and merchants from North Africa and Sardinia, a combination that is reminiscent of a dedication by ship owners from the same provinces.

View of the east porticus, taken from the north. Photo: Gerard Huissen.

In the north porticus we find skippers from Gaul and Egypt, and the porters. At the west end may have been an office of the auxiliary grain fleet and the Imperial grain treasury. Some stationes in the north and east porticos were used by skippers who were members of the auxiliary grain fleet, for their regular activities, but also to be stand-by in case of an emergency.

View of the north porticus, taken from the north-west. Photo: Gerard Huissen.

The mosaics in the western portico are very different from those in the eastern. Wide inscriptions are mostly absent, and there is a tendency to depict single objects instead of complete scenes. There may have been marble inscriptions over the entrances. Here we find the operators of the tow boats on the Tiber, the overseers of the guilds, the province Mauretania Caesariensis, and probably also Greece and western Turkey or Sicily, and Spain. For the other stationes in this portico we can think of representatives of the procurator of the food supply, weigh masters, and tax collectors.

View of the west porticus, taken from the north. Photo: Gerard Huissen.

A wide range of commodities is documented, not just the large-scale import of grain, but also olive oil, fish, fish products, marble, metal, and wild animals. We may assume that the goods were sold both to the Emperor, for distributions and for his personnel and slaves, and on the private market. Discussions and meetings on the square and on the benches in the stationes will have concerned the many small and large issues that must have occurred in the shipping business. The stationes are quite small, so presumably no more than a few men worked in each office. As to how many days per month the square was in business, all we can say is that the square must have been rather quiet in autumn and winter. Still, that would be a good period for maintenance and building, and of course the tow boats on the Tiber were active. In spring and summer there may have been a slight fluctuation in the activities. It is generally assumed that the Alexandrian grain fleet sailed to Portus as a convoy. The skippers from the various other cities may have been required to sail in convoys as well, to prevent a rather chaotic situation upon arrival in the harbour.