Preliminary interpretation
A thorough evaluation of the material still has to take place. The following remarks are preliminary only. Please note that many stones are in modern masonry.
Centralized stones
Most centralized stones are found in long rows that are close to each other. There is one in the east side of the Caseggiato dei Misuratori del Grano, running from north to south, that is from the direction of the Tiber quays to the Piccolo Mercato. There is another row in the north side of the Piccolo Mercato, running from east to west, that is from the Via Tecta to Horrea I,VIII,2. The north façade of the latter horrea has not been preserved, but may well have contained stones, because the next row is in the east side of the building to the south-west, the Terme di Buticosus. This row is running from north to south, from unexcavated ruins to Caseggiato I,XIV,9. The final row is in the interior of the building to the east of the baths, on the other side of the street, the Horrea Epagathiana et Epaphroditiana. Most of the stones in these horrea are in the brick piers surrounding the courtyard. There are only a few centralized stones elsewhere in the city, not forming rows.
It must be significant that so few centralized stones and no rows are found in the rest of Ostia. The rows were created at various moments in the first half of the second century, in various buildings, so not during one building phase, and not in a coherent cluster of buildings. Therefore they do not seem to reflect a taste or fashion, which is unlikely anyway, because the centralized stones are visually merged with the masonry that encloses them and are easily overlooked.
An obvious explanation is that the rows mark a route from the Tiber quays to the Horrea Epagathiana et Epaphroditiana for people arriving in Ostia by ship. The marble plaque in the façade with the name of the building would also help. The horrea could for example have been used for self-storage of money and documents. We know that such horrea existed in antiquity (see P.L. Tucci, "Galen's storeroom, Rome's libraries, and the fire of A.D. 192", Journal of Roman Archaeology 21 (2008), 133-149). Or perhaps it was a bank. It may be noted that one of the key features of the horrea was the presence of locking devices in individual rooms, cellae. We may furthermore infer that there was a specific place on the quays where inhabitants of Ostia provided information to visitors about the horrea, the stones, and more.
The location of the rows of centralized stones.In the centralized stones of the piers of the façade of the Terme di Buticosus are holes filled with metal: a lead plug in which an iron object was inserted. A few of the iron objects have been preserved: curved and rectangular hooks. An obvious explanation for these hooks is that chains or more likely ropes were attached to them, running from a low stone to a stone higher up in a pier. The piers have travertine socles. In the socles below the high stones are cavities, precisely below the metal objects. An obvious explanation for these grooves is, that the ropes were not always in use, and could also be hanging down from the hook in the high stone, at the bottom tucked away in the cavity.
Of course the ropes had nothing to do with pointing the way. It seems that the stones had a double function. Could it be that people had to queue, had to wait until they could enter the baths (compare the situation today in attraction parks and airports)? Many baths have been found in Ostia, and I would like to imagine that they were visited by more or less fixed groups of people from the neighbourhood at more or less fixed moments, to prevent crowding and waiting time, and so that people would meet their friends and acquaintances. This pattern would however be disturbed by the arrival of sailors and merchants at unexpected moments during the shipping season. It is conceivable that the Terme di Buticosus were reserved for strangers, and that queueing was sometimes necessary because of a large number of arrivals. It may be significant that the baths are opposite the Horrea Epagathiana.
Cornerstones
Many of the cornerstones also have holes filled with metal: a lead plug in which an iron object was inserted. In the cornerstones the iron objects are all broken off. Parallels for the situation in the Terme di Buticosus are found in Caseggiati I,XII,7 and I,XII,10 to the west and east of the Terme del Foro. Here metal objects in cornerstones and cavities in travertine socles are found in the piers of a portico in front of shops. The grooves below the metal objects are on either side of the entrance, not on one side only, as in the Terme di Buticosus. This suggests that two ropes were suspended between the piers. Again we may think of queues. The one in Caseggiato I,XII,10 may have had an extension in the Portico dell'Ercole to the south-west, on the other side of the Cardo: here too are cornerstones that had metal objects, but there are no travertine socles.
The Terme del Foro were one of the most luxurious sets of baths in Ostia. It seems unlikely that every inhabitant of the city could visit them, which would lead to a capacity problem. Perhaps a high fee had to be paid, or perhaps using them was the privilege of the local elite. In the case of these baths I would like to explain the queues by imagining that the baths were open for the general public during feasts. The two rows of cornerstones flanking the Terme del Foro end at an entrance leading to the south side of the palaestra. People may well have been queueing to view famous boxers and wrestlers (I doubt whether the bathing rooms were opened for everyone). Queueing during feasts would also take away a problem, namely the fact that queues in front of shops would block the shops. During the feasts the shops would presumably be closed.
More examples of queueing are perhaps found at the west end of Via della Foce, concerning the cluster of baths Terme dei Sette Sapienti, Terme della Trinacria, and Terme del Mitra, especially in Caseggiato III,XVI,6.
The location of the cornerstones (white lines) near the Terme del Foro. Yellow arrows indicate entrances.The remaining stones may have served to draw attention to a building or entrance. This would hardly be necessary for the inhabitants of Ostia, so again we may think of visitors. A good example is found on the northern Cardo. Behind the porticoes flanking this street (the Portico di Pio IX) two doors are marked by cornerstones. They are opposite each other, the western one leading to a staircase and corridor, the eastern one to a corridor. The area behind the eastern door is mostly unexcavated. The corridor behind the western door leads to the north-east corner of the Piccolo Mercato and may link up with the rows of centralized stones. By the way, here and in many other places the cornerstones have a deliberate pattern in height, such as low-high in one jamb and at mid-height in the other. I have not worked on the possible significance.
The unexpected arrival of large numbers of visitors must have created more problems. For example, a crew about to leave Ostia when the winds were favourable might have bought a lot of bread in a random shop, leaving the locals who normally used that shop without bread. Here we may have found the explanation of cornerstones to the south-west and south-east of Piazza dei Lari, opposite each other. The stones to the south-east seem to indicate the way to the stones to the south-west. The latter flank a door leading to the heart of a bakery, the Caseggiato del Balcone Ligneo. It may well have been a pick-up point of bread, ordered the day before by the crew of a ship. In the same building by the way are cornerstones in the interior. This is an exception to the rule: virtually all cornerstones are found in façades. Above these stones are curious holes. See the relevant page for possible explanations.
At the south end of the porticoes fanking the northern Cardo are so-called "loggia's" with cornerstones. These may be compared with two similar structures: the south part of the Caseggiato degli Aurighi and the Loggia di Cartilio Poplicola. Could the two structures behind the Capitolium have been the ancient equivalent of the modern tourist office, where visitors were informed about hotels, the location of guild-seats, how to get to Rome, etcetera? Many graffiti suggest that the Caseggiato degli Aurighi was some sort of market with a small hotel. Among other things, slaves were sold here. For an explanation of the Loggia di Cartilio we may look at its surroundings. Here are two monumental mausolea of famous Ostians from the first century BC: Caius Cartilius Poplicola and - probably - Publius Lucilius Gamala. Next to the mausoleum of Gamala is the Domus Fulminata, that may well have been used for the cult of the ancestors of this family. The façade of the Domus Fulminata is also marked out by cornerstones, and there are even a few in the interior. The presence of tourist guides comes to mind. These are documented amply in the Greek-speaking half of the Empire. Surely they were present also in Rome, and why not in Ostia? This guess-work sounds very modern, but generally speaking thinking of some sort of visitor centre in the port of Rome and of tourist guides makes perfect sense I believe. The clustering of buildings with cornerstones, such as the Loggia di Cartilio and the Domus Fulminata, is not an exception by the way. Another example is formed by the Domus sul Decumano and Schola del Traiano.
In Ostia there are hundreds of doors leading to external staircases, that is, staircases that were accessed from the street or a portico. However, only a few are marked out by cornerstones. These staircases may have led to hotels or to offices for which privacy and security were desirable. Examples are found in Caseggiato I,XII,5, Caseggiato I,XII,9, Caseggiato I,XIII,5, and the Tempio dei Fabri Navales. I believe that the Caseggiato del Mosaico del Porto may be added to the list. The portico of the western façade has cornerstones with a pattern in the height: low-mid / low, low-mid / low, low-mid / low. I do not think that there was a relation between these cornerstones and the shops behind the portico, which were probably used by fishmongers. Rather the cornerstones drew attention to a door flanked by cornerstones, next to the shops and leading to a staircase, hidden in the shade of the south part of the portico. Without the cornerstones in the façade a stranger would have had a big problem trying to find this entrance (of his hotel?), at least on his first visit to Ostia. By the way, the only building in Ostia that has been interpreted as a hotel with some degree of reliablity is the Casa delle Volte Dipinte, to which an adjacent stable belonged. There are no travertine stones here, but there was no need to mark these buildings: both are isolated, on a square as it were.
There is an abundance of cornerstones in the Caseggiato del Larario, both in the façade and in the jambs of the shops surrounding its courtyard. This is one of the few buildings in Ostia where one could think of a purely decorative function of the cornerstones. But because in so many cases the stones are clearly not decorative, I propose that here they are functional as well and that the decorative aspect was added. I am inclined to think that the building had a special significance for visitors of Ostia, in view of the large number of stones and the added decorative aspect. It should also be kept in mind that the building has a few things in common with the Horrea Epagathiana, such as holes passing through cornerstones that are very smooth on the inside (the result of the action of a rope to which a watchdog was attached?) and the way in which cult niches were decorated. Also, we should not forget the prominent location of the building, on the Decumanus, near the Forum. Again, I can only guess. Perhaps the Caseggiato del Larario was the ancient equivalent of the modern post office, the place where people could pick up letters from friends, relatives and business contacts, where scribae could write letters, and where the transport of a letter to a foreign destination was arranged. The presence of grain measurers in the building is attested by a well-head. The building may therefore also have played a central organizational role in the suppy line of grain, for example as a coordinating centre of the shippers of the Tiber tow boats.
I did not study the large cornerstones at ground level, but did pay passing attention to such stones in and near the Caserma dei Vigili. It could be that such stones at the south end of Via dei Vigili and in Insula II,VI indicated that passages should not be blocked by wagons or animals, leaving a free passage for the fire fighters. See the page about the Portico di Nettuno and the topic "The fire-brigade: discussion".
I am well aware that there is a lot of speculation here. But if we accept that the stones were not decorative, then we should start thinking about their function.
Jan Theo Bakker - 22 May 2012
