Introduction to the Virtual Museum of Ostia

The Virtual Museum of Ostia consists of two categories: the first is a list of objects by inventory number, the second a presentation of many photos of buildings and tombs taken not long after the Second World War. The second category is of course not related to the museum at all, but merely a useful spin-off of searching the archives of the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD) for photos of objects. The first category, the real Virtual Museum, was compiled by combining different sources.

There are first of all the photos, mentioned above, taken by the ICCD. The metadata that is provided with the photos is very meagre. Some extra data was found in an accompanying website, apparently meant for the staff of the ICCD, but no longer available. Sometimes information can be read on small signs that were once placed on the ancient paintings. Direct links are provided to all ICCD photos as stored on the Ostia website.

Secondly we have the Arachne database. For some objects it was useful to search in the old Arachne interface (apparently terminated in April 2023), using the "Old serial number", because it provided more information, especially ID's of photos that can be found using the iDAI image search. The database contains some errors. For example, in references to the old museum guide (see below) the number of an object in a sala has sometimes been entered as the inventory number. Direct links are provided to all Arachne ID's.

A third source has been the Catalogo Generale dei Beni Culturali (CGBC), using the query "antiquarium ostiense" (870 hits on May 20, 2023; more fragments can be found using the query "nuovi depositi"). CAUTION. Unfortunately, for quite a few entries the information (photos, description and measurements) is not consistent (there are so many errors and ambiguities that this whole collection should be reviewed). The problematic items were either skipped, or used if there was a plausible solution. Nevertheless, due to this confusion a wrong inventory number may have been assigned to some objects. This is especiallly true for fragments of funerary reliefs and statuettes. The "codice identificativo" can be found below the photos.

Some images were extracted from the digital Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC).

Many colour photos can be found in Wikimedia Commons.

The Latin text of inscriptions is provided below the photos, using the Electronic Archive of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (EAGLE) and the Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss - Slaby. These databases are referred to as "EDR" and "EDCS".

The main books that were consulted are:
- Raissa Calza - Maria Floriani Squarciapino, Museo Ostiense, Roma 1962. This book is referred to as "Guida".
- Wolfgang Helbig, Museo Ostiense in Ostia Antica; Museo der Villa Hadriana in Tivoli; Villa Albani, Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom 4, Tübingen 1972(4). At the end of this book objects are linked to ICCD photos. This book is referred to as "Helbig".
- All volumes of Scavi di Ostia dealing with the portraits (volumes V, IX and XVII). In these books ID's of photos of the ICCD and of the Archivio Fotografico di Ostia are provided. The books are referred to as "SO V", "SO IX", and "SO XVII".
- The catalogue of the exhibition "Ostia, Gateway to Rome - Museum Centre Vapriikki, Tampere, Finland" in: Arja Karivieri (editor), "Life and death in a multicultural harbour city: Ostia Antica from the Republic through Late Antiquity", Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 47, Rome 2020, 449-524. This book is referred to as "Karivieri 2020".
- The catalogue of the exhibition "Ostie - port et porte de la Rome antique", Genève 2001 (editor J.-P. Descoeudres).
- References to some other titles can be found in the on-line bibliography on the Ostia website.

The Virtual Museum is just a selection of the thousands of objects that are in the custody of the Parco Archeologico di Ostia. The purpose of the Virtual Museum is twofold. First of all, it can be used for a virtual walk through the museum and the magazzini. Secondly, it is intended as a direct confrontation with the objects, through photos. The metadata consists solely of a short description, and, if available, the place of discovery, the date, the measurements, and basic secondary literature. The Virtual Museum is not intended as a searchable database. However, you can search the plain HTML-files for the objects by restricting your search to the directory in which they are stored. For example, if you would like to search for "Hercules", you could enter this in the Google search box: "Hercules site:www.ostia-antica.org/museum-ostia". But that is just a "poor man's solution".