Early in 1913 a number of narrow rooms, set against the outer east wall of the square and numbered a-i, was investigated (Vaglieri 1913, 12-15). Later that year the rooms were described in detail (Vaglieri 1913, 128-133 with 122 fig. 3). Virtually all walls are of latericium, forming an entity with the back wall of the porticus. The walls dividing rooms a and b, and c and d, seem to be later. According to the plans of Vaglieri and Gismondi the west-east walls of rooms e-i are wider than the other walls, suggesting the presence of an extra floor. There is no sidewalk along the rooms, on Via delle Corporazioni. The masonry has been dated to the period of Domitianus.
Plan of rooms a-i (north is to the left) (Vaglieri 1913, 122 fig. 3) To the north of rooms a-i are two more rooms: k and m (numbers j and l were skipped intentionally for readability). These were excavated at an unknown point in time, but obviously by Guido Calza.
Room to the south of room a
To the south-east of the square (to the south of room a) is the counterpart of the room in the south-west corner in which the Altar of the Origins of Rome was found. It was excavated in 1881.
- Plan and photos (unless indicated otherwise the photos on this page were taken in 2019 by Gerard Huissen):
- Room to the south of room a (from the south-west)
- Room to the south of room a (interior, from the north-west)
- The rooms seen from the theatre (from www.stilus.nl)
Rooms a-d
Plans and sections of these rooms were made after cleaning in 1992 (A. Pascolini, P. Matinelli). The southern rooms were discussed by Scrinari and Ricciardi in their study of the water supply of Ostia (Scrinari-Ricciardi 1996, volume II, 75-76).
Originally rooms a and b formed one room, 14.40 x 4.50. The outer walls are of opus latericium. Later a wall of opus latericium, with a door in the east part, created two rooms.
- In the south-east part of room a is a black-and-white mosaic floor with squares and rectangles.
- Set against the west wall of room a is a rectangular basin or fountain, of opus latericium and with opus signinum on the inside. In the interior the north side is curved. The fountain was originally covered. The "roof" could be reached along a few steps, according to Vaglieri the beginning of a staircase. Water was led to the fountain from the west, from the room to the south of statio 1, where a pipe must have been connected to an underground conduit. In the front part of the fountain a lead pipe has been preserved through which the water was discharged directly onto the pavement.
- A door was hacked out in the west wall, to the south of the basin, that is in the east wall of the porticus. It led to the room to the south of statio 1. It was later blocked with rubble masonry.
- Along the east wall runs a channel, sloping downwards from north to south.
- A door in the east part of the south wall was blocked with opus latericium. Against it an arched basin with opus signinum on the inside was set. The basin probably received water through a lead pipe connected with a conduit below Via delle Corporazioni. Near the basin is a hole for discharging the water, leading to a sewer skirting the south wall. Together with an L-shaped wall, the arched basin seems to have formed a bar counter. The masonry of the fountain is similar to that of the counter.The north wall of room b is of opus latericium. According to the plans of Vaglieri and Gismondi there was a secondary door in the east part, today the entire wall is of bricks. In room b a raised floor was found. Between the small piers of the suspensura (0.40 x 0.22) a fragment of a marble inscription was found (CIL XIV S, 4457; a fragment belonging to it had already been found on the east side of the square). The east wall was revetted with tubuli through which hot air passed. The raised floor was reached from room a along three steps. No traces of the furnace have been found. It may have been in the north-west corner of room a.
Room c originally formed an entity with room d (23.45 x 4.40). Later a dividing wall of opus latericium created the two rooms, that were not connected by a door. Room c had a floor at the height of the raised floor in room b (the present level of room c is considerably higher than that of rooms b and d). Room c has a floor of mosaic and marble slabs. Preserved are a geometric design, and a panel with four craters around a plus-sign, with the mouths turned inwards. There are white tesserae near the north wall and in restored stretches.
Room d has a door with a travertine threshold (w. 3.15) leading to statio 6. The threshold has a raised edge on the west side. The north and south wall are of opus latericium. According to the plans of Vaglieri and Gismondi there were one or two doors or windows in the east wall. In room d marble fragments of inscriptions, statues and portraits were found, perhaps from the square. The room is separated from room e by a space 0.60 wide.
- Photos and drawings:
- Room a seen from the north-east (Gering 2018, fig. 190)
- Detail of room a (south-west corner) (Gering 2018, fig. 192)
- Room a (from the north-east)
- Room to the west of room a, to the south of statio 1 (from the west)
- Room b (from the south-east)
- Rooms b and a (from the north-east)
- Room c (from the north-east)
- Room d, south part (from the east)
- Room d (from the south-east)
- Room d, threshold (from the south-east)
- Space between rooms d and e (from the east)
- Space between rooms d and e (from the east)
- From the drawing archive (NADIS; 1992):
- 10768_Piazzale delle Corporazioni_pianta pulizia 1992_II_VII_4 (A = room to the south of room a, B = room a, C = room b, D = room to the south of statio 1, E = room c, F = room d, G = room e) (north is to the right)
- 10769_Piazzale delle Corporazioni_parete sud-sezione AB_II_VII_4 (section A-B of 10768; looking south)
- 10770_Piazzale delle Corporazioni_ambiente est-sezione CD_II_VII_4 (section C-D of 10768; looking west)
- 10772_Piazzale delle Corporazioni_mosaici_II_VII_4 (plan of room c with mosaics) (north is to the right)
- 10773_Piazzale delle Corporazioni_mosaici_II_VII_4 (plan of room a with mosaics) (north is to the right)
- 10774: no image online (section a-a' of 10773)
- From Scrinari-Ricciardi 1996:
- Fig. 131 (plan, section and elevation) (A = room to the south of room a, B = room a, D = room to the south of statio 1) (north is to the right)
- Fig. 132 (view of the fountain in room a)
Rooms e-i
This group too has an entrance (w. 3.15) in the east wall of the porticus, leading to the north part of statio 14. The door leads to central room g (4.35 x 4.05) with a pavement of opus spicatum and two more doors, in the south and north wall. A door in the east wall, with a threshold made of a tufa block, was according to Vaglieri originally a window, witness a crack in the wall up to 0.80 from the pavement.
The door in the south wall of room g (w. 2.77) leads to room f (7.80 x 4.35) with a floor of opus spicatum and white plaster on the walls. A door (w. 3.35) in the south wall of room f leads to room e (7.80 x 4.40), also with opus spicatum on the floor and white plaster. The south wall of room e is of opus latericium.
The door in the north wall of room g (3.00) leads to rooms h and i. Two brick piers were set against the west wall of room i. A door was opened in the north wall, leading to an intersection of Via della Fullonica and Via delle Corporazioni. In the door is a shop threshold with a depression for a door opening inwards on the west side. The jambs show the core of the wall.
- Photos:
- Room e (from the south-east)
- Room f (from the north-east)
- Room g (from the east)
- Room i (from the north)
- Room i, threshold (from the north-east)
Rooms k and m
Between rooms i and k, in the east wall of the porticus, is a wide passage with a high marble threshold. The door overlaps stationes 19 and 20.
The very long room k has a west wall of opus reticulatum, reinforced with brick at the south end. The north wall is of opus reticulatum, no south wall has been preserved. The east wall consists of wide openings between piers of opus vittatum simplex (the first and third one have gone). In the central opening is a shop threshold.
The south wall of room m is of opus reticulatum, reinforced with opus vittatum simplex at the east end. The south end of the west wall is of latericium, the north end is modern (opus reticulatum?). The north wall is of uncertain masonry. The east wall had a wide opening between opus vittatum simplex, later blocked with rubble masonry.
- Photos:
- Room k, behind stationes 21-23 (from the south-east)
- Room k, behind stationes 21-23, north part (from the south-east)
- Room m, to the north of room k (from the south-east)
- Room m, to the north of room k (from the north-east)
- Rooms m and k (from the north)
- Rooms m and k (from the north)
Interpretation
Rooms k-m seem to have been shops. Rooms a-i consist of two distinct clusters of equal width, separated by a narrow space. Cluster e-i has a central, organizing room (g). This cluster had at least one upper floor. The doors leading to stationes 6 and 14 do not take the division of the portico through central brick columns into account, and an imaginary east-west line from the centre of a brick pier to the east wall ends in the opening of the door. The same situation is encountered behind stationes 19 and 20, where there is another door. This implies that no dividing walls were envisaged here, and most likely not in the entire porticus. It might also imply that there were no central brick columns yet: the foundations for the columns seem to have been poured after the Claudian phase (we will return to this issue later on). The shop threshold in the secondary door in the north wall of room i is insufficient evidence for an interpretation as shop, a different kind of use is conceivable.
The doors leading to stationes 6 and 14 seem to be in the exact centre of the west wall of respectively rooms c-d and e-i. This implies that rooms a-b, to the south of these two clusters, had a special function. According to Scrinari and Ricciardi room a (B on her plan) became a "caupona" (bar) at the end of the second century. Scrinari and Ricciardi maintain that the steps of the fountain, the channel running along the east wall, and the blocking of the door in the west wall belong to a later phase, perhaps as late as the fifth or sixth century, when the caupona was used as a tiny workshop, perhaps of a potter. For this there is no clear evidence however. The fact that rooms a and b did not have a door in the latest phase remains unadressed. It suggests that the rooms were completely given up.
Apparently food and drinks were prepared in the southern part and served in a heated room. We can imagine that the skippers spoke here with important guests. The stationes connected with the two clusters, 6 and the north part of 14, may have been no more than corridors. The stationes could not be closed and locked, so the clusters may have been used for storing objects that were needed when in business, such as oil lamps and writing material. They may also have been used as meeting rooms.
It might be worthwhile to investigate whether the mosaic in room 3, with four craters around a plus-sign, might be Christian (the four rivers of Paradise?), linked to a Christian reference in statio 2.