The harbours at the crossroads
The last major temple in Ostia was the Round Temple. It resembles the Pantheon in Rome and was probably built by Gordianus III (238-244 AD). Many portraits of Emperors may be assigned to it: of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Alexander Severus and Gordian III. In the temple the base was found of a statue of Tranquillina, wife of Gordian. The statues were 3.5-4 meters high.
Colossal portrait of the deified Alexander Severus.
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.
Colossal portrait of Gordianus III, by the same sculptor.
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.Apart from the Christian texts, all we have for the third century are two remarks in the Historia Augusta. The first is about Aurelianus (270-275 AD):
He began to construct a Forum, named after himself, in Ostia on the sea, in the place where, later, the public magistrates' office was built. The second is about his successor Tacitus (275-276 AD):
To the people of Ostia he presented from his own funds one hundred columns of Numidian marble, each twenty-three feet in height. Could it be that Tacitus's columns were meant for Aurelian's forum? There has been speculation about the precise location of the forum, but without a decisive result. Further excavation is needed.
Remains of a building in the south part of Ostia as seen on Bing Maps in the spring of 2011 (seen from the north).
There has been speculation whether it might be related to the remarks in the Historia Augusta. Only a few trenches have been dug so far.Constantine supported Ostia by donating a church to Ostia, in the period 314-335 AD. The Liber Pontificalis says:
Then the emperor Constantine built in the city of Ostia close to Portus Romanus the basilica of
the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and of John the Baptist, where he presented the following gifts:
- a silver paten [the plate for holding the eucharistic bread] weighing 30 lb;
- 10 silver chalices each weighing 2 lb;
- 2 silver amae [vessels to receive the wine] each weighing 10 lb;
- 30 silver chandeliers each weighing 5 lb;
- 2 silver scyphi each weighing 8 lb;
- a single silver chrism-paten [the dish containing the oil of chrism] weighing 10 lb;
- a silver basin for baptism, weighing 20 lb;
- the island called Assis between Portus and Ostia;
- all the coastal properties as far as Digitus Solis, revenue 300 solidi;
- the property of the Greeks, territory of Ardea, revenue 80 solidi;
- the property Quiriti, territory of Ostia, revenue 311 solidi;
- the property Balneolum, territory of Ostia, revenue 42 solidi;
- the property Nymfulas, revenue 30 solidi.Ostia also became a place of some importance in the administration of the church. We already encountered a bishop of Ostia in the third century, in the story of the martyrdom of Aurea. At a Council held in Rome in 313 AD the bishop of Ostia was present. At the Council of Arles in 314 AD (a year after the Edict of Milan, in which Christianity became a legal religion) bishops from both Ostia and Portus were present. The Liber Pontificalis states that from 336 AD the bishop of Ostia consecrated the pope:
Marcus decreed that the bishop of Ostia, who consecrates the bishop, should use the pallium, and that the bishop of Rome should be consecrated by him.
The outline of a Christian basilica in the unexcavated south part of Ostia.
It was identified through geophysical research in the late 20th century.
A few trenches were dug, and the ceramics point to a Constantinian date.
This may have been the church donated by Constantine, and the church of the bishop of Ostia.
Image provided by Michael Heinzelmann.But what would be the future of the harbours, now that the empire had a new capital, with an economy not as strong as in the second century, and with fewer mouths to feed in Rome?
