The need for improvement

The arch-enemies Cicero and Clodius built a wall and gates to protect Ostia, in the years 63-58 BC. It was not luxury. Twenty years later, in 39 BC, the city came under attack as recounted by the historian Florus:

Sextus Pompeius ravaged Puteoli, Formiae, Vulturnum, in a word, the whole coast of Campania, the Pontine marshes, Aenaria and even the mouth of the river Tiber. Then, meeting with Caesar's fleet, he burnt and sank it; and not only Pompeius himself, but also Menas and Menecrates, base slaves whom he had put in command of his fleet, made sudden raids in search of plunder along all the coasts.

But a few years before this disaster Julius Caesar already had a bright future for the harbour in mind, as explained by Plutarchus:

In the midst of the Parthian expedition he was preparing to cut through the isthmus of Corinth, and had put Anienus in charge of the work. He also proposed to divert the Tiber immediately below Rome by a deep canal which was to run round to the Circaean promontory and be led into the sea at Terracina. By this means he would provide a safe and easy passage for traders bound for Rome. In addition he proposed to drain the marshes by Pometia and Setia and so provide productive land for thousands of men. In the sea nearest Rome he intended to enclose the sea by building moles, and to dredge the hidden shoals off the coast of Ostia, which were dangerous. So he would provide harbours and anchorages to match the great volume of shipping. These schemes were being prepared.

Caesar's plans for a harbour at Ostia are confirmed by Suetonius, who adds that the work was not realised:

It had often been thought of by the Deified Julius, but given up because of its difficulty.

The situation was judged in different ways in this period. Strabo first of all stresses the volume of cargoes:

The abundance of the exports of Turdetania [southern Spain] is indicated by the size and the number of the ships; for merchantmen of the greatest size sail from this country to Dicaearchia [Puteoli], and to Ostia, the seaport of Rome; and their number very nearly rivals that of the Libyan ships.

A painting of a harbour, probably idyllic, perhaps Puteoli, found in Stabiae. Photo: Wikimedia, Wolfgang Rieger.

He then goes into more detail:

The seaboard cities belonging to the Latii are, first, Ostia: it is harbourless on account of the silting up which is caused by the Tiber, since the Tiber is fed by numerous streams. Now although it is with peril that the merchant-ships anchor far out in the surge, still, the prospect of gain prevails; and in fact the good supply of the tenders which receive the cargoes and bring back cargoes in exchange makes it possible for the ships to sail away quickly before they touch the river, or else, after being partly relieved of their cargoes, they sail into the Tiber and run inland as far as Rome, one hundred and ninety stadia [30 kilometres].

Dionysius of Halicarnassus however wrote a much more favourable report:

The river [Tiber] widens considerably as it reaches the sea and forms large bays, like the best sea harbours. And, most surprising of all, it is not cut off from its mouth by a barrier of sea sand, which is the fate even of many large rivers. It does not wander into changing marshes and swamps, thereby exhausting itself before its stream reaches the sea, but it is always navigable and flows into the sea through a single natural mouth, driving back (with the force of its current) the waves of the sea, though the wind frequently blows from the west and can be dangerous. Ships with oars, however large, and merchantmen with sails of up to 3,000 [amphorae; c. 78 tons] capacity enter the mouth itself and row or are towed up to Rome; but larger ships ride at anchor outside the mouth and unload and reload with the help of river vessels.

Much of his account conflicts with what we know from archaeology and geology. The aim of Dionysius's work "Roman Antiquities" was, to paint a rosy picture of Rome for the Greek world. Ostia did not have a natural harbour, it was flanked by marshes, partially used as salt pans. Silt adduced by the Tiber created problems; in more recent times it actually moved the shoreline several kilometres seaward, all the way to modern Lido di Ostia.

A phantasy drawing of Dionysius. Image: M. Mastrofini, Le antichità romane di Dionigio d'Alicarnasso, Milano 1823.

A statue of Strabo in Amaseia, Turkey, his native city. Photo: Wikimedia, Erturac.

Another problem to be addressed were Tiber floodings. Tacitus mentions a debate that took place in 15 AD:

A question was then raised in the Senate by Arruntius and Ateius whether, in order to restrain the inundations of the Tiber, the rivers and lakes which swell its waters should be diverted from their courses.

In passing, Strabo provides some important extra information:

Now the country of the Latini lies between the coastline that stretches from Ostia as far as the city of Sinuessa and the country of the Sabini (Ostia is the port-town of the Roman navy - the port into which the Tiber, after flowing past Rome, empties), although it extends lengthwise as far as Campania and the mountains of the Samnitae.

So Ostia was the main harbour for the fleet. Russell Meiggs explains that this was the case since the construction of the oldest settlement, the castrum, in the early third century BC. Under Augustus the fleet headquarters were established in the bay of Naples, at Portus Iulius and subsequently Misenum. The ancient authors do not mention any harbour installations of Augustus at Ostia. He did however create a special office for the food supply, led by the Praefectus Annonae. His stepson Tiberius, the future Emperor, was for some time Quaestor Ostiensis, as described by Velleius Paterculus:

Tiberius, appointed quaestor at the age of nineteen, began to devote himself to public affairs, and as supplies were very difficult and there was a great shortage of grain in Ostia and Rome, he was instructed by his stepfather to take care of it. He knew how to remedy it so well that his way of acting made it clear what his future greatness would be.

Two portraits of Augustus were found in Ostia, both in 1912 in the Via dei Vigili. A statue of Tiberius was found in Portus in the years 1856-1860. If the suggested date for the statue (10-20 AD) is correct, then it was taken to Portus from somewhere else.
A portrait of Augustus from Ostia, from the early first century AD. Photo: Semplicemente Roma.	A statue of Tiberius from Portus, dated to c. 10-20 AD. Photo: Visconti 1884.

The situation was precarious however, and the portents were not always good, as noted by Pliny the Elder:

That triplets are born is certain: we have the example of the Horatii and the Curiatii. More than that is viewed as a portent, except in Egypt where the water of the river Nile has the qualities of a fertility drug. When in recent times, at the funeral of Augustus of blessed memory, a plebeian woman named Fausta at Ostia was delivered of two boys and two girls, it was quite undoubtedly a portent of the famine that followed.

The warehouses of Ostia, especially those filled with grain, were of matter of concern for all. Seneca describes how panic could strike at a time when no fire fighters were stationed in Ostia:

Among these should certainly be placed a phenomenon of which we often read in the chronicles: the heavens appeared to be on fire. The blaze of it is occasionally so high as to mount to the very stars; occasionally it is so low as to present the appearance of a distant fire. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar the fire brigade hurried off to the relief of the colony at Ostia, supposing it to be in flames; during the greater part of the night there had been a dull glow in the sky, which appeared to proceed from a thick smoky fire.

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