A terrible storm from Ostia
For Claudius not all memories of Ostia and Portus were happy. In 48 AD there was a crisis in his personal life, concerning his wife, Messalina. Tacitus summarizes it as follows:
She [Messalina] waited only till Claudius set out for Ostia to perform a sacrifice, and then celebrated all the solemnities of marriage {with senator Gaius Silius]. Tacitus also recounts how Tiberius Claudius Narcissus, freedman of Claudius, uncovered what was going on for Claudius:
Narcissus persevered, only so far changing his plan as not to make her [Messalina] aware beforehand by a single word what was the charge or who was the accuser. Then he eagerly watched his opportunity, and, as the emperor lingered long at Ostia, he sought two of the mistresses to whose society Claudius was especially partial, and, by gifts, by promises, by dwelling on power increased by the wife's fall, he induced them to undertake the work of the informer. On this, Calpurnia (that was the concubine's name), as soon as she was allowed a private interview, threw herself at the emperor's knees, crying out that Messalina was married to Silius. At the same time she asked Cleopatra, who was standing near and waiting for the question, whether she knew it. Cleopatra nodding assent, she begged that Narcissus might be summoned. This is what happend next:
Claudius then summoned all his most powerful friends. First he questioned Turranius, prefect of the grain market; next, Lusius Geta, who commanded the praetorians. When they confessed the truth, the whole company clamoured in concert that he must go to the camp, must assure himself of the praetorian cohorts, must think of safety before he thought of vengeance. It is quite certain that Claudius was so overwhelmed by terror that he repeatedly asked whether he was indeed in possession of the empire, whether Silius was still a subject.
Messalina meanwhile, more wildly profligate than ever, was celebrating in mid autumn a representation of the vintage in her new home. The presses were being trodden; the vats were overflowing; women girt with skins were dancing, as Bacchanals dance in their worship or their frenzy. Messalina with flowing hair shook the thyrsus, and Silius at her side, crowned with ivy and wearing the buskin, moved his head to some lascivious chorus. It is said that one Vettius Valens climbed a very lofty tree in sport, and when they asked him what he saw, replied, "A terrible storm from Ostia". Possibly some such appearance had begun; perhaps, a word dropped by chance became a prophecy. Meanwhile no mere rumour but messengers from all parts brought the news that everything was known to Claudius, and that he was coming, bent on vengeance.
Messalina upon this went to the gardens of Lucullus; Silius, to conceal his fear, to his business in the forum. The other guests were flying in all directions when the centurions appeared and put every one in irons where they found them, either in the public streets or in hiding. Messalina, though her peril took away all power of thought, promptly resolved to meet and face her husband, a course in which she had often found safety; while she bade Britannicus and Octavia hasten to embrace their father. She besought Vibidia, the eldest of the Vestal Virgins, to demand audience of the Pontifex Maximus and to beg for mercy. Meanwhile, with only three companions, so lonely did she find herself in a moment, she traversed the whole length of the city, and, mounting on a cart used to remove garden refuse, proceeded along the road to Ostia; not pitied, so overpoweringly hideous were her crimes, by a single person.
There was equal alarm on the emperor's side. They put but little trust in Geta, who commanded the praetorians, a man swayed with equal ease to good or evil. Narcissus in concert with others who dreaded the same fate, declared that the only hope of safety for the emperor lay in his transferring for that one day the command of the soldiers to one of the freedmen, and he offered to undertake it himself. And that Claudius might not be induced by Lucius Vitellius and Largus Caecina to repent, while he was riding into Rome, he asked and took a seat in the emperor's carriage.
A painting of Messalina by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, 1886.
Photo: Wikimedia, Shakko.Messalina was executed and given a damnatio memoriae. A century and a half later, the story was mentioned briefly by Cassius Dio. Claudius is once again at work in Ostia:
Now all these doings, though for some time they had been either heard about or witnessed by everybody else, continued to escape the notice of Claudius. But finally, when he went down to Ostia to inspect the grain supply and she [Messalina] was left behind in Rome on the pretext of being ill, she got up a banquet of no little renown and carried on a most licentious revel. In the fourth century the events are mentioned by Aurelius Victor, who believes that Claudius was interested more in courtisanes than in the grain supply:
In truth, this woman had come to celebrate publicly in Rome her marriage with another, while her husband, in order to take his pleasure with courtesans, had left for Ostia.
Only one portrait of Claudius has been found in the harbours. It was made after his death, around 55 AD.
The height is only 12 centimeters and it probably stood in the niche of a private shrine.
Also from Ostia is a portait of Agrippina the Younger, who married Claudius in 49 AD.
Agrippina was a sister of Caligula, niece of Claudius, and mother of the future Emperor Nero.
A small portrait of Claudius in the museum of Ostia.
Found on Via del Pomerio in 1959.
Photo: Scavi di Ostia V, Tav. 31.
A portrait of Agrippina in the Museo Nazionale Romano.
The precise place of discovery is unknown.
Photo: Wikimedia, Marie-Lan Nguyen.
