Ostia Antica

Last Thursday Katie and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having (low 60s) and make a day-trip to Ostia Antica, just outside of Rome.  The site is like Pompeii, in that much has been uncovered and preserved, and it gives us an idea of daily life and city planning in Ancient Rome.  Ostia, like it remains today, was an important port in antiquity, and so the ancient city was home to many working-class fisherman and the like.  In addition, it was also a popular vacation area for the rich, and so there are also quite a few villas,  although they are not as elaborate as the ones found at Pompeii.

Wall of mosaics

Here's how you can tell that I am a total architecture nerd-- I get excited by seeing the brickwork in the cross-sections of walls.

I also love exterior brickwork and patterning.

The thing about Ostia Antica is that it is not as famous as Pompeii, and therefore it is far less frequently visited, especially in February.  This was to our advantage since we had almost the entire grounds to ourselves.  The other nice thing about this is that it is not so heavily monitored and therefore you are able to touch things you might not otherwise be able to do.  This chunk of floor mosaic was just lying in the middle of the grass and it was really awesome to see because we saw just how long each stone was, and how deep they were embedded into the dirt.

Here is more of the same type of mosaic, still in the ground.  I don't know if it simply has not been uncovered, or if the grass has been allowed to regrow as a way to protect the floor, but we saw similar pockets of floor mosaic all throughout the site.


We decided to help out a little and uncover more.  They should hire us!

Taking a squat in the ancient bathrooms.  The little gutter in front of our feet would have been filled with flowing water, and you would have a sponge on a stick that you would dip in the water and then use to wipe/clean yourself.
 

Like most ancient architecture, much of the exterior marble has been stripped away and reused for later buildings, but bits and pieces remain.

Archways in the ancient baths.

Katie pointed these out to me, which I had no idea about.  Apparently they are hollow bricks that were used for steam ventilation inside the baths.  Neither one of us had ever seen them still in place before.

 Sitting on a bench in the baths, wishing they were still functional.

 If you looked up beauty in the dictionary you might find an image like this next to the definition.

Sitting on the stairs of a large temple in the middle of the forum.

This little niche is a lararium, or a small shrine in which the household gods would be placed and worshiped in the home.  Kind of awesome to see one still on site.

 Besides the surviving architecture, the major highlight of Ostia Antica is the preserved mosaics.  These are very early, and therefore are simple in style, and only in black and white.  Again, given the location of the city, many of the mosaics are aquatic-themed.

The ancient theater.

View from the ancient theater.
 

Like Pompeii these ruins have their own dogs, but unlike Pompeii the two dogs we saw had collars and were obviously well taken care of.