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ANCIENT
OSTIA
Depart from Rome with your guide passing the old Ostiense Gate, the ancient
city walls erected by Emperor
Aurelian in 270 AD and the huge marble Pyramid of Caio Cestius dating
from 1st century BC. After 12 miles reach Ostia Antica Excavations
situated at the mouth of the River Tiber on the Mediterranean coast and visit
the maritime port of ancient Rome.
Only rediscovered in the 19th
century and excavated largely form 1920s to 1940s, Ostia was
founded probably in the 7th century BC for salt extraction from marshy swamps
but later in the 4th century BC it became a military and naval port
protecting the Tiber access to Rome. With Rome's growing power it
turned into a thriving and vital commercial port which
for centuries
imported wheat, grain, foodstuffs, luxurious exotic goods,
spices, multicoloured marbles, Egyptian obelisks and innumerable
wild
animals for the amphitheatre games from Africa
and Asia. The inhabitants were traders, shipbuilders, mariners,
warehouse workmen, slaves, public officials and wealthy patrician
families all busily engaged in intensive commerce and transportation over sea,
river and land. Many of the freedman and slaves were of different
origins, languages and religions: Greeks, Phoenicians, Iberians,
Gallic, Egyptians, Frisians and recently a Synagogue
dating from 1st century BC was unearthed. The superb
typical Mediterranean setting of the excavations, covered with majestic
umbrella-pines and cypresses, is as fascinating as Pompeii but
without crowds
and just 20 minutes out of Rome. 34  hectares have been excavated from
the time it suddenly became a ghost town when an epochal
flood changed the course of the Tiber. With intriguing
and entertaining explanations recounted by your erudite
guide you will experience how life was in this ancient
sea-port, discovering various types of dwellings and
tenement-flats (insulae) of the middle and lower
classes and visit residences of the wealthy during your stroll along
the network of intact streets. Explore the interiors
of temples, roman baths, shops, mills, taverns and public cloakrooms
all with vivid mosaic floors, frescoed walls,
stuccoed decorations
and statues, rendering to the traveller a full idea
of the teeming frenetic life of the port. Return to Rome by swift highway.
3 hour
duration.
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