Day 6: Eternal Port of Ostia

Ciao! Today is our final day in Rome (so sad!) and we are taking a day trip outside the city to the ancient Roman port of Ostia. First, though, we visited the Temple of Mithra, which is underneath the Circus Maximus. 

Mithraism is an ancient East Asian cult brought back by the Roman soldiers. Their religious practice is covert and therefore saved them from persecutions of other religious factions. 

The Christian and Mithras stories highly resemble each other; for example, the story of Mithras killing a bull is the creation of the universe—-the blood became wine, the flesh became bread. Every year on December 25th, they would recreate the scene of Mithras killing the bull and store the blood for baptism. The killing of the bull also gave rise to the beginning of time, space, sun, and moon. 

The sites of Mithras temples are mostly underground because of two reasons: 1 - it was replicating the original cave from mythology and 2 - it removed them from public sight, therefore limiting their persecution.

Later, after an hour drive to Ostia, a port city in Rome, we had Lunch at Fraschetta de Borgo, then roamed around Parco archeologico di Ostia antica. 

The Ostia ruins are from the Roman Empire and used to be on the coast. The city was the first port of the empire and was used to import goods into the center of Rome. Overtime, the landscape has moved about 4 kilometers inward, and the Tiber River shifted to no longer being right next to the town. 

The city was rich with many different people, places, and structures. We saw a necropolis (burial ground), wellness centers or spas, homes, slave quarters, gladiator training areas, firefighter houses, a theatre, kitchens with giant ovens, a temple dedicated to Zeus, the forum, and so much more. 

Terme fri Cisiarii, or the ancient “wellness center,” were where people enjoyed hot baths in ancient times. The mosaics on the ground are particularly creative—-it was Neptune (Poseidon) governing the water surrounding the city. 

The amphitheater (below) was built by emperor Augustus and then later, emperor Commodus. Mostly Greek dramas and tragedies were performed here.

We also walked around the market surrounding the amphitheater—-there are 64 stores in total, some selling sailboats and some dealing fish and meat. All of the goods sold were presented in the mosaics on the ground.

We also entered the house of the firefighters—-the ancient fire department! It was to protect the warehouses storing all the shipped cargoes to the harbor.

We also quickly visited the ancient toilet, all the spots are connected without dividers—-it was a site for group symphony.

We then saw a castle built in the 1400s to protect salt against the Tuscans, it also functioned as a harbor to conquer the Mediterranean sea.

The architectural style of the antica heavily influenced Baroque art, specifically the concave and convex features. However, earthquakes and the flood of Tiber river destroyed most of the original buildings. Now there’s only a small portion remaining.

Ostia means “mouth” in Latin, and the city was named that because it used to be on the mouth of the Tiber River, as I mentioned earlier. You can still see the Tiber from the edge of the ruins, but it used to flow directly through the site. 

It was super cool to walk into the ruins and see how Romans used to live. After our tour and a quick stop for a snack, we headed back to the bus to drive to Centrale Montemartini, a museum which mixes ancient art with the industrial era. It is part of the Capitoline Museums. 

The museum shows industrial machinery, and mixed throughout are ancient statues. It’s quite an interesting clash of history, but works well together! I enjoyed getting an aerial view of the machines. 

I also loved these cows, which were situated with two men on either side of them (not pictured and quite ruined). The statues show a pastoral scene related to a monumental fountain dating back to the Augustan Age. 

The museum had two sarcophaguses with real, reconstructed skeletons inside. One person was Crepereius Euhodus, and the other was an unnamed girl. Her name would’ve been on the top of the tomb, but the lid was lost. 

The museum was a reinvention of the old factory, where the interior space was occupied by both the ancient artifacts and modern industrial machineries. The exhibit collection was smartly curated and it was indeed a smart collision between Renaissance classics and modern mechanization. 

The work I enjoyed the most is the Statute of Pathos, who represented the regret and nostalgia one feels when their loved ones are far away—-he is always portrayed to be the son of Aphrodite along with Eros by the Greek, and his beauty indeed made me recall the sleeping hermaphrodite at the Museum of Rome.

After the museum, we took the bus back to Piazza Navona, and we got some DIY (alone) time to explore the city at night. Kelly and I did some shopping and then she got gelato and a cannoli. Here’s her with her treats by the Panthenon! 

Our final dinner was at Pancrazio, and we ate in the underground room. The restaurant stands on the ruins of the ancient theatre of Pompey. It was the largest theatre in Rome and likely was in the area that saw Julius Caesar being killed. 

After dinner, we got one last gelato before heading back to the hotel to debrief and pack. We said goodbye to Michele and Mason (who’s leaving super early in the morning) and went to get a restful night of sleep before our flight in the morning! 

Ciao Italia! 

-Georgia and Jasmine