Ostia in Late AntiquityOstia Antica - Rome's ancient harbor. Its houses and apartments, taverns and baths, warehouses, shops, and temples have long contributed to a picture of daily life in Rome. Recent investigations have revealed, however, that life in Ostia did not end with a bang but with a whimper. Only on the cusp of the Middle Ages did the town's residents entrench themselves in a smaller settlement outside the walls. What can this new evidence tell us about life in the later Roman Empire, as society navigated an increasingly Christian world? Ostia in Late Antiquity, the first academic study on Ostia to appear in English in almost 20 years and the first to treat the Late Antique period, tackles the dynamics of this transformative time. Drawing on new archaeological research, including the author's own, and incorporating both material and textual sources, it presents a social history of the town from the third through ninth century. |
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ancient architectural Archivio Disegni Attis August Aurea Bakker basilica baths building Calza Cambridge Capitolium Castor and Pollux Chapter Christian community church city’s Constantine construction context cult Decumanus Decumanus Maximus dedicated discussion Domus early Edited emperor Empire epigraphic ewish example excavations festivals fifth century fig figure find first first century floor Forum fourth century Gordian III Heinzelrnann identified identity imperial important inscription landscape Late Antique Ostia Late Antique town late fourth century late Roman Lawrence located Magna Mater martyr material Maximus Mediterranean Meiggs memory Mithraeum Mithras monuments mosaic Ostia Antica pagan period Polemius Silvius Porta Marina Portus reflect religious ritual role Roman religion Rome Rome’s Russell Meiggs sacrifice scholars second century significance sixth century social and cultural specific Squarciapino statue suggests symbols synagogue textual sources third century throughout tion town’s transformation University Press Vatican Museums via Severiana Volusianus walls Zevi