Augusto ad Ostia

Abstract

The paper deals with the public monuments of Augustan age at Ostia. Five situations are described, along an axis oriented from East to West and corresponding to the trend of the Decumanus Maximus. The Theatre, dedicated by Agrippa, is dated now around 18 B.C., together with the first phase of the porticus post scaenam. The implantation of the Grandi Horrea, after the recent re-examination by a French team, is now attributed to the Augustan or early Tiberian age. The Temple of Rome and Augustus in the Forum belongs probably to the same period (5/10-20 A.D.), but the problem of a possible cult of Augustus when he was still alive remains unsolved. In 6 A.D. a crypta and a chalcidicum were erected by a Terentia in the space afterwards occupied by the square of the Tempio Rotondo, but nothing remains. Finally, a macellum was dedicated by two imperial liberti in the middle Augustan age, but the traditional identification with a building on the corner between Via del Pomerio and the western Decumanus is uncertain.

Keywords: Augustan Ostia, public monuments, Theatre, Augustus and Roma, macellum