Ancient Ostia near Rome Private Tour

The beautifully preserved remains of Ancient Ostia lie twenty miles from Rome, in the meadows between the Tiber River and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The settlement\'s Latin name Ostium means "mouth of the river".

Ostia was founded around the 4th century by king Anco Marzio as a military colony to guard the river mouth against seaborne invasions. During the centuries when virtually all imports reached Rome via the Tiber, Ostia gained prominence as the domestic landing place for cargo ships. By the 2nd century AD, it had become a flourishing commercial center inhabited by upwards of 100,000 people, whose apartment buildings, taverns, and grocery shops are still intact. Ostia was a working city, the port of Rome.

The decline of Ostia began after the Barbarian invasions, when the port was abandoned and began to silt up. Ostia has had no continuing construction for over 1,500 years, which makes it a unique and perfect example of an ancient city. The archeological excavations undertaken at the beginning of the 19th century have brought the original city – a rare witness to 900 years of Roman civilization – back to light.

Ostia\'s amphitheater, erected in 12 BC, is a quiet, wonderfully preserved series of steep semicircular tiered stone steps for seating that can hold 3,500 spectators. The tiny stage is still intact, and although the permanent scenery which once rose three stories high behind it is no longer standing, you can easily imagine what it must have looked like during the premiere of Ovid\'s Medea, a play that has since been lost. Behind the theater is the Forum of the Corporations, so called because its great rectangular portico housed the offices of sixty-four maritime companies.

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