Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/519

 OSTIA. the Tiber, ■which now assumed the Eame of Fossa Trajana, and is undoubtedly the same which still exists under the name of Fiiimicino, and forms the right arm of the Tiber, from which it separates about a mile and a half above the site of Ostia. The new port thus constructed soon gave rise to t)ie growth of a new town around it, which was generally known by the name of Portus Ostiensis, sometimes also Portus Urbis or Portus Romae, but mure frequently, at least in later times, simply PoKTUS. It seems to have been designed more par- ticularly for the importation of corn for the supply of the capital, an object of which the importance became felt more and more, as the population of Rome continued to increase, while it became more absolutely dependent upon foreign produce. The adjoining district on the right bank of the Tiber was portioned out among a body of colonists before the time of Trajan {Lib. Colon, p. 222) ; and a new line of road was constructed along the right bank of the Tiber from Rome to the new port, which ob- tained the name of Via Portuensis. In the reign of Constantine the city of Portus was erected into an episcopal see (Anastas. Vit. Silvestr. 34) ; and the same emperor surrounded it with strong walls and towers, which are still in considerable part extant. Meanwhile Ostia itself was far from sinking into decay. Repeated notices of it during the earlier periods of the Roman Empire show it to have been still a flourishing and populous city, and successive emperors concurred in improving it and adorning it with public buildings. It was particularly indebted to the care of Hadrian (Gruter, Inscr. p. 249. 7) and Septimius Severus, numerous inscriptions in honour of whom have been discovered among its ruins. (Nibby, Dintorni, vol. ii. pp. 434, 468.) Aurelian, also, we are told, adorned it with a Forum, which bore his name, and which was decorated by his successor Tacitus with 100 columns of Numidic marble. (Vopisc. Aiirel. 45 ; Tac. 10.) The exist- ing remains confirm the inference which we should draw from these accounts, and show that Ostia must have continued to be a flourishing town till towards the close of the Roman Empire, and fir superior in the number and splendour of its public buildings to the neighbouring town of Portus. But the security of the latter place, which was well fortified, while Ostia was wholly unprotected by walls (Procop. B. G. i. 26), must have contributed greatly to the advantage of Portus ; and the artificial port seems to have obtained an increasing preference over the natural mouth of the Tiber. Rutilius says that in his time (about a. d. 414) the left arm, or main channel of the river, was so obstructed with sand as to be wholly deserted {Itin. i. 181) ; but this would appear to be an exaggerated statement, as Procopius more than a century later describes them as both navigable (Procop. I. c). Ostia was, however, in his day already in a state of great decay, and the road which led from thence to Rome (the Via Os- tiensis) was neglected and abandoned, while the Via Portuensis on the other side of the Tiber was still the scene of considerable traffic. The importance of Portus became more developed when Rome itself became exposed to the attacks of hostile barbarians. In A. D. 409 Alaric, king of the Goths, made himself master of the port, and with it of the stores of corn for the supply of the capital, which compelled the senate to capitulate on the terms that he chose to dictate (Zosim. vi. 6); and again during the wars of Belisarius and Vitiges (in 537) the Gothic king. OSTIA. 503 by making himself master of Portus, was able to reduce his adversary to severe distress (Procop. B. G. i. 26, &c.). The decline of Ostia continued throughout the earlier part of the middle a?es : in 827 it is described as altogether in ruins, and the continued incursions of the Saracens throughout that century seem to have completed its desolation. But meanwhile the artificial ports of Claudius and Trajan were beginning in their turn to suffer from the deposit of sand which is constantly goino- on along these shores ; and no attempt being made in these ages of confusion and disorder to arrest the progre.^s of the evil, they were both gradually filled up so as to be rendered altogether useless. In the 10th century, the port of Trajan was already reduced to a mere lake or pool, altogether cut ofi' from the sea, and only communicating by a ditch with the Tiber. (Ughelli, Italia Sacra, vol. i. p. 134.) The consequence was that for a time the trade was again forced to have recourse to the left arm of the river ; and the modern Ostia, where a castle or fort had been founded by Pope Gregory IV., a little above the ruins of the ancient city, became again for a period of some centuries the landing-place of tra- vellers and the port of Rome. It was not till 1612 that Pope Paul V. once more caused the canal of Trajan to be restored and cleared out, and continued to the present line of sea-coast, where a small port called Fiumicino was constructed ; and from this tim.e the whole traffic carried on by the Tiber with Rome (which is however but inconsiderable) has been confined fo this arm of the river. The main channel, on the other hand, having been completely neglected, has bi-come so obstructed with sand near the mouth as to be wholly impracticable. The modern village of Ostia i.^ a very poor place, with the ruins of an old castle, but retains little more than 50 permanent inhabitants, who are principally employed in the neighbouring salt-works. Its climate in summer is extremely unhealthy. The ruins of the ancient city begin about half a mile below it, and extend along the left bank of the Tiber for a space of near a mile and a half in length, and a mile in breadth. Though extensive, they are for the most part in a very dilapidated and imperfect state, so as to have little or no interest as architectural monu- ments ; but among them maybe distinctly traced the remains of a theatre, a temple of the Corinthian order, the forum, with several of the jaiblic buildings that surrounded it ; and near the Torre Bovacciana, close to the Tiber, are the ruins of buildings that appear to indicate this as the site of the actual port or emporium of Ostia in the imperial period. The great number and beauty of the statues and other works of art, which have been brought to light by the excavations carried on at successive periods on the site of Ostia, are calculated to give a high notion of the opulence and prosperity of the ancient city. The ruins of Portus, which are also very consi- derable, are of an entirely different character from those of Ostia. They are found on the right bank of the Tiber, about 2 miles from the present line of sea-coast at Fiumicino, and are still known as Porto ; while the inner basin of Trajan, the hexagonal form of which maybe distinctly traced, though it is in great part filled with sand, is still popularly known by the name of II Trojano. The quays of solid masonry that surrounded it are still well presei-ved; while extensive, though shapeless, masses of ruins adjoining it appear to have been those of the maga- zines and storehouses attached to the port. The K K 4