The important Christian monuments, or rather the important documents of Christianity in Ostia brought to light in recent years and the very recent discoveries still being excavated,[1] have not substantially changed the picture that had already been traced of its development by Février in 1958,[2] taken up and updated by Russell Meiggs in his masterful volume Roman Ostia.[3] However, I believe that by re-examining some of the already known testimonies as a whole, some new hypotheses can be advanced about the period in which the new faith spread to Ostia. I will briefly discuss the monuments already known for some time, allowing myself to deal almost exclusively with the Christian evidence of Ostia, since extending the discussion to include those of Portus would take me too far. It could be objected that, Ostia and Portus being linked in a single administrative organism up to Constantine, the evidence found in one place is complementary to that from the other. On the other hand, the division of the two cities in the Christian age, the creation of two bishop's seats, the mention of martyrs specific to each locality, the different historical events of the two centers, authorize us to believe that, starting from the 4th century, each of them developed its own religious life, even if it is not unlikely, as I have already mentioned, that the beginnings of evangelization were shared.[4] The circumstance that until today Ostia has not returned evident and sure traces of Christianity before the 3rd century has been stressed several times as something strange: the Christian epitaphs brought back to light up to the present day, about a hundred, can be dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries, and to the 3rd and 4th centuries can be dated the remains of Christian sarcophagi collected by Raissa Calza in one of her valuable studies. If the M. Curtius Victorinus, in a certainly Christian epitaph (M. Curtius Victorinus et Plotia Marcella viventes fecerunt si deus permiserit sibi), is the same as the one mentioned in an inscription of the guild of the lenuncularii of 192,[4a] we would have the first Christian funerary inscription datable to the end of the 2nd century, or to the very first years of the 3rd.
It has been thought that this apparent delay in the development of Christianity in Ostia can be explained both from the fact that, at least until the construction of the port of Trajan, those who came from the East rather landed in Pozzuoli and that therefore the spreaders of the good news arrived in Rome through Campania and not from Ostia; and from the fact that Christianity initially developed with greater ease and success where Jewish communities were flourishing, a community that was thought to be totally lacking in Ostia. Let me say right away that this second reason no longer has foundations now that the discovery in Ostia of various Hebrew inscriptions and of a monumental synagogue, built in the 1st century AD and enlarged in the 4th, has shown the existence also in this city of a rich, numerous and well-organized Jewish community.[5] I therefore think that in order to draw definitive conclusions about the dawn of Ostia's Christianity we must wait for the total exploration of both the inhabited area and the very large area of the necropolis, to give us a greater number of archaeological data on which to base ourselves.
However, there can be no doubt, in my opinion, that by the end of the 2nd century the Ostian Christian community must have been well rooted, if we do not consider as purely fortuitous the setting on the beach of Ostia of the dialogue between the pagan Caecilius and the Christian Octavius, in the well-known apologetic work of the African Minucius Felix: it is precisely from the gesture of adoration made by Caecilius in passing in front of one of the images of Serapis, so frequent in Ostia, that Octavian's attempt to lead his friend to the true faith begins. It could also be objected that the three Africans were in Ostia either for their business, or passing through to re-embark for their homeland, and that therefore the Ostian setting has nothing to do with the greater or lesser diffusion of Christianity in the city. However, it may be significant to note that the contacts with the Ostian Christians of an apologist like Minucius could be important: after all, the contacts with African Christianity are revealed for a later period (250-257) in the letters of St. Cyprian,[5a] which mention frequent embarkation or disembarkation of African Christians in the port of Rome.[6] And this bond - perhaps only due to the character of the port city from which and to which the routes to Africa led - is reconfirmed by another famous event that binds to Ostia one of the greatest African saints, Augustine, and his pious mother Monica, an event which had led him back, after a terrible moral struggle, to the true faith. In a house in Ostia "leaning in a window opening onto the internal garden of the house" where they, away from the noise, "rested from the fatigue of the long journey before facing the navigation" to their homeland, Augustine and Monica have their last sweet talks, recorded in the Confessions.[6a] ln that house Monica died in 388, after a few days of illness, and in Ostia, by her express will, she was buried in the basilica of the Ostian martyr Aurea, as later sources will tell us and as confirmed by the archaeological evidence: the discovery, just near today's church dedicated to the saint, of a part of the original tombstone,[7] bearing the epitaph in verse, known until now from the transcription in numerous codices, dictated by Anicius Auchenius Bassus, consul in 408, who must have had links with Ostia, as evidenced by the discovery of a Christian inscription,[7a] in which an Anicius Auchenius Bassus, father of the former, is named with his wife Turrenia Honorata.
The church of Saint Aurea with, to the left, the bishop's seat.
Photo: Wikimedia, Lalupa.
But speaking of Monica, of the recently discovered inscription of her tomb and of the church of St. Aurea, I anticipated the events a little, reaching a period in which there is no doubt about the flourishing of Ostia's Christianity. Indicative for a spread of Christianity in Ostia that is not late may be the fact, also reported by Meiggs,[8] that the literary sources mention in the middle of the 3rd century a group of Ostian martyrs of which, in addition to Aurea, the bishop Cyriacus, presbyters and deacons of the Ostian church form part. Even if some details of the late sources are uncertain and present variants, which cast doubt on their veracity, the fact remains of the chronological specification of the martyrdom and of the impression that can be inferred of a strong and well-organized Ostian Christian community, already in the middle of the 3rd century.
A bit back in time, I would say that proof of a spread of Christianity in Ostia as early as the 2nd century could also be the fact that to the end of this century and the beginning of the third can be dated the oil lamps with a disc decorated with the figure of the Good Shepherd of the certainly Ostian factory of Annius Serapiodorus and of another one, also located in Ostia, with the stamp Mari Fruc. The fact that a pagan person made oil lamps with Christian motifs demonstrates the presence on the spot of a well-established community to which such characteristic products could be sold. And the existence of a large Christian clientele also finds support in the fact that the Ostian marble workshops already in the first decades of the third century not only carve numerous Christian sarcophagi, but that in their decoration they adopt and rework most of the iconographic themes and symbols widespread in contemporary Christian art, demonstrating that this production is not limited to sporadic episodes, but reflects a continuous commitment and is aimed at a demanding local market full of possibilities.[9]
The church of Saint Herculanus.
Photo: Parco Archologico di Ostia.
Of the many Ostian Christian sarcophagi that document a constant production throughout the 3rd and 4th centuries, I will limit myself to mentioning only a few of these that date, because of stylistic characteristics or antiquarian elements, to the beginning of the century, choosing examples with different representations: the stories of Jonah;[10] the Eucharistic banquet, which is often associated with the stories of Jonah;[11] the praying person (orans) with only one hand raised (this is characteristic of Ostia's iconography), who appears, for example, on the strigilated sarcophagus of a woman whose hairstyle is placed around 235,[12] and in another from the Isola Sacra on which she is associated with the Good Shepherd;[13] and on the sarcophagus of Ianuarius (a praying person and a shepherd leaning on a stick).[14] The Good Shepherd, juvenile or bearded, is one of the most widespread themes throughout the production: among the most ancient monuments are the sepulchral slab found near the church of St. Herculanus (where the most conspicuous finds of Ostian Christian funerary monuments were found), with the door of the underworld in the center and the bearded Good Shepherd (St. Peter according to some interpretations) on the right;[15] the bathtub sarcophagus on which the central representation of the Good Shepherd is flanked by angular groups of lions that devour rock goats, joining the symbol of the salvation of the soul to that of death.[16] A beautiful specimen dating from around 220-230 is also the sarcophagus, now in Pisa, with the Good Shepherd in an aedicula whose acroteria, made up of small tritons, are almost a trademark of the Ostian workshops.[17]
Sarcophagus with a praying figure (orans) and the Good Shepherd (Pastor Bonus).
Photo: ICCD E069987.
Sarcophagus with shepherds.
Photo: ICCD E069978.
Finally, let us have a look at some sarcophagi with the representation of Orpheus, which, according to Calza, seem to be characteristic of the Ostian marble workshops. If in fact that of Orpheus was one of the first pagan myths to be adopted by early Christian iconography, it is only in Ostia that we find it taken to the sculpture of the sarcophagi before the middle of the 3rd century. That on these sarcophagi the representation is certainly Christian is demonstrated by the fact that the ferocious animals that surrounded the Thracian poet in pagan iconography were replaced by sheep, rams and doves. In the example from St. Herculanus,[18] a Christian allusion could also be the fisherman with fish caught on a hook, which occupies the preserved end of the slab. The sarcophagus, found in the oratory next to the theater,[19] was certainly reused by a Christian, as evidenced by the inscription hic Quiriacus dormit in pace on the adapted lid, and this reuse, apart from the iconography of Orpheus, makes certain that the sarcophagus was intended for Christian use already at the time of its first use. The oratory near the theater from which the latter sarcophagus comes is connected to well-known and documented facts of Ostia's Christianity: it was built in the 5th or 6th century, above and at the expense of one of the nymphaea that flanked the front of the theater on the Decumanus Maximus, on the spot where, under Claudius the Goth (in 268-270), were martyred Aurea ("a most holy young woman, born of a noble line, the daughter of Emperors and a Christian from the cradle") and her companions (the bishop Cyriacus, the presbyter Maximus, the deacon Archelaus, 17 soldiers) according to the account of the Acta Sanctorum and the Acta Martyrum ad Ostia Tiberina sub Glaudio Gothico, published in 1795 by De Magistris.
Sarcophagus with Orpheus.
Photo: Vatican Museums (Museo Pio Cristiano).
Apart from the names of the Ostian martyrs, the place of the martyrdom and of their burials, these documents provide, as I have already said, the interesting mention of the existence of an Ostian bishop already in the middle of the third century. That the bishop of Ostia had a certain importance and priority is documented by the fact that since the time of St. Augustine it was a tradition that it was the bishop of Ostia who consecrated the newly elected pontiff.[19a] Furthermore, the Ostian bishop Maximus was present at the Council of Rome in 313. According to the sources Aurea, martyred "near the arch in front of the theatre" (ad arcum ante theatrum),[20] was later buried by Nonosus, "who is also called Hippolytus" (qui etiam Ypolytus nuncupatur), in the property outside Ostia where the virgin had lived. It is presumably to be located in the place where the beautiful Renaissance church dedicated to her now stands, built by order of Giuliano della Rovere (later Pope Julius II) on the spot of a previous basilica of the saint, traces of which have been found dating back at least to the 5th century. And near the first basilica, as we have seen, were put to rest the mortal remains of St. Monica.
The small oratory near the theater and the church of St. Aurea are post-Constantinian constructions, at least the surviving remains. By Constantine Ostia had been equipped with a splendid basilica dedicated to St. Peter, St. Paul and St. John the Baptist, as Anastasius recalls in the life of Pope Sylvester.[20a] This basilica has been recognized by Calza in the construction, certainly of a Christian nature,[21] which he brought to light on the northern side of the Decumanus Maximus, just beyond the junction with the so-called road of he River Mouth. A closer examination of the type of the walls and the fact that the church, built at the expense of a road, a house and a bath building, does not present the monumentality that one would have expected from the Constantinian basilica, has led to the assigning of a later date to the construction, and some scholars have even questioned whether it was a basilica.[22] It is not my aim to discuss here the various hypotheses and discussions, I will just say that what seems without doubt to me about this building is on the one hand that it is a building linked in some way to Christian worship, and on the other hand that it is not from the Constantinian era.
Also in the fourth century we must date the adaptation of the frigidarium of the Baths of Mithras to a place of worship, attested by the supporting pillars of the barriers that delimited the presbytery or the choir, decorated with the cross with monogram.[23] The erection of a church right above a mithraeum, the cult statue of which was found decapitated and overturned, is significant and an evident sign of those struggles between Christians and pagans of which other traces have been recognized in Ostia. I recall that not far from this small church two objects from different periods were found, but of similar use. These are the fragments of semicircular tables intended to accommodate sacred objects, one from the 4th-5th century, of the Alexandrian type, adorned along the edge of niches with the figures of the Apostles, the other, later (6th century), decorated with arches (the so-called arched tables so widespread in the East, Greece, France and upper Italy) and by figures of fast moving fish.[24] It is not unlikely that they were part of the furnishings of the church near which they were found. With the discussion of this small church of the Baths of Mithras the list of Ostian Christian buildings has been completed for now, because I do not think that we can consider as such, as the discoverer proposed, the hall on the Decumanus, the so-called "Basilica Hall", even if there a small column of cipollino was found, the support of a table or basin, decorated with the figure of the Good Shepherd.
These are buildings mostly adapted in previous constructions and devoid of any wealth. Yet in the 4th century Ostia was not completely poor, even if it had lost the economic prosperity of the previous ages. There had been a change of life, it had become a residential center of leisure (otia), as shown by the beautiful and rich domus that emerge precisely in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. Probably this change of population with a pre-eminence of the rich, conservative and pagan element, over the less affluent class, where the new religion had spread more, contributed to the relative poverty of Christian places of worship. It should also be borne in mind that ancient pagan sanctuaries still persisted in Ostia, such as that of Hercules, Cybele, the Dioscures and Isis, whose cult was also linked to official state ceremonies, which persisted, as evidenced by both the reports of the sources and the restoration of the buildings, at least throughout the 4th century. Symmachus, one of the leaders of the pagan opposition, had a villa near Ostia; Volusianus, vir clarissimus, celebrates a bull sacrifice (taurobolium) in the middle of the 4th century; the temple of Hercules is restored by a prefect of the food supply (annona) under Eugenius in 392.
The chi-rho monogram on a floor of the Baths of the Forum.
Photo: Eric Taylor.
A symptom of these struggles may be the fact that in some pagan mosaics there are hidden Christian symbols, almost placed by the mosaicist to affirm his faith. Particularly interesting is the mosaic in the transitional room between the frigidarium and the calidarium of the Baths of Neptune,[25] in which, when it was restored between the middle of the 3rd century and the first half of the 4th, a series of signs and symbols was scattered without a specific order, all identified as Christian. Christian symbols are inserted, especially in the restorations, in other mosaic floors in Ostia such as those in the Domus of the Dioscures and on the Square of the Corporations.[26]
When in Ostia there is clear proof of the persistent paganism of the rich classes, there are, however, traces of Christianity also in the wealthiest classes. In one of the rich late domus which I have mentioned, a mosaic of undoubted Christian significance was found in the vestibule: a golden yellow chalice containing a fish, flanked by two fish facing each other at the base. The symbolic allusion to Christ (Ιχθυς) and the Eucharist is clear.[27] We do not know if the house was also the meeting center of a community, but it is certain that a Christian must have been the rich owner. Similarly in another late domus - the House of the Porch - a fine hemispherical glass cup was found in fragments with the engraved Christ carrying the cross with monogram, and next to it a basket of loaves.[28]
But much more important for the history of Ostia's Christianity and because of the spectacular richness of the find is the discovery near the Marine Gate, in a large building (probably the seat of a guild of merchants), of a room that had a wall adorned with an opus sectile coating. In the rich decorative context, studied by Becatti,[29] an image appears of the blessing Christ with nimbus. Other Christian symbols - a jeweled cross, fish on small tables, doves on chalices - were part of the frieze of an architrave that could not be reconstructed as a whole. The room must have been the one in which the members of the guild gathered and it is likely that it was also intended for worship. In fact, in the many pagan guild centers known in Ostia there is always a temple or a chapel.
Part of a wall in the building outside the Marine Gate.
Photo: Brent Nongbri.
The presence of Christian symbols in this guild seat, which was being built or restored in the second half of the 4th century, shows that by now the members of the guild were converts of the new religion. But it is important to point out a fact: the room was violently destroyed when the decoration was not yet finished. Since the coins found do not go beyond those of Eugenius (from 392-394) it has been thought that this seat of Christian merchants was destroyed precisely at the time of Eugenius, during the last attempt at pagan revenge, before the battle of Frigidus in August 394 gave the victory to Theodosius and with him the triumph to the religion of Christ. The events of this building therefore reflect the religious events of Ostia: the affirmation of Christianity even in the merchant class demonstrated by the presence of a place of Christian worship in the seat of a corporation, an attempt at pagan revenge demonstrated by the destruction of that very site. After this there are no other traces of struggles and the Christian life of Ostia seems to continue quietly. When the Roman city is abandoned, life will continue right around the basilica of St. Aurea and the nearby bishop's seat that will form the nucleus of medieval Ostia.
As I have already said, the surest evidence of the presence of Christianity in Ostia does not date back to the third century. On the other hand, I am convinced that the two facts I mentioned above offer valid testimony of a fairly wide diffusion of the new faith even before this period: that a local lamp factory (that of Annius Serapiodorus) and the workshops of local sculptors, began, in the third century, to produce Christian lamps and sarcophagi on a commercial scale, seems to me a clear demonstration of the presence of a local market. On the other hand, we should not think that this massive request for sarcophagi marked with symbols of the new faith happened all of a sudden and reflects a sudden conversion of a mass of Ostians to Christianity. Rather the elaboration reached by the decorative schemes of the sarcophagi marked by Christianity and the peculiarities of some of them, typical - as we have seen - of the Ostian 'ateliers', rather demonstrates in the third century a point of arrival of a long elaboration instead of a starting point.
Rings with the chi-rho monogram.
Photo: ICCD E027276A.
The fact that there are so many Christian sarcophagi already in the middle of the third century could suggest that at that moment the new faith had spread in Ostia even among the wealthier classes, or at least less poor, who were able to commission a sculpted marble sarcophagus, or to convince a manufacturer of the economic advantage of mass-producing oil lamps with a specific representation (the Good Shepherd) on the disc, which would have found a sure sale among a clearly defined clientele.
It is only an hypothesis, but I am convinced that, apart from what new excavations may reveal, even the elements we have today allow us to suppose, indeed demonstrate that Christianity was widespread in Ostia before the third century and that, if anything, in the 3rd century it shows itself firmly implanted among the middle class. This, in a certain sense, will create a local 'market' of Christian objects and will make the local workshops work harder, workshops that moreover must already have had Christian customers when they had come to the point of developing an original iconography.
NOTES
[1] I am referring to the discovery of a basilica in the Pianabella area (south of the Via Ostiensis), built in a pagan cemetery area that is currently being excavated by the Superintendence of Ostia and the Institute of Christian Archeology of the University of Rome.
[2] P. A. Février, Ostie et Porto à la fin de l'antiquité, in "Mél.", LXX, 1958, pp. 295 ff.
[3] 2nd edition, Oxford 1973, pp. 388-403, 518-531.
[4] For the Christian antiquities of Portus and especially of the Isola Sacra, see most recently, in particular, the articles by P. Testini relating to his recent excavations in the basilica of St. Hippolytus on the Isola Sacra: Sondaggi nell'area di S. Ippolito all'Isola Sacra, "Rend. Pont. Accad. Rom. Arch.", XLIII, 1970-71, pp. 223 ff.; Nuovi sondaggi nell'area di S. Ippolito all'Isola Sacra, ibid., XLIV, 1971-1972, pp. 219 ff.; Sondaggi a S. Ippolito all'Isola Sacra: i depositi reliquari scoperti sotto l'altare, ibid., XLVI, 1973-1974, pp. 165 ff.; La basilica di S. Ippolito, in Ricerche Archeologiche nell'Isola Sacra, Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte, Roma 1975, pp. 43-132.
[4a] CIL, XIV, 1900; 251, col. 1, 25.
[5] Cf. mainly M. Floriani Squarciapino, La Sinagoga di Ostia, "Bollettino d'Arte", 1961, pp. 326-337; La Sinagoga recentemente scoperta ad Ostia, in "Rend. Pont. Accad. Rom. Arch.", XXXIV, 1961-1962, pp. 119-132; Ebrei a Roma e ad Ostia, in "Studi Romani", XI, 1963, pp. 129-141; La Sinagoga di Ostia. Seconda campagna di scavo, in Atti del VI Congresso Internazionale di Archeologia Cristiana, Ravenna 23-29 settembre 1962, Città del Vaticano 1965, pp. 299-315; Plotius Fortunatus archisynagogus, in Scritti in memoria di Attilio Milano = "Rassegna mensile di Israel", XXXVI, n. 7-9, 1970, pp. 183-185.
[5a] Ep. 21, 4.
[6] See R. Meiggs, op. cit., p. 403.
[6a] IX, 10.
[7] A. Casamassa, Ritrovamento di parte dell'elogio di S. Monica, "Rend. Pont. Accad. Rom. Arch.", XXV-XXVI, 1949-1951, p. 126; XXVII, 1952-1954, p. 272; M. FLoriani Squarciapino, Il museo della Via Ostiense (Itinerari dei Musei e Monumenti d'Ita1ia, 91), Roma 1955, 34-35, fig. 14.
[7a] CIL, XIV, 1875.
[8] op. cit., p. 390.
[9] All the Christian sculptures of Ostia and Portus have been identified and studied with the usual acumen and skill by Raissa Calza, Le sculture e la probabile zona cristiana di Ostia e di Porto, in "Rend. Accad. Rom. Arch.", XXXVII, 1964-1965, pp. 155-257.
[10] ibid., figs. 4-5.
[11] ibid., fig. 9.
[12] ibid., pp. 179 ff., figs. 16-16a.
[13] ibid., pp. 184 ff, fig. 19. The strigilated sarcophagus comes from tomb no. 39 on the Isola Sacra.
[14] Now in the Villa Tittoni in Manziana; cf. R. Calza, op. cit., p. 186 ff, figs. 20-20a.
[15] ibid., pp. 200 ff., fig. 30.
[16] ibid., pp. 190 ff., fig. 23.
[17] ibid., pp. 192 ff., fig. 24.
[18] ibid., p. 217 ff., fig. 40. Because of the hairstyle of the woman standing at one of the ends of the slab, the sarcophagus of the Ostian workshop today in Porto Torres has been dated to 230-240 (p. 218, figs. 41-41a).
[19] ibid., pp. 220 f., figs. 42-42a.
[19a] Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis, coll. 3, 16, ed. Migne, PL, XLIII, 641.
[20] The remains of the arch and the architectural decoration, and its inscription with a dedication to Caracalla, have been identified and studied by F. Zevi and P. Pensabene: Un arco in onore di Caracalla ad Ostia, in "Rend. Lincei", s, VIII, XXVI, fasc. 5-6, pp. 481-526, 11 tavv.
[20a] Lib. Pont., L, 183 s.
[21] G. Calza, Una basilica di età costantiniana scoperta ad Ostia, in "Rend. Pont. Accad. Rom. Arch.", XVI, 1940, pp. 63-88; ibid., XVIII, 1941-1942, pp. 135-148.
[22] For example, Von Gerkan ("Röm. Quartalschrift", XLVII, 1939, pp. 15 ff.); Klauser (ibid., XLVII, 1939, pp. 25 ff.); Burzachechi ("Rend. Pont. Accad. Arch.", XXX-XXXI, 195 /1958 - 1958/1959, pp. 177 ff .; "Röm. Quartalschrift", 1964, p. 103 ff.).
[23] R. Calza, op. cit., pp. 239-242, figs. 50, 50a.
[24] ibid., pp. 242-249, figs. 51-53; L. Pani Ermini, Una mensa paleocristiana con bordo istoriato, in "Rivista Ist. Naz. Arch. Stor. Arte", S. III, I, 1978, pp. 89-117.
[25] G. Becatti, Mosaici e pavimenti marmorei (Scavi di Ostia IV), 1961, n. 73, tavv. CXCVI, CXCVII, CXCVIII, figs. 16-17.
[26] ibid., n. 214, pl. XLVII (Domus of the Dioscures), n. 115 (Square of the Corporations).
[27] For the late Ostian domus, see G. Becatti, Case ostiensi del tardo impero, Roma 1949; for the mosaic: G. Becatti, Mosaici e pavimenti marmorei, cit., n. 338, tavv. CC, CCXXVII.
[28] M. Floriani Squarciapino, Coppa cristiana da Ostia, in "Bollettino d'Arte", XXXVII, 1952, pp. 204 ff.
[29] G. Becatti, Edificio con opus sectile fuori Porta Marina (Scavi di Ostia, VI), Roma 1969. (Scavi di Ostia, VI), Roma 1969. I have briefly summarized, making them my own, the conclusions of Becatti, even if some points of them and some interpretations have been discussed by some scholars (for example see P. Testini, Il sarcofago di Tuscolo, ora in S. Maria in Vivario a Frascati, "Riv. di Archeol. Crist.", 1976, p. 82, note 35).