A Roman adventure - part 7

On her last full day in Rome Laura took a ride on the metro train then a train to Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman seaport which was key to supplying Rome.  The river and coast line have changed in 2,000 years so the ruined town is no longer right on the coast.

Near the entrance to Ostia Antica Laura discovered there was a large graveyard filled with funerary monuments.

This was the map showing Ostia Antica with the coast and river routes of 2,000 years ago marked on the map (in green) and the current river route (in blue)

A mosaic near the entrance was uncleaned

Laura poured some water from her bottle on the mosaic and the colours came alive

In the warehouses and family homes Laura discovered this marble pavement

The marble pavement was made up of many pieces of coloured marble

These ruined columns made Laura feel very small - can you see her

Yes, there is Laura standing on a broken column which stands beside the two which are still complete

Laura and her girl exploring a street in Ostia 

In another house (which no longer had a roof but did have walls) Laura found this interesting mosaic which had the word Artemi above the figures

Further along on the southern edge of Ostia was a temple complex

This fawn figure (with panpipes) was guarding the entrance to a temple

Under another temple complex near the main road of Ostia was a cellar area which Laura went to explore

In the small museum (beside a restaurant where Laura had lunch) she saw this sarcophagus for a young child

Near the museum was a room filled with large food storage amphorae, these would have been sunk into sand to keep them upright. Laura wondered how often they had been cleaned out when storing food, she hoped they didn't just refill them without cleaning them. 

After seeing many other buildings and temples Laura found a large building complex which had an amazing circular mosaic floor

The circular mosaic floor only had some damage and was an amazing, lyrical, lively design

Laura could not stop looking at all the patterns, animals, leaves and people in the huge circular mosaic

The bull on the large mosaic was particularly wonderful

Laura had fun copying the post of the figure on another mosaic in a nearby room

Laura walked back to the main road in Ostia Antica and found the magnificent amphitheatre.  It was the largest building in Ostia and was still standing.

In the late afternoon Laura decided she wanted to try acting Roman style

The amphitheatre was huge and Laura felt tiny in the stage but she held her nerve

She kept standing and imagined the amphitheatre filled with crowds of people watching the play.  It was a daunting thought.

She raised her arms and declared "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"

"I love Rome"

"and I love Ostia Antica" she declared to her girl who sat watching from the stalls

Near to the Amphitheatre was a large bath and gymnasium complex.

There were steps leading up to a viewing platform (on top of a roof of the entrance to the bathhouse, which was closed as it was nearly closing time at Ostia Antica) so Laura and her girl went up the stairs to see the view.

From the bath house viewing platform they were rewarded with the sight of an enormous mosaic floor in the bath house, decorated with mysterious sea creatures and horses.  It was the most amazing sight and even bigger than the circular mosaic Laura had admired earlier.

The bath house and gymnasium complex was extensive and it looked like it has several mosaic floors

It was time to leave Ostia Antica, the sun was still shining though was starting to set and the day had cooled down from the 22 degrees it had been earlier.

As she left to catch the train back to Rome Laura took one more look at the information board and map about Ostia by the entrance.  She knew she hadn't seen everything there was to see in the old seaport and had greatly enjoyed finding out about the ancient Roman way of life.

For dinner that evening Laura dressed up in her new ball gown which she got at the Chat 'n Snap. It was a special family evening of celebration, tinged with sadness that the visit to Rome was nearly over.  Still there was one more morning in Rome to enjoy.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome, Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum, Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum, Part 5 when she explored the narrow streets of Rome and Part 6 when Laura visited Vatican City)