View allAll Photos Tagged FoodStore
Taken by photographer, Eugene Clerkin, who reported that there was a Town Festival in progress on this day. Let the battle of car identification commence...
You can compare this view of Belturbet with its companion photo taken approximately 100 years earlier as part of the Lawrence Photographic Project 1990/1991, where one thousand photographs from the Lawrence Collection in the National Library of Ireland were replicated a hundred years later by a team of volunteer photographers, thereby creating a record of the changing face of the selected locations all over Ireland.
For further information on the Lawrence Photographic Project, read all about it on our NLI Blog.
Date: Sunday, 5 August 1990 at 16:15 (weather conditions - cloudy)
NLI Ref.: LPP_15A/4
This photograph was taken in "Curry Hill," a section of the Manhattan neighborhood of Murray Hill. It stretches over a few blocks on Lexington Avenue, mostly around 27th and 28th Streets, and features dozens of Indian restaurants. Kalustyan's is a beloved Indian spice (and food) store in the area.
As seen in "Gothamist," 1/8/24: gothamist.com/news/extra-extra-are-tourists-following-mur...
Now demolished buildings on Toynbee Street, E1, with old shopfront signage for Continental Food Store & fork tongued shutter art by This1 art.
36C... Too hot to take photos outdoors!
Eataly, the largest food store in the world. Some consider this place a gourmet paradise, others think it's an insult to hunger: it's probably both.
This New Morrison's Petrol Station is one of the cheapest in Leicester. Unleaded Per Litre £0.99.7p. Due to low oil price, low numbers of cars on the road and COVID-19 LOCKDOWN.
The Morrison's Supermarket has not yet opened, due to delays with COVID-19, when it opens all the blanks will be filled on the sign.
This used to be a CO-OP Food Store and a Green CO-OP Branded Petrol Station, Both Closed on 25th January 2020.
On this site it's also been a ESSO, TEXACO and a TOTAL.
Many years ago there was only 1 Morrisons the rest were Safeways in Leicestershire.
Wandering Vancouver streets often includes a march along Kingsway from Perry Street to East 7th Avenue checking out any changes.
The walk includes a visit to Famous Foods where Perry meets Kingsway, a fixture on the street for 80+ years.
80 years ago, the grocery store industry in Vancouver was different than today.
Since the 1930’s, Famous Foods has been a pioneer in the health food scene in Vancouver, selling grains, beans, flours, and spices from all over the world.
Today one finds many grocers, large and small, offering organic, natural and wholesome foods.
Back in the day, grocers offered friendly, affordable, and community-focused service, that made Famous Foods popular.
Famous Foods was, and is, different than other grocers. “We have always been the spot in town to shop for bulk and natural foods such as flours, grains, beans, spices, and herbs", says Cam Bruce, owner of Famous Foods.
"In days gone by customers chose a grocer based not only on the products sold in store, but also the people working in the store and the level of service offered".
Famous Foods currently carries over 1,000 bulk items, and sources specialty items hard to find.
Famous Foods motto is “big enough to serve you—small enough to know you.” Famous Foods is committed to offering environmentally friendly options and locally made products.
I was going to make an elaborate diorama of a food store similar to Fauchon in France, but after almost a year of not being able to complete it, I've given up. This is all I have completed.
Here in Montreal Gasoline Pumps have a Payment Office Inside also, good in winter but all of them have some great goodies for us too. Coffee of all kinds, snacks, cigarettes, etc. This is our local one and while we have no car, we often go over for a snack or just a hot coffee of our choice. The Name above is familiar to all in Quebec and even other Provinces, Cities, even in other parts of the World.
The phrase means "Bed Late" You can easily recognize these stores by the symbol of a Red Winking Owl.
Brumhilda Stiffbroom the Housewife:
Halfling women are notoriously stern caretakers. In the house, their rule is law, and all who break the rules receive a stinging ladle slap to the hands, or head! These wonderful women take great joy in filling the bellies of their men, having a fierce pride when it comes to a full belly.
Often times they can be found bustling through the markets gathering foodstores and supplies. When their men wobble to war, the wives accompany the baggage train, cooking and cleaning but also offering a strong hand in battle should the need arise.
The matriarchs of a halfling community are known as Housewives and are respected by all. Stern of hand and fond of good times, these leaders help to teach the young about the ways of halfling life. The most renown Housewife found in the lands of the little folk is Brumhilda Stiffbroom. Famous for her victory feasts post-battle (and sometimes pre-battle), Brumhilda has accompanied the stouthearted warriors for years, always providing for the needs of the folk.
Brumhilda Stiffbroom, however, is no slouch in combat. During the Battle of Rumpfeld it was said that she lopped the heads off of dozens of goblins with her oak rolling pin, a family heirloom passed down from past generations. Wielding a stiff broom and other household essentials, Brumhilda swings in terrifyingly ferocious arcs, protecting the men folk, and also the foodstuffs.
The hobbling halflings rejoice when their matriarch, the Housewife Brumhilda Stiffbroom marches to war!
© All Rights Reserved
Golden Ears Cheesecrafters is the Fraser Valley's newest Artisan Cheese processing facility, local food shop and bistro.
Maple Ridge BC CA
The last of 4 ex GM Buses NCME-bodied Atlanteans to enter service with Rossendale after their purchase in the Spring of 1990, was the one-time 7740, whose registration probably influenced the choice of fleetnumber. Over 6 months would elapse before 47 emerged in this (almost) allover advertising livery for the Kwik-Save discount foodstore in Rochdale, a scheme it wore throughout its 6 years plus service life. It was photographed opposite the Fire Station in Rawtenstall's Queens Square in January 1991.
This image is copyright and must not be reproduced or downloaded without the permission of the photographer.
This young leopard yawns as he ponders the safety of his foodstore - a gazelle cached in a nearby tree. He is aware of a family of local baboons which have threatened him. A few minutes later, he moved the gazelle deeper into the forest.
Zabar's, located on 80th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is an appetizing store, best known for its selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives, and cheeses. It's been around for ninety years and is one of the major attractions of the Upper West Side.
Amsterdam Centraal Station | Netherlands | Fujifilm X100f | Fujifilm 23mmF/2.0 | F/2.0 | ISO 1000 | 1/50 sec
GCX Unrestricted – Preparation at Castle Kjeldslot
Spring in the Kjelddal was usually everyone’s favorite time of year. But this year was different. The hidden vale of the Kjelddal used to be happy and peaceful. There were never any outsiders bringing their politics and wars into this tranquil place. But that started to change last year.
Lord Gøttfried Kjeldsen sent three of his most trustworthy advisors out into greater Garheim on a mission to gather information.
While on his Lordship’s mission, Norvald visited a small tavern in Ugleheim. As he often did, Norvald had a bit too much to drink and his tongue became a bit too loose. Soon everyone else in the tavern had heard that he was from the hidden land of Kjelddal. The next morning, Norvald realized his error and left town immediately. He went straight home to the Kjelddal, avoiding main roads as much as he could. He had thought that he had covered his tracks well, but two days after his return, one of the villagers reported that his food storage had been emptied and that two of his horses were gone. After searching the vale, there was no sign of the stolen food or horses. Clearly, Outlaws had gotten into the Kjelddal, and escaped. The hidden valley would not remain hidden for long.
The next day, Torbjørn and Fridleiv, Kjeldsen’s other two advisors, returned to the Kjelddal, bringing news of the uncertainty and fear spreading all over Roawia. “It’s clear now that we can no longer trust in our location to keep our people safe.” Kjeldsen told his men. “We need to take measures to prepare ourselves for the days ahead. We have been hidden from war for years, but we cannot trust that our location remains a secret. We must take extra precautions to safeguard our livelihood. From this day on, everyone in the Kjelddal must bring their foodstores and any other possessions they hold dear behind my castle walls. The livestock must also be stabled in my courtyard at night. We will double the castle guard and keep men on the walls day and night. Nothing outside the castle should be considered safe.”
“My Lord,” said Norvald, “This is all my fault. The outlaws must have followed me home from Ugleheim. I will stay on the wall day and night, and the minute they show their ugly faces they will meet the blade of my axe.”
“Very well” said Kjeldsen. “I will personally oversee the movement of food and livestock into my walls. I don’t want anyone in my home that isn’t of the Kjelddal.”
----------------------------------------------------
My entry into the GC X – Preparations category at LOR. This castle has actually been built for a few months now. It was a winter project that I just never got around to photographing. That, and since it wasn’t done in time for CCC, I decided to save it for another contest. I originally tried a few different techniques in building the roof, but in the end I opted for the good old fashioned “studs on top” approach. Everything else I tried just looked to ramshackle in comparison with the rest of the castle’s clean and well-kept appearance. The Kjeddal is one place that has been hidden from the previous war, after all, so I decided that it should look that way.
GCX Unrestricted – Preparation at Castle Kjeldslot
Spring in the Kjelddal was usually everyone’s favorite time of year. But this year was different. The hidden vale of the Kjelddal used to be happy and peaceful. There were never any outsiders bringing their politics and wars into this tranquil place. But that started to change last year.
Lord Gøttfried Kjeldsen sent three of his most trustworthy advisors out into greater Garheim on a mission to gather information.
While on his Lordship’s mission, Norvald visited a small tavern in Ugleheim. As he often did, Norvald had a bit too much to drink and his tongue became a bit too loose. Soon everyone else in the tavern had heard that he was from the hidden land of Kjelddal. The next morning, Norvald realized his error and left town immediately. He went straight home to the Kjelddal, avoiding main roads as much as he could. He had thought that he had covered his tracks well, but two days after his return, one of the villagers reported that his food storage had been emptied and that two of his horses were gone. After searching the vale, there was no sign of the stolen food or horses. Clearly, Outlaws had gotten into the Kjelddal, and escaped. The hidden valley would not remain hidden for long.
The next day, Torbjørn and Fridleiv, Kjeldsen’s other two advisors, returned to the Kjelddal, bringing news of the uncertainty and fear spreading all over Roawia. “It’s clear now that we can no longer trust in our location to keep our people safe.” Kjeldsen told his men. “We need to take measures to prepare ourselves for the days ahead. We have been hidden from war for years, but we cannot trust that our location remains a secret. We must take extra precautions to safeguard our livelihood. From this day on, everyone in the Kjelddal must bring their foodstores and any other possessions they hold dear behind my castle walls. The livestock must also be stabled in my courtyard at night. We will double the castle guard and keep men on the walls day and night. Nothing outside the castle should be considered safe.”
“My Lord,” said Norvald, “This is all my fault. The outlaws must have followed me home from Ugleheim. I will stay on the wall day and night, and the minute they show their ugly faces they will meet the blade of my axe.”
“Very well” said Kjeldsen. “I will personally oversee the movement of food and livestock into my walls. I don’t want anyone in my home that isn’t of the Kjelddal.”
----------------------------------------------------
My entry into the GC X – Preparations category at LOR. This castle has actually been built for a few months now. It was a winter project that I just never got around to photographing. That, and since it wasn’t done in time for CCC, I decided to save it for another contest. I originally tried a few different techniques in building the roof, but in the end I opted for the good old fashioned “studs on top” approach. Everything else I tried just looked to ramshackle in comparison with the rest of the castle’s clean and well-kept appearance. The Kjeddal is one place that has been hidden from the previous war, after all, so I decided that it should look that way.
More rain today, the whole world is soggy and luminous green. Bits of thunder in the background or should I say blackground. Chloe and I on a mission this morning collecting parcels from the Post office, always a task that requires the greatest amount of patience - money from the bank, books from the bookstore, food from the foodstore. To my surprise the post office was filled with old acquaintances, the lady who saw to us gave Chloe a sweet which was much enjoyed. We then found the revolving door in the bank which gave Chloe a great thrill, the lady in front of us gave us the change we needed (so we didn't need to wait). In the bookstore Chloe stroked the poster of the dragon and pointed out 'the beautiful tower' aka Wire Xmas tree with baubles. We then had tea together- well actually Chloe had a very pink milkshake. When the waitor came she said 'have you said thank you to the waitor gwanny?'. Then we gathered the food and found the jumping castle. A most satisfying morning. I hope your day was as good as mine.
My contemporary / documentary work in progress. I like to shoot parts of London before new shiny buildings take over. Deptford on the verge of gentrification - 2018. Lidl, the German chain has arrived and the food is cheap and great with a bakery in store. MacDonald has taken roots for a while.
Canon EOS 1V | f8 / 1/80
++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++
Ostia Antica is a large archaeological site, close to the modern town of Ostia, that is the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, 15 miles (25 kilometres) southwest of Rome. "Ostia" (plur. of "ostium") is a derivation of "os", the Latin word for "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but due to silting the site now lies 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the sea.[2] The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics.
Contents
1History
1.1Origins
1.2Civil wars
1.3Sacking by pirates
1.4Imperial Ostia
1.5Late-Roman and sub-Roman Ostia
1.6Sacking and excavation
2Modern day
3Media
4Gallery
5Notes
6References
7External links
History
Origins
Ostia may have been Rome's first colonia. According to the legend Ancus Marcius, the semi-legendary fourth king of Rome, who was the first to destroy Ficana, an ancient town that was only 17 km (11 mi) from Rome and had a small harbour on the Tiber, and then proceeded with establishing the new colony 10 km (6 mi) further west and closer to the sea coast. An inscription seems to confirm the establishment of the old castrum of Ostia in the 7th century BC.[3] The oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date back to only the 4th century BC.[4] The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum (military camp);[5] of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). The opus quadratum of the walls of the original castrum at Ostia provide important evidence for the building techniques that were employed in Roman urbanisation during the period of the Middle Republic.[6]
Civil wars
Ostia was a scene of fighting during the period of the civil wars between Gaius Marius and Sulla during the 1st century BC. In 87 BC, Marius attacked the city in order to cut off the flow of trade to Rome. Forces led by Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Quintus Sertorius crossed the Tiber at three points before capturing the city and plundering it. After his victory here, Marius moved on to attack and capture Antium, Aricia and Lanuvium to further destroy the foodstores of Rome.[7]
Sacking by pirates
In 68 BC, the town was sacked by pirates.[8] During the sack,[9] the port was set on fire, the consular war fleet was destroyed, and two prominent senators were kidnapped. This attack caused such panic in Rome that Pompey the Great arranged for the tribune Aulus Gabinius to rise in the Roman Forum and propose a law, the lex Gabinia, to allow Pompey to raise an army and destroy the pirates. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated.[10]
The town was then re-built, and provided with protective walls by the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.[11]
Imperial Ostia
During Julius Caesar's time as Dictator, one of his improvements to the city was his establishment of better supervision of the supply of grain to Rome. He proposed better access to grain by the use of a new harbour in Ostia along with a canal from Tarracina.
The town was further developed during the first century AD under the influence of Tiberius, who ordered the building of the town's first Forum. The town was also soon enriched by the construction of a new harbour on the northern mouths of the Tiber (which reaches the sea with a larger mouth in Ostia, Fiumara Grande, and a narrower one near to the current Fiumicino International Airport). The new harbor, not surprisingly called Portus, from the Latin for "harbour", was excavated from the ground at the orders of the emperor Claudius. This harbour became silted up and needed to be supplemented later by a harbour built by Trajan finished in the year 113 AD; it has a hexagonal form,[12] in order to reduce the erosive forces of the waves.[citation needed] Moreover, at a relatively short distance, there was also the harbour of Civitavecchia (Centum Cellae). These elements took business away from Ostia itself and began its commercial decline.[12] In 2008 British archaeologists discovered the remains of the widest canal ever built by the Romans, 300 feet wide, which they believe ran Portus across the Isola Sacra to the Tiber opposite Ostia, which would have made the transport of large quantities of goods far easier than by land transport. In 2014 ruins on the north side of the river opposite the city were discovered indicating a large built-up area with some massive structure. Ostia within the walls cover an area of 69 hectares or 173 acres. During the 4th century city spilled over the southern walls to the sea south of Regioni III and IV on the map.
Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; in particular, a famous lighthouse. The popularity of the Cult of Mithras is evident in the discovery of eighteen mithraea.[13] Archaeologists have also discovered the public latrinae, organised for collective use as a series of seats that allow us to imagine today that their function was also a social one. Ostia had a large theatre, many public baths (such as the Thermae Gavii Maximi, or Baths at Ostia), numerous taverns and inns and a firefighting service. Ostia also contained the Ostia Synagogue, the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe; it created a stir when it was unearthed in 1960-61.[14]
Late-Roman and sub-Roman Ostia
Ostia grew to 50,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century, reaching a peak of some 100,000 inhabitants in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[15][16][17] Ostia became an episcopal see as part of the Diocesi of Rome as early as the 3rd century AD; the cathedral (titulus) of Santa Aurea being located on the burial site of St Monica, mother of Augustine; she died here in 387 in a house property of the Diocesi of Rome.
In time mercantile activities became focused on Portus instead. For scholars of the High Empire Ostia was the seaside version of Rome, the city of apartment buildings. It used to be thought that the city entered a period of slow decline after Constantine I made Portus a municipality, Ostia thereby ceasing to be an active port and instead becoming a popular country retreat for rich aristocrats from Rome.[12] In spite of the fact that Portus shows substantial growth in the 4th century, the traditional view that Ostia went into marked decline has had to be revised due to recent excavations and re-evaluation of the evidence. The knocking down of some apartment blocks replaced by houses of the rich was "thought to have signalled the disappearance of Ostia's once-vibrant group of non-elite residents and labourers"..."recent research has suggested we take a more nuanced view of residential patterns and social demography in the Late Antique city".[18] Earlier views of decay relied on fleeting references in the ancient sources and excavators ignoring evidence from the period that the town continued to thrive despite pockets of decay into the 6th century, "..life in Ostia ended not with a Vesuvian bang but with a whimper" after a slow decline from the 6th to the 9th centuries.
The city housed the headquarters of the Prefect of the Annona and his large staff. Although there are signs of decay in certain quarters, evidence indicates continued prosperity through fifth century, including: repairs on baths (26 remained in operation during the 4th century), public buildings, church construction, street repaving, residential and business expansion beyond the perimeter of the south wall (the presence of a small harbour, the Porta Marina on the sea, is attested), a huge 4th century villa located east of the Maritime baths, and the continued operation of the river port on the western edge of the town, the 'navalia', a squarish basin built in from the river, a warehouse on the east side and, behind it, a large bath complex, erroneously called the palazzo imperial.[19] Numerous bathing establishments are recorded as still operating in the 4th and into the 5th centuries with major repairs of the center-city Neptune Baths in the 370s.
The city was mentioned by St Augustine when he passed there in the late 4th century.[20] The poet Rutilius Namatianus reported the lack of maintenance of the city ports in 414 AD.[21] This view has been challenged by Boin, who states Namatianus' verse is a literary construct and not consistent with the archaeological record, ibid. pp. 22, 25, (the poet was lamenting the lost greatness of Rome after the sack of 410 and was hoping for the rise again of the great city).
After the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 (traditional date: Julius Nepos died 480 was the last legitimate emperor), Ostia fell slowly into decay as the population of Rome, 700-800,000 in A.D. 400 contracted to 200,000 or less in 500 A.D. The city was finally abandoned in the 9th century[22] due to the repeated invasions and sackings by Arab pirates. A naval battle, the Battle of Ostia, was fought there in 849 between Christians and Saracens; the remaining inhabitants moved to Gregoriopolis a short distance away.[12]
Sacking and excavation
A "local sacking" was carried out by Baroque architects,[when?] who used the remains as a sort of marble storehouse for the palazzi they were building in Rome.
Soon after, foreign explorers came in search of ancient statues and objects.[who?]
The Papacy started organising its own investigations with Pope Pius VII; under Benito Mussolini massive excavations were undertaken from 1939 to 1942[4] during which several remains, particularly from the republican period, were brought to light. The first volume of the official series Scavi di Ostia appeared in 1954; it was devoted to a topography of the town by Italo Gismondi and after a hiatus the research still continues today. Though untouched areas adjacent to the original excavations were left undisturbed awaiting a more precise dating of Roman pottery types, the "Baths of the Swimmer", named for the mosaic figure in the apodyterium, were meticulously excavated, in 1966–70 and 1974–75, in part as a training ground for young archaeologists and in part to establish a laboratory of well-understood finds as a teaching aid. It has been estimated that two-thirds of the ancient town are as yet unexcavated. In 2014, a geophysical survey using magnetometry, among other techniques, revealed the existence of a boundary wall on the north side of the Tiber enclosing an unexcavated area of the city containing three massive warehouses.[23][24]
Modern day
The excavated site of Ostia Antica is open to the public as a tourist attraction. A number of finds from the excavation are housed on-site in the Museo Ostiense.[25] The site has dining, and other facilities.[26] The Theatre is also occasionally used for cultural events.[27]
Media
Ostia was featured in the novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, both written by British novelist Robert Graves. The novels include scenes set at Ostia spanning from the reign of Augustus to the reign of Claudius, including the departure of Agrippa to Syria and Claudius's reconstruction of the harbour. In the 1976 television series, Ostia was frequently mentioned but never actually seen.
Ostia features in A War Within: The Gladiator by Nathan D. Maki. After an assassination attempt on Emperor Commodus the protagonists Antonius and Theudas escape by clinging to a barge on the Tiber, reaching Ostia, and stowing away on a trireme heading north to Ravenna.
Ostia appears briefly towards the end of the Roman Empire section of the 1981 comedy film History of the World, Part I, where the main characters board a galleon (bearing the El Al logo) bound for Judaea. In the film, however, Ostia is only ever referred to as simply "the port".
Ostia's beach and port serves as the location for the 1993 music video of the song "La solitudine" by Laura Pausini.
Ostia is mentioned several times in the 2005 HBO/BBC historical drama series Rome.
Ostia is mentioned in the 2000 film Gladiator, when the protagonist, Maximus, learns that his army is camped at Ostia and awaiting orders.
One of the wonders buildable in the "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" mod for Sid Meier's Civilization III is called the "Portus Ostiae".
Ostia is the name of the Magic World's lost kingdom and the location of the gladiatorial games in the manga series Negima! Magister Negi Magi.
Ostia is the name of the most important city of the Lycian Alliance in the Fire Emblem series.
Ostia is mentioned in several novels in Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco series.
Ostia is featured in the film Rome Adventure from 1962.[28]
Ostia is a central location in the children's novel series The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence, and its television adaption.
Cutaway drawing of a Centennial-style A&P store on the cover of a 1959 company publication.
The building design was introduced that year to commemorate A&P's 100th anniversary.
“The Eye Moment photos by Nolan H. Rhodes”
Theeyeofthemoment21@gmail.com
www.flickr.com/photos/the_eye_of_the_moment
“Any users, found to replicate, reproduce, circulate, distribute, download, manipulate or otherwise use my images without my written consent will be in breach of copyright laws.”
Canon EOS 1V | f8 / 1/100
++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++
Ostia Antica is a large archaeological site, close to the modern town of Ostia, that is the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, 15 miles (25 kilometres) southwest of Rome. "Ostia" (plur. of "ostium") is a derivation of "os", the Latin word for "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but due to silting the site now lies 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the sea.[2] The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics.
Contents
1History
1.1Origins
1.2Civil wars
1.3Sacking by pirates
1.4Imperial Ostia
1.5Late-Roman and sub-Roman Ostia
1.6Sacking and excavation
2Modern day
3Media
4Gallery
5Notes
6References
7External links
History
Origins
Ostia may have been Rome's first colonia. According to the legend Ancus Marcius, the semi-legendary fourth king of Rome, who was the first to destroy Ficana, an ancient town that was only 17 km (11 mi) from Rome and had a small harbour on the Tiber, and then proceeded with establishing the new colony 10 km (6 mi) further west and closer to the sea coast. An inscription seems to confirm the establishment of the old castrum of Ostia in the 7th century BC.[3] The oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date back to only the 4th century BC.[4] The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum (military camp);[5] of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). The opus quadratum of the walls of the original castrum at Ostia provide important evidence for the building techniques that were employed in Roman urbanisation during the period of the Middle Republic.[6]
Civil wars
Ostia was a scene of fighting during the period of the civil wars between Gaius Marius and Sulla during the 1st century BC. In 87 BC, Marius attacked the city in order to cut off the flow of trade to Rome. Forces led by Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Quintus Sertorius crossed the Tiber at three points before capturing the city and plundering it. After his victory here, Marius moved on to attack and capture Antium, Aricia and Lanuvium to further destroy the foodstores of Rome.[7]
Sacking by pirates
In 68 BC, the town was sacked by pirates.[8] During the sack,[9] the port was set on fire, the consular war fleet was destroyed, and two prominent senators were kidnapped. This attack caused such panic in Rome that Pompey the Great arranged for the tribune Aulus Gabinius to rise in the Roman Forum and propose a law, the lex Gabinia, to allow Pompey to raise an army and destroy the pirates. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated.[10]
The town was then re-built, and provided with protective walls by the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.[11]
Imperial Ostia
During Julius Caesar's time as Dictator, one of his improvements to the city was his establishment of better supervision of the supply of grain to Rome. He proposed better access to grain by the use of a new harbour in Ostia along with a canal from Tarracina.
The town was further developed during the first century AD under the influence of Tiberius, who ordered the building of the town's first Forum. The town was also soon enriched by the construction of a new harbour on the northern mouths of the Tiber (which reaches the sea with a larger mouth in Ostia, Fiumara Grande, and a narrower one near to the current Fiumicino International Airport). The new harbor, not surprisingly called Portus, from the Latin for "harbour", was excavated from the ground at the orders of the emperor Claudius. This harbour became silted up and needed to be supplemented later by a harbour built by Trajan finished in the year 113 AD; it has a hexagonal form,[12] in order to reduce the erosive forces of the waves.[citation needed] Moreover, at a relatively short distance, there was also the harbour of Civitavecchia (Centum Cellae). These elements took business away from Ostia itself and began its commercial decline.[12] In 2008 British archaeologists discovered the remains of the widest canal ever built by the Romans, 300 feet wide, which they believe ran Portus across the Isola Sacra to the Tiber opposite Ostia, which would have made the transport of large quantities of goods far easier than by land transport. In 2014 ruins on the north side of the river opposite the city were discovered indicating a large built-up area with some massive structure. Ostia within the walls cover an area of 69 hectares or 173 acres. During the 4th century city spilled over the southern walls to the sea south of Regioni III and IV on the map.
Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; in particular, a famous lighthouse. The popularity of the Cult of Mithras is evident in the discovery of eighteen mithraea.[13] Archaeologists have also discovered the public latrinae, organised for collective use as a series of seats that allow us to imagine today that their function was also a social one. Ostia had a large theatre, many public baths (such as the Thermae Gavii Maximi, or Baths at Ostia), numerous taverns and inns and a firefighting service. Ostia also contained the Ostia Synagogue, the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe; it created a stir when it was unearthed in 1960-61.[14]
Late-Roman and sub-Roman Ostia
Ostia grew to 50,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century, reaching a peak of some 100,000 inhabitants in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[15][16][17] Ostia became an episcopal see as part of the Diocesi of Rome as early as the 3rd century AD; the cathedral (titulus) of Santa Aurea being located on the burial site of St Monica, mother of Augustine; she died here in 387 in a house property of the Diocesi of Rome.
In time mercantile activities became focused on Portus instead. For scholars of the High Empire Ostia was the seaside version of Rome, the city of apartment buildings. It used to be thought that the city entered a period of slow decline after Constantine I made Portus a municipality, Ostia thereby ceasing to be an active port and instead becoming a popular country retreat for rich aristocrats from Rome.[12] In spite of the fact that Portus shows substantial growth in the 4th century, the traditional view that Ostia went into marked decline has had to be revised due to recent excavations and re-evaluation of the evidence. The knocking down of some apartment blocks replaced by houses of the rich was "thought to have signalled the disappearance of Ostia's once-vibrant group of non-elite residents and labourers"..."recent research has suggested we take a more nuanced view of residential patterns and social demography in the Late Antique city".[18] Earlier views of decay relied on fleeting references in the ancient sources and excavators ignoring evidence from the period that the town continued to thrive despite pockets of decay into the 6th century, "..life in Ostia ended not with a Vesuvian bang but with a whimper" after a slow decline from the 6th to the 9th centuries.
The city housed the headquarters of the Prefect of the Annona and his large staff. Although there are signs of decay in certain quarters, evidence indicates continued prosperity through fifth century, including: repairs on baths (26 remained in operation during the 4th century), public buildings, church construction, street repaving, residential and business expansion beyond the perimeter of the south wall (the presence of a small harbour, the Porta Marina on the sea, is attested), a huge 4th century villa located east of the Maritime baths, and the continued operation of the river port on the western edge of the town, the 'navalia', a squarish basin built in from the river, a warehouse on the east side and, behind it, a large bath complex, erroneously called the palazzo imperial.[19] Numerous bathing establishments are recorded as still operating in the 4th and into the 5th centuries with major repairs of the center-city Neptune Baths in the 370s.
The city was mentioned by St Augustine when he passed there in the late 4th century.[20] The poet Rutilius Namatianus reported the lack of maintenance of the city ports in 414 AD.[21] This view has been challenged by Boin, who states Namatianus' verse is a literary construct and not consistent with the archaeological record, ibid. pp. 22, 25, (the poet was lamenting the lost greatness of Rome after the sack of 410 and was hoping for the rise again of the great city).
After the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 (traditional date: Julius Nepos died 480 was the last legitimate emperor), Ostia fell slowly into decay as the population of Rome, 700-800,000 in A.D. 400 contracted to 200,000 or less in 500 A.D. The city was finally abandoned in the 9th century[22] due to the repeated invasions and sackings by Arab pirates. A naval battle, the Battle of Ostia, was fought there in 849 between Christians and Saracens; the remaining inhabitants moved to Gregoriopolis a short distance away.[12]
Sacking and excavation
A "local sacking" was carried out by Baroque architects,[when?] who used the remains as a sort of marble storehouse for the palazzi they were building in Rome.
Soon after, foreign explorers came in search of ancient statues and objects.[who?]
The Papacy started organising its own investigations with Pope Pius VII; under Benito Mussolini massive excavations were undertaken from 1939 to 1942[4] during which several remains, particularly from the republican period, were brought to light. The first volume of the official series Scavi di Ostia appeared in 1954; it was devoted to a topography of the town by Italo Gismondi and after a hiatus the research still continues today. Though untouched areas adjacent to the original excavations were left undisturbed awaiting a more precise dating of Roman pottery types, the "Baths of the Swimmer", named for the mosaic figure in the apodyterium, were meticulously excavated, in 1966–70 and 1974–75, in part as a training ground for young archaeologists and in part to establish a laboratory of well-understood finds as a teaching aid. It has been estimated that two-thirds of the ancient town are as yet unexcavated. In 2014, a geophysical survey using magnetometry, among other techniques, revealed the existence of a boundary wall on the north side of the Tiber enclosing an unexcavated area of the city containing three massive warehouses.[23][24]
Modern day
The excavated site of Ostia Antica is open to the public as a tourist attraction. A number of finds from the excavation are housed on-site in the Museo Ostiense.[25] The site has dining, and other facilities.[26] The Theatre is also occasionally used for cultural events.[27]
Media
Ostia was featured in the novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, both written by British novelist Robert Graves. The novels include scenes set at Ostia spanning from the reign of Augustus to the reign of Claudius, including the departure of Agrippa to Syria and Claudius's reconstruction of the harbour. In the 1976 television series, Ostia was frequently mentioned but never actually seen.
Ostia features in A War Within: The Gladiator by Nathan D. Maki. After an assassination attempt on Emperor Commodus the protagonists Antonius and Theudas escape by clinging to a barge on the Tiber, reaching Ostia, and stowing away on a trireme heading north to Ravenna.
Ostia appears briefly towards the end of the Roman Empire section of the 1981 comedy film History of the World, Part I, where the main characters board a galleon (bearing the El Al logo) bound for Judaea. In the film, however, Ostia is only ever referred to as simply "the port".
Ostia's beach and port serves as the location for the 1993 music video of the song "La solitudine" by Laura Pausini.
Ostia is mentioned several times in the 2005 HBO/BBC historical drama series Rome.
Ostia is mentioned in the 2000 film Gladiator, when the protagonist, Maximus, learns that his army is camped at Ostia and awaiting orders.
One of the wonders buildable in the "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" mod for Sid Meier's Civilization III is called the "Portus Ostiae".
Ostia is the name of the Magic World's lost kingdom and the location of the gladiatorial games in the manga series Negima! Magister Negi Magi.
Ostia is the name of the most important city of the Lycian Alliance in the Fire Emblem series.
Ostia is mentioned in several novels in Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco series.
Ostia is featured in the film Rome Adventure from 1962.[28]
Ostia is a central location in the children's novel series The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence, and its television adaption.