Images in this gallery highlight Ostia Antica, the best-preserved Roman town in Italy after Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's well preserved ruins provide a fascinating lesson on everyday life in ancient Rome and endure in a beautiful serene park of Umbrella pines and cypresses.
Founded in the 4th century BC at the mouth of the Tiber 30 kilometres to the west of Rome, Ostia was at first a simple port, but as Rome grew, the town became the sea gateway and chief port of ancient Rome...
more »Images in this gallery highlight Ostia Antica, the best-preserved Roman town in Italy after Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's well preserved ruins provide a fascinating lesson on everyday life in ancient Rome and endure in a beautiful serene park of Umbrella pines and cypresses.
Founded in the 4th century BC at the mouth of the Tiber 30 kilometres to the west of Rome, Ostia was at first a simple port, but as Rome grew, the town became the sea gateway and chief port of ancient Rome and its main function was the distribution point and organisation of the supply of imports and produce to Rome from around the Mediterranean. At its height of its prosperity the city had population of 80,000.
The decline of the town began in the time of Emperor Constantine. By the time of the 4th century AD Ostia had become more of a residential town instead of commercial...its decline was accelerated by the loss of trade due to the river silting moving the shoreline further away and malaria.
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