Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

Building [B21]: The House of Themistocles (ca. 194 CE) Ostia - Latium


Ostia (Latium, Italy — Pleiades map), ca. 194 CE
Meiggs 1973, 329 = Hermansen 1981, 64, 96-111 (figs. 33, 40, 41; photos 34-39, 42) = Bollmann 1998, 340-345 (A45; figs. 20, 94; reconstruction 6,1) = AGRW ID# 24166


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Description: This is a large complex of buildings in region V xi 1-3 that includes an apartment block (insula) and a house (originally owned by a single person). The complex underwent numerous changes, including the addition of a temple in the west wing around 194 CE. An entrance off the main street (the Decumanus) leads into the temple courtyard with a portico and a centrally placed altar. An association likely used the entire complex, not just the temple. The stores (tabernae) along the main street may have been used by individual guild members (who tended to cluster by occupation in various cities).  The stores were all interconnected, suggesting cooperation among different merchants or workers. The apartment rooms likely housed the workers and their families, while other rooms were used for storage. Overall, the complex is not luxurious and suggests persons of humble status. Hermansen suggests that the carpenters (fabri tignuari), who clearly used a building across the street (B14), may have also used this complex.

Translation by: Ascough



Item added: March 16, 2020
Item modified: March 16, 2020
ID number: 24166
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=24166

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