Houses in Ostia

An earlier, traditional atrium house may have stood on the site (built in c. 1st century BC), some opus reticulatum survive. The new house is L-shaped, built on land behind four temples.

Entrance was from the fauces (16). The house was original set out to look like an atrium house, but the impluvium in the atrium (21) is huge and looks more like a small peristyle, surrounded by eight columns. A small tank in the middle channeled rainwater into the sewage system. Black and white mosaics cover the east floor, and divisions in them suggest several rooms were once there. One of the mosaics (now lost) depicted a victorious charioteer with an inscription.

Beyond the atrium is the tablinum (23), where a mosaic with the head of Medusa was found, and also a mosaic of Mars and Rea Silvia. This room also has two more mosaics ~ one white, and one geometric. The kitchen is room 30. Room 25 is a latrine.

Two large rooms to the west of the atrium were decorated with geometric black and white mosaics, and no wall paintings survive. Ancillary rooms (26) lead off from the main rooms (27 and 28), in what may once have been one long corridor.

In one of these ancillary rooms, a satyr and maenad are depicted, together with dolphins, birds, masks, and acanthus leaves. Room 28 has a mosaic of two nereids riding sea monsters, and also of two men, possibly wrestlers. 29 is a fountain, on either side of which were columns.

Originally built in the early 2nd century AD, it went through a number of building periods. It was rebuilt in the Antonine period after 148 AD, as dated brickstamps have been found. Stamps on the lead water pipes indicate the owner of the house in the mid 2nd century AD was L. Apuleius Marcellus.

According to archaeologist Coarelli, the owner was Apuleius of Madauros, the author of 'The Golden ***', who would then have lived in Ostia in 150 AD.

The house seems to have been intimately related to the Four Small Temples, next to which it is built. So the original house may have been owned by P. Lucius Gamala, who had those temples built. These temples were dedicated to Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, and Spes.

The visible mosaics were laid over earlier ones, with marble mosaics added in the 4th century.

In the westernmost part of the house there is a Mithraeum, which has its own external entrance, as well as access to the rest of the house, so there is no knowing whether this was afffiliated with the owner or not.

Brick stamps date these apartment blocks to 123-125 AD. The earliest wall paintings and geometric black and white mosaics are from 130-140 AD. The Garden Houses are built away from the busy commercial centre and are fairly private.

Buildings 25 and 26 were built during the reign of Trajan (98 - 117 AD). Limescale in channels up the walls shows that the upper floors of the central buildings had pressurised water supplies. The others did not and would have gotten their water from the six basins in the open court. 

Like Julia Felix at Pompeii, these flats will have been marketed at people of a certain wealth and social standing. The flats were cleverly blocked off by a wall of shops so it was more quiet. One archaeologist (Stevens) suggests that there were toilets on the third floor, and that buildings 17-20 may have had fountains on the upper floors. 

The central flats have a ground floor area of c. 220 square metres, and the use of two flats per family was originally planned as there are doors connecting the flats. The flats were surrounded by an unpaved court, presumably a garden.

On all four sides of the garden are further flats, including the House of the Dioscures and the House of the Muses. There was a main, ornamental entrance (vestibule) in the south east.

The wall thickness is 60cm, which suggests four storeys and perhaps 1200 inhabitants. The outer flats perhaps had two storeys and the central flats four. The quality of the floors varied.

The first set of changes saw doors between the central apartments become blocked to make smaller apartments. Shops also became part of houses, such as the House of the Muses (buildings III and IV, which combined with V).

The second set saw many doors added in the apartments, creating a series of annexes. Also added were reinforcements such as supporting piers, and the blocking of doors and windows, rendered necessary by problems with the foundations, an earthquake, or a fire. The new masonry is covered with new paintings dating to the late 2nd century.

The third set saw shops connected with each other in several units, and access to the living quarters of the shop owners from the shops may have been removed, possibly because of increased wealth.

The fourth set saw new paintings added to the House of the Muses, and a fountain niche added to one house, along with marble decoration. A free standing structure (possibly a basin with fountain niches) was added to the garden in the south, with a central black and white mosaic panel surrounded by polychrome. A sculpture of a naked fisherman and fish in the sea found nearby may belong to it, as the sculpture has holes, presumably for water to pass through.

The fifth set saw doors added to the central flats, suggesting shops and workshops in there. Wooden shelves were installed, as attested by L-shaped grooves in the walls of central flat 17.

A basin in building 4 suggests commercial usage, and this may explain why graffiti of numbers and drawings have been found. The House of the Muses and the House of the Yellow Walls remained luxurious, as mosaics were still repaired in polychrome and paintings imitating marble were made.

A late 3rd century earthquake largely destroyed the Garden Houses, and triggered a fire, as traces of fire were found in the destruction layer and can be seen in re-used fragments of upper floors. Torsion cracks show there was an earthquake.

The latest coins found in the destruction layer belong to the reign of Aurelian (270-275 AD). The find of statuettes and pottery proves the buildings were still in use when the earthquake happened. 

Upper floors that had fallen were not replaced, or were replaced with thin walls. The rubble was used to make a new ground level and most buildings seemed to be left with only two floors. Doors and windows were blocked in to strengthen the foundations.

Room A is the main entrance. Room C has two rectangular and one semicircular niches, directly opposite the main entrance, which contained statues. Room D may have been a shop, and was connected to the house through room E. 

U is a service corridor. Rooms T and S, next to a staircase, may have been used for storage.

Corridor F and room G received light from the courtyard of the Garden Houses, but three windows in room G were blocked. In hall H there is an alcove, on the floor of which is a black and white mosaic with maeanders. In front of that is a polychrome mosaic with Castor and Pollux in the centre, from which the house takes its name. They are surrounded by octagons with a beaker, fruit, kantharoi, vases, and baskets.

Room I was the main hall, also with a polychrome mosaic. It depicts Venus Anadiomene in a shell supported by two tritons, surrounded by nereids on sea monsters. It has the inscription "plvra faciatis meliora dedicetis", for which parallels have been found in North Africa. 

The smaller rooms M and L both have alcoves, and in the walls of M's alcove are terracotta pipes for heating the room. The hot air came from the bath. M has a polychrome mosaic and L a black and white geometric mosaic. 

Bathing rooms are in the west side. O is a frigidarium and had two apsidal basins. Next to O is a small room with two windows. P was a caldarium, evidenced by the raised floor and pipes in the wall. Q is a second caldarium, with a rectangular and an apsidal basin. These rooms were all decorated with marble. 

Small corridor R has a hacked out niche in the back wall, and to the north west of the bathing rooms is a cistern.

Originally built in the 2nd century AD in the south east corner of the Garden Houses, it is located in Region III, Insula IX. Additions and alterations in the 4th century AD following the 3rd century earthquake saw the house transformed into one of the most impressive in Ostia, and made it the only house in Ostia to have its own baths.

In the 4th century AD, external windows overlooking the Garden Houses and central court in room G were blocked up to create a sense of privacy. An external wall was also built to enclose the house round the east and south side. A number of internal walls were demolished to create larger rooms, and the bath suite. 

The house is not concerned with the traditional, symmetrical layout of Roman houses at all and is unique in its design. It is more concerned about privacy than public, visual aesthetics.

It is extremely well-preserved, surviving to the first floor. The height is unknown but buildings were limited by Roman law to a height of 60 Roman feet, which is enough for four floors, maybe with a smaller fifth floor. The upper floors were in the original design, not afterthoughts like other houses.

There is no decoration to hide the brickwork, and the flats are small and cramped. They are also dark because of the small windows. There was no water system to the upper floors so residents had to use street fountains, and the House of Diana had its own in the courtyard.

A staircase (1) gave access from the street. 3 is the main entrance corridor and 2 may have been a porter's room. 4 and 6 were shops, and 5 and 7 were backrooms. There were mezzanine windows above the entrances to the shops, and in room 6 part of the ladder giving access to the windows has been preserved. Wall paintings in shop 4 are white panels with coloured borders frame female figures, one of whom may be Fortuna. Another border frames a large hanging bird, and these may date to the period of Marcus Aurelius (161 - 180 AD). 

Backroom 7 has remains of a coarse, white floor mosaic, as well as wall paintings containing birds, fish, and architectural motifs. The paintings are dated to 250-275 AD by archaeologist Van Essen.

8, 9, 10, 11, 15, and 16 are shops, also with mezzanine windows preserved above the doors. A door connects shops 8 and 9. Room 13 contains a travertine staircase, with several flights well preserved. Shop 16 has remains of a floor of bipedales.

17 is a large latrine. The seats have not been preserved. 19 once contained a wooden staircase, for which evidence can be seen in the wall plaster. The remains of coloured wall paintings can be seen in room 20. 28 is the courtyard, which has the terracotta relief of Diana. She is holding a bow and arrow and is accompannied by a dog and deer. There is also a basin made of rubble. 

22 is a passage in which an older, possibly Hadrianic (117-138 AD) mosaic was found, 50 centimetres deeper than the other floor. Room 25 may originally have been two floors high as there is no trace of a ceiling. On the floor are remains of a geometric black and white mosaic. 

Room 30 has colourful, geometric paintings on the walls, as well as paintings of heads of Medusa, dolphins, and winged animals, accompanied by red festoons and leaves. 

Upstairs, room 14 is above the latrine (17), and the remains of drains and brick supports suggest it may have been another latrine or a kitchen. Remains of paintings and mosaics were found in rooms 16-17. The walls dividing these rooms were only thin.

Room 19 had three niches, one semicircular and the others rectangular. Statues, approximately 1 metre high would have stood here.

Room 8 is a shop, with colourful paintings of rectangles on one side, as well as a dancing female figure, an unidentified animal, a female figure holding grain ears over what might be a pig, and a winged animal. The woman with the pig may be Ceres and the porca praecidanea. This was an important sacrifice of a pig to Ceres before the harvest.

Two groups of coins were found on the ground floor, in room 25, of which the latest belong to the reign of Probus (276-282 AD). On the first floor, in room 16, 312 coins were found, with the lastest belonging to the reign of Gallienus (254-268 AD). 

Fragments of inscriptions including a funerary inscription have also been found. A small head of Jupiter or Dis has been found, and also the small, lead frame of a mirror, which has four heads in the corners, including those of Pan and Dionysus. An alabaster pedestal to support a table, decorated with the head of a lion, was also found. 

Built in the mid 2nd century AD and may have replaced an earlier Hadrianic version (117 - 138 AD). C. 225-250 AD the floors were raised by 60cm, reinforcing masonry was added, and new mosaics were laid in the house, so it may have suffered a partial collapse, perhaps from fire.

Surprisingly few bricks from the upper stories were found, so the archaeologist Calza suggested that the house was not destroyed by an earthquake or fire, but that the after the building was abandoned, the street was raised by one metre (presumably as a defence against Tiber flooding), and the upper floors carefully demolished, with the rubble being used elsewhere.

The ground floor may have been used as a cult headquarters for a crossroads shrine immediately across the road, due to finds of inscriptions mentioning a guild, but this is unproven. 

Many windows and doors were blocked up over time, such as the entrance in the west wall of shop 8 which was blocked with bricks. Brick supporting piers were added in shops 9, 10, and 11. Some rooms such as room 20 had the floor covered with basalt blocks at a later date. 

Room 24 became a Mithraeum after 250 AD, and the floor had a geometric black and white mosaic. Room 23 as it is now seen is of later date, having been turned into an antechamber of the Mithraeum. At some point room 30's floor was covered with basalt blocks and a masonry trough was set against the wall, because the room had become a stable.