The beauty of Ostia Antica lies entirely in its thousand-year-old past and in the archaeological sights that make it the very symbol of ancient Roman history. Visiting the sacred places of Ostia Antica is therefore a journey into the past, discovering ancient cults and beautifully preserved temples.
History has shown that Ostia Antica was home to many religions: from the gods of the Roman Pantheon to Egyptian deities (Isis), Persian ones (Mithras) and the Jewish faith.
Excavations have brought to light the sacred places of Ostia where the rites for each of them were celebrated.
The Eastern cults: Cybele, Isis and Mithras.
Cybele, the Magna Mater.
The Great Mother of men and gods, the never-born, the Eternal. This is how the virgin Cybele was described; her cult reached Ostia in the age of Emperor Hadrian. The sanctuary consists of a triangular field, with the temple of Attis at the far end. Statues and other evidence of the ceremonies held in honour of the goddess were found here.
The Egyptian goddess Isis.
Protector of the pharaohs, the cult of the goddess Isis was linked to the ceremonies that opened the sailing season: the navigium Isidis. The presence of her followers is attested by the discovery of a small sanctuary dedicated to her in the centre of the city.
The cult of the Persian god Mithras.
The Persian god Mithras was especially worshipped in Ostia, above all among soldiers and merchants from the East. The origins of this cult are still not entirely clear, and scholars are divided between many hypotheses. Ostia has 18 mithraea and meeting places of the followers of Mithraism. More than 75 statues and over 100 Mithraic inscriptions have been found in the Roman area.
The Synagogue of Ostia Antica.
Among all the sacred places of Ostia uncovered, the Synagogue, the oldest in the Mediterranean, deserves a special mention. Evidence of the ancient Jewish community of Ostia, it dates back to the mid-1st century AD, when the Jewish population of Ostia grew thanks to the port built by Emperor Claudius. According to scholars, this splendid archaeological testimony of the Jewish diaspora predates the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Synagogue includes a hall for reading the Law, the Torah shrine, columns with a depiction of the Menorah, a room with an oven for baking unleavened bread, a prayer hall, a basin for ritual bathing, a washing place for burial preparations and a well.
The cult of Hercules.
In ancient Ostia, the military commanders of the fleets held Hercules in particular veneration. His temple, built between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, dominates the area of the Republican temples. The cult of Hercules is confirmed by a relief in the temple showing three scenes in sequence: fishermen hauling in their nets, fishing out a statue of the god and receiving from it, folded in a container, the answer of an oracle. At the centre of the pronaos there was also a marble altar dedicated to “deo invicto Herculi”.
If you are about to travel to Rome, don’t miss the chance to visit the sacred places of the ancient city of Ostia as well. And Romeforguest offers you many options for a stay where you will be welcomed in the best possible way.