(Rome, Italy)
Today we stepped back in time approximately 2000 years.
Like Pompeii, nobody has lived in Ostia Antica for many, many centuries. But Ostia Antica was not destroyed by a volcano. Instead, after being lived in for hundreds of years, Ostia Antica was simply abandoned somewhere around the 6th century. The Tiber River changed course over time and this contributed to the relocation of Ostia Antica’s population.
Ostia Antica was huge – it used to be home to 60,000 people. You can still explore almost the entire ruined city, although it gets a little creepy at times. Sometimes it just felt like we were trespassing on other people’s property. At other times, you wondered if you had wandered into some kind of post-apocalyptic nuclear nightmare.
Many of the ruins were several stories high. Some buildings still had floors of mosaic tiles, while some walls still had signs or drawings on them. What I found interesting was the extensive use of bricks, which I hadn’t previously associated with the Romans.
Whenever I explore a Roman site, the same song inevitably runs through my head: Sting’s “All This Time”. It was released in 1991, the same year that I did the stereotypical post-university backpacking adventure through Europe. One of my first stops was at the Roman Amphitheatre in Trier, Germany…and the song has had a Roman association for me ever since. While hit lyrics often look horrendous when written out, these aren’t too bad:
Teachers told us
The Romans built this place
They built a wall and a temple on the edge of the
Empire garrison town
They lived and they died
They prayed to their gods
But the stone gods did not make a sound
And their empire crumbled
Till all that was left
Were the stones the workmen found
Highlighting the inevitable passage of time and the inevitable decline of great empires, it was an appropriate soundtrack for wandering in the archaeological ruins.
We were at Ostia Antica for more than 4 hours and, notwithstanding the occasional creepy feeling, it was a peaceful way to spend the afternoon.