Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08
'ROME'S OLDPORT
RISES AMID RUINS
Theirs Silt Discharge Left
Sea City High and Dry
After Its Fall. =
BY RALPH v. ID. MAGOFFIN,
Professor and Head, Department Of Classics
N. Y. u.

Dl nhLTh w. ~. hAuOF TIM
Professor and HEAD Department of Classics
Rome was the result of combina-
ton of Sabine settlers who found the
Quirinal Hill-on which the palace of
the King of Italy now iS-well suited
to their simple needs, and of garri-
son OF young Latian men sent by the
Latin League to guard a ford in the
Tiber, where an island made the cross
ing possible. 1t was long time before
the new town grew large enough to take
in other nearby hills to the final num-
Der of seven.
Trade in small way soon began to
ply up and down the Tiber. The town
of the Seven Hills should control
and tax trade that came down; 1t
could not have been long before it saw
the advantage of control of the mouth
of the Tiber in order to keep out or
take toll from trade that wanted to go
up stream. Such was undoubtedly
Mediterranean end Of the river Of q
town called Ostia.
Tiber Runs Heavy With Silt.
The Tiber runs heavy with silt from
the mountains and the plain. It seems
to have been difficult always to keep
the channel clear. That became so
true that even as early as the first
century BIC, another channel was cut
straight across the plain mile or so
above OStia to avoid the big bend in
the river which slowed the current
down. At the outlet of the new canal
the Emperor Claudius built a port for
ships Of war and merchantmen.
Trade and reputation both forsook
OStia, and the ancient seaport Of Rome
began to lose its inhabitants. The silt
from the Tiber also began to push the
coast farther and farther out from the
ancient seaport. The amount of this
wash will be realized when one knows
that ancient. ostia is now nearly three
miles from the coast, and that tower,
which Michelangelo built only few
centuries ago "on the very eyebrow of
the sea-" is at the present time more
than mile inland.
ArcheoIOgiSts Restore Ostia.
A number of excellent Psychologists
bringing OStia back to light and life.
The present head of the excavation Is
Guido Gala, who has been there now
many years. His splendid discoveries
and his experience give him authority
TO speak and write on Ostia. The
writer has had the pleasure several
times of viewing the excavated parts
Of the city and the story of how that
ancient city is being dug has always
been fascinating one.
Ostia differs, in the first place, from
Pompeii and Herculsneum. These
towns were both partly shattered and
carbonized 1t is necessary to remove
the ashes and lapilli from any object
found. going with the greatest care
from the top downward to the bottom.
At Ostia, on the contrary, one works
from the bottom to the top.
Slowly Worn Down.
The barbarians in the fourth and
fifth centuries AID. did considerable
damage to Ostia, but it was the aban-
donment of the place that brought its
fall. The buildings simply went to
pieces from the top in rain and weather,
and slowly caved or fell in, until after
1500 years the town has weathered
down to about half its original height.
Excavating Ostia therefore is a task
different from that of digging out any
ether ancient italian city. To have
begun at the present ground level, as
was done years ago, was entirely mis-
take. AS one would remove things .liey
we're entirely lost for proper recomposi-
ton or reconstruction. The present
and correct method at Ostia is to get
down to the ancient level and then
have fallen in, replacing them swhere
possible from evidences Of their Former
positions. studying measuring AID ex-
perimenting as fast as the material
from an upper level is found on lower
one.
Restoration Proceeds.
There are left in the standing walls
plenty of pieces of material, most Of
which has fallen, to prove how 1t had
been used; plenty of remains which
make 1t possible to restore correctly
stairs, pergolas, balconies, windows, ETC.,
on the two or three upper floors. Gala
has been able to draw and make restor-
ations of apartment houses. show us
how the buildings along an ancient
street looked, set up mass of fallen
columns and marble blocks, and chunks
of concrete and brick, into what an
Gent Ostia was 1900 years ago.
No visitor to Rome these days can
afford to miss making visit to Ostia.
His surprise at the scientific certitude
or restoration from what at first glance
would seem to be a hopeless conglom-
Grafton will perhaps be the greatest
of the many surprises he will get at
CALAIS exhibition of the excavation OF
Rome's ancient seaport.