The Christian Basilica in Ostia Antiqua, June 1995

The Christian Basilica was discovered and excavated in 1939, by Guido Calza. He found a late-antique structure (opus vittatum, opus latericium, rubble masonry), built in and on top of pre-existing, Trajanic structures (opus latericium and opus mixtum), from south to north:

Caseggiato III,I,5, a row of shops.
A north-west - south-east running side-street, leading to the Decumanus Maximus.
A small caseggiato with a courtyard, in front of which are two shops, facing the side-street.
The shops had been converted into a large hall in the third century.
Rooms belonging to the Baths of the Christian Basilica (III,I,3).

DESCRIPTION
From the Decumanus vestibule A is reached (w. of entrance 3.48). The vestibule leads to a central "nave" (B). To the north-east of the "nave" are rooms F, G and H. These rooms originally formed part of the baths to the north-east (they had raised floors, suspensurae). In the entrance of each room are two columns and a marble threshold. On one of the columns in room F is the inscription:

VOLVSIANI V(ir) C(larissimus)

The column comes from the marble depot in the adjacent building, the Tempio dei Fabri Navales, where the same text was found on several columns. This Volusianus lived in the fourth or early fifth century AD.

The south-west wall of the "nave" is a row of five columns. In the north-west wall are a marble threshold and step, leading to room C, that is at a lower level. In this room an apse was built. In the apse are two semicircular wall-niches for statues (starting at 1.05, average h. 2.14, d. 0.72, w. 1.35). Their position is curious. They are not positioned on the axis of the room, the "nave" and the vestibule. Instead, they are on a diagonal axis, from the south corner of the room to the point between the two niches. The floor of rooms B and C was not found by the excavators. They did find many marble fragments however. Clearly the building had been plundered.

A few steps lead from room C to a small room to the north-east, flanked by two more rooms. A door in the southern room leads to the Trajanic caseggiato with courtyard (see above), of which five rooms around courtyard M were preserved.

To the south-west of A and B is another "nave" (E), that was also reached from the Decumanus (w. of entrance 2.66). A door in the south-west wall leads to rooms of caseggiato III,I,5 (room N). To the north-west is room D, with an apsidal back wall. In the apse (w. 3.07) are three wall-niches (w. 1.35, 1.46 and 1.96, d. 0.48). The central one is rectangular, the flanking ones are semicircular. In each niche a basin and a hole for a water-pipe were found. A large basin (height c. 0.80) must have been standing in front of the niches, set against the entire apse. In the outside of the apse is a small rectangular wall-niche. In the south wall of the room is a small apse, with a basin. The apses and niches had marble revetment. Between the two apsidal rooms (D and C) are four columns and a doorway.

In the south-eastern entrance of room D are two columns, supporting an architrave with an inscription. The architrave was found near the building. It fits perfectly on its present spot. It is made of two marble blocks and has a total length of 3.85. One of the blocks had been used as a threshold. Before that it carried an inscription. Traces of a single line, containing names, have been read:

[---]S ALEXANDER [---] AMMIVS [---] IGENIVS [---] V C [---] STINIANVS

On the side facing room E is an inscription, that Calza read and understood as follows:

IN XP GEON FISON TIGRIS EVFRATA (palm branch)
{TI}CRI[ST]IANORVM SVMITE FONTES (leaf)

(so Calza suggests that the first two letters of the second line are a mistake and should be neglected).

In the building the following objects were found:

A mensa ponderaria (a slab with cavities to check compliancy to standard weights).
A marble statue of Fortuna, found in room C.


DATE OF THE BUILDING
Heres has established that the last phases of the building belong to the fifth century. Most of th