Ostia, le anfore e i commerci mediterranei. Un bilancio preliminare

This study brings together the documentation on the amphorae found during the excavations at the Terme del Nuotatore di Ostia and in other sites of the ancient city in order to draw up an overall balance of the trade in food transported in amphorae between the late Republican Age and the 5th century AD. Communications between Ostia, Portus and Rome are also examined: the capital of the empire was the arrival point of an incredible quantity of goods that went through its ports bound for Rome, and the study analyzes the documentation on the amphorae found in Ostia also in relation to the data currently available for Portus and Rome. The lack of documentation available for the late Republican and Augustan period and the 5th century AD is pointed out, followed by illustration of the diachronic development of the trade mainly in wine, oil, salsamenta and fish sauces consumed by the inhabitants of Ostia. Here the evidence lies in the amphorae found in several contexts from Terme del Nuotatore, the House of the Porch, La Longarina 1 and 2, Binario Morto, the Insula of the Ierodule and from the excavations by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut and the American Academy in Rome in various areas of the ancient city of Ostia. At the end of the analysis indication is provided of possible additions to and development of researches on the trade with Ostia in the period examined on the basis of some case studies drawn from other categories of the instrumentum domesticum.