Ostia was part of the vast Roman Empire and one of the first settlements within the Empire. One of the reasons that the Empire was so massive was that they were able to do something that the Greeks could not grasp. This was roads, the Greeks only made settlements around the sea, but the Romans built roads. These roads were built so well that some are still around to this day. Ostia was built on the edge of the sea and mouth of the Tiber River around the 14th century. Ostia was one of the largest ports in the Roman Empire. The roads that the Romans built now were able to travel by sea through Ostia and now be able to transport goods and imports more inland. One of the main trades was salt that ran through but there was also spices, wheat, silk, etc. This trade route was essential in the growth of Rome because it had no particular resource. It has been said that Roman was based on military, trade and luck really.
The start of trade we can see how a settlement can urbanize into a colony almost like a domino effect. Before trade there was the production of the three simple inventions that had a huge effect, these are the wheel, steel plow, and hydroponic technologies. One example is that pottery was able to be made more efficiently and along with wheat. Pottery was now able to use in storage of goods and transportation. Now they are able to store things they needed a place to store it along with someone to protect the goods. Now we see trade come into the picture, things can now be traded for goods that are unavailable. Now because of protection against others stealing your goods, blacksmiths are needed to supply the armies with tools and weapons. To pay these people taxes have to be set in and bureaucracy comes along with taxes. Whenever the trade becomes a surplus of what is owed now currency is implemented. This now leads to the need of literacy and writing systems. This in turn is how a colony or Empire can be created.
Back in Ostia now we can see how the roads were able to assist in the trade market as well as the sophistication of the layouts of the city. They made up the grid system, where the streets ran parallel to one another and perpendicular, sectioned off in a organized manner. The main part of the town was on “Main Street” or Cardo Maximus that ran north/south and Decumanus Maximus that ran east/west. Along these streets there would be the main baths, marketplace, churches, the bureaucracy building, and shops. . There is a amphitheater as well that is usually around this section of town. Here there are plays and it gives a place where the whole town can meet. These are still around to this day. Also in Ostia the architecture follows the credo of what Roman Architecture stood for “order, structure, and power.” The surplus of people in Rome there was a need to build upwards in the city so buildings at this point in time could only go up to three stories. It was not until the invention of the arch and concrete could building become taller. All these aspects of this early city we still see in our society today. Vetruveus was the man that brought this into account and still to this day, although lost for sometime, we still use. The downtown are still has all the important places of the city and where most people meet to get things done. There is usually entertainment of theater, shops, and whatever else now in the “downtown.” It is really amazing still how some parts of this ancient city is still in tact and that a system as old as this on how to plan out our cities is still in use to this day.
Uncharted 