MEDITERRANEO ANTICO ECONOMIE SOCIETÀ CULTURE  Comitato editoriale G. Cerri (Roma) · L. De Salvo (Messina) · G. De Sensi Sestito (Cosenza) A. Giardina (Pisa) · G.L. Gregori (Roma) · B. Luiselli (Roma) M. Mazza (Roma) · C. Molè Ventura (Catania) · A. Pinzone (Messina) P. Sommella (Roma) · J. Thornton (Roma) con la collaborazione scientifica di K. Buraselis (Athinai) · S. Cosentino (Bologna) · P. Delogu (Roma) P. Desideri (Firenze) · W. Eck (Köln) · M. Fantar (Tunis) J.-L. Ferrary (Paris) · G. Galasso (Napoli) · H. Galsterer (Bonn) L. Gamberale (Roma) · K. Geus (Berlin) Ph. Gignoux (Paris) · J. Haldon (Princeton) · A. Lewin (Potenza) · E. Lipin;ski (Leuven) E. Lippolis (Roma) · I. Malkin (Tel Aviv) · J. Mangas (Madrid) · M. Mari (Cassino) A. Mehl (Halle) · F. Millar (Oxford) · E. Olshausen (Stuttgart) D. Plácido (Madrid) · U. Roberto (Roma) · G.McL. Rogers (Wellesley, Mass.) W. Schuller (Konstanz) · M. Wörrle (München) Presidente del Comitato editoriale e Direttore responsabile M. Mazza (Roma) Redazione S. Ferrucci · D. Motta · P. Pellegrini Segreteria di Redazione A. Filippini · M. Ghilardi · E. Incelli · L. Mastrobattista · L. Mecella (responsabile) D. Morelli · R. Sassu Sede della Redazione Presso i Proff. Mario Mazza e John Thornton, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia - ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma redazione@mediterraneoantico.eu Articoli, recensioni ed ogni altro lavoro da pubblicare devono essere inviati alla Redazione nella forma definitiva via email (allegando il testo nei formati doc e pdf ). L’autore riceverà una bozza di stampa per le correzioni. Ciascun contributo ricevuto dalla rivista per la pubblicazione sarà preventivamente sottoposto a una doppia procedura di “blind peer review”. I libri per recensione e segnalazione dovranno essere inviati al seguente indirizzo: Prof. Mario Mazza, Via della Cava Aurelia 145, 1 00165 Roma. * Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Pisa n. 10 del 10.5.1998 Direttore responsabile: Mario Mazza «Mediterraneo antico. Economie società culture» is an International Blind Peer-Reviewed journal. The journal is Indexed in Scopus (Elsevier). The eContent is Archived with Cloccks and Portico. Classificazione ANVUR: A MEDITERRANEO ANTICO ECONOMIE SOCIETÀ CULTURE ANNO XX · FASCICOLO 1-2 · 2017  SOMMARIO interventi John Thornton, Roma e il mondo greco: un dialogo complesso 11 politica e filosofia nel mondo antico Stefano Ferrucci, La ariste politeia di Ippodamo di Mileto 31 Gianfranco Mosconi, Damone consigliere segreto di Pericle: giochi propagandi- stici nell’Atene di V sec. a.C. (su Plut. Per. 4, 2-3) 59 Amedeo Visconti, Gli svaghi di Archita. Nota ad Archyt. A8 Huffman 91 Stefania De Vido, Dione di Siracusa, un cattivo allievo 103 Pietrina Pellegrini, Filosofia, diritto e politica in Giustiniano. A proposito di Io. Malal. XVIII 47 (Thurn) 123 Omar Brino, «Il male che il pensare porta con sé […] può e deve guarirsi da sé». Filosofia e crisi politica nell’interpretazione hegeliana della Grecia e di Roma 137 mithraism and roman society Attilio Mastrocinque, Eros in the Mysteries of Mithras and in Graeco-Roman Paganism 157 Massimiliano David, First remarks about the newly discovered mithraeum of coloured marbles at ancient Ostia 171 Valentina Ramanzini, Animal Bones from Mithraea 183 Giovanna Bastianelli, The last cultores Mithrae of late antique Rome and the mithraea of the Olympii 201 gli storici, la storia Mario Mazza, Ermeneutica vs. storicismo. Johann Jakob Bachofen tra diritto ed et- nologia comparata 227 saggi e studi Domingo Plácido Suárez, El occidente mediterráneo en el contexto de la obra de Timeo 267 Edoardo Bianchi, Siracusa e gli Etruschi tra Timoleonte e Agatocle 307 Francesca Rocca, La manomissione di un giudeo a Oropos (I.Oropos 329) 321 Milena Raimondi, Tra Spagna e Africa: Scipione Emiliano nel 151/150 a.C. 341 Guido Migliorati, Economia e società padane tra Polibio e Strabone 375 8 SOMMARIO Attilio Mastrocinque, Augusto e il corvo. Uno studio sugli aneddoti macrobiani su Augusto 387 Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky, Tiberius and the Asklepieion at Lissos (Crete): Petition and Response, Image and Power 395 Lavinia Del Basso, Tre dediche ad Antonino Pio restitutor Italiae: alimenta nella Cisalpina? 445 Martijn Icks, Of lizards and peacocks. Criticism of the princeps clausus in fourth- and fifth-century sources 457 Alessandro Luciano, Scali portuali e approdi fluviali nell’Italia altomedievale 485 note critiche Alister Filippini, La chora e i notabili di Iasos in epoca ellenistico-romana. A proposito di un libro (e di uno studio) recente su Chalketor e Iasos 521 recensioni Maurizio Del Freo, Massimo Perna (a cura di), Manuale di epigrafia micenea. Introduzione allo studio dei testi in lineare B (Mario Iodice) 547 Diana Guarisco, Santuari “gemelli” di una divinità. Artemide in Attica (Annalisa Lo Monaco) 552 Nathan Badoud, Les temps des Rhodes. Une chronologie des inscriptions de la cité fondée sur l’étude de ses institutions (Francesco Camia, Enzo Lippolis) 555 Santiago Montero Herrero, La escoba y el barrido ritual en la religión romana (Rosalia Marino) 564 Attilio Mastrocinque, Bona Dea and the Cults of Roman Women (Rosa Lorito) 569 Tim Wittenberg, Kult bei der Arena. Nemesis-Heiligtümer im Kontext römischer Amphitheater (Silvia Bettinelli) 572 Takashi Fujii, Imperial Cult and Imperial Representation in Roman Cyprus (Veronica Porzi, Rita Sassu) 576 Babett Edelmann-Singer, Koina und Concilia: Genese, Organisation und Sozioökonomische Funktion der Provinziallandtage im Römischen Reich (Giorgos Mitropoulos) 580 Toni Glas, Valerian. Kaisertum und Reformsätze in der Krisenphase des Römischen Reiches (Laura Mecella) 582  FIRST REMARKS ABOUT THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES AT ANCIENT OSTIA* Massimiliano David he «Ostia Marina Project» has been undertaken since 2007 by the Univer- T sity of Bologna1 and is aimed at investigating the suburban neighborhood lo- cated between the sea and the late-republican walls of ancient Ostia2. In this area, we focused especially on insula IV, ix, which is delimited by the famous Edificio con opus sectile (explored by Giovanni Becatti)3, the via della Marciana, the via di Cartilio Poplicola and by the fence of the archaeological park. The site is still hill-shaped and has been conventionally divided into two sectors (the Western one, called A, and the Eastern, called B). It resulted as an useful observation point for the knowledge of the stratigraphic sequence of the ancient city. This area was already partially ex- cavated in the Nineteen Forties and again in the Seventies, but fortunately it almost completely escaped the wide excavations of E42, the Universal Exhibition of Rome interrupted by of the outbreak of World War II (Fig. 1)4. Since the discovery of a public building, the Silenus Baths (IV, ix, 7),5 in Sector A and the identification of the so-called Caseggiato ‘delle due scale’ (Two-staircases * This paper has been presented to the «XXI IAHR World Congress», held in Erfurt (Germany) on August 23-29, 2015. I’m very grateful to Attilio Mastrocinque and Robert Grady Harp, who has read and corrected this text. 1 M. David - A. Pellegrino - G. Orofino - M. Turci, Ostia (Roma), «Ocnus» 17, 2009, 198-202. 2 G. Orofino - M. Turci, Analytical investigations in Ostia: Porta Marina (Rome), in A. Macchia - E. Greco - B.A. Chiarandà - N. Barbabietola (Eds.), Yococu. Contribute and role of youth in conservation of cultural heritage, Roma 2011, 393-402. 3 G. Becatti, Edificio con opus sectile fuori Porta Marina (Scavi di Ostia 6), Roma 1969. 4 V. Scrinari, Gli scavi di Ostia e l’E42, in M. Calvesi - E. Guidoni - S. Lux (a cura di), L’E42. Utopia e scenario del regime. Catalogo della mostra, Roma 1987, Venezia 1987, II, 179-188. 5 M. David, Un nuovo complesso edilizio pubblico a Ostia antica. Prime annotazioni sulle Terme del Sileno, «Ocnus» 21, 2013, 229-236; M. David - A. Pellegrino - S. De Togni - M. Turci, Un nuovo sectile policromo dalle terme del Sileno nel quartiere fuori porta Marina a Ostia, in C. Angelelli (a cura di), Atti del XVIII Col- loquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico (AISCM), Cremona 14-17 marzo 2012, Tivoli 2013, 705-716; M. David - A. Pellegrino - S. De Togni - J. Ferrandis Montesinos - M. Turci, Un nuovo mosaico pavimentale adrianeo dalle Terme del Sileno di Ostia. Anticipazioni in corso di scavo, in C. Angelelli (a cura di), Atti del XIX Colloquio dell’AISCM, Isernia 13-16 marzo 2013, Tivoli 2014, 337-343; M. David - M. Turci - A. Melega - J. Ferrandis Montesinos - G. Bianchini, Nuovi pavimenti musivi (assenti e presenti) dalle Terme del Sileno di Ostia, in C. Angelelli - A. Paribeni (a cura di), Atti del XX colloquio del- l’AISCM, Roma 19-22 marzo 2014, Tivoli 2015, 197-204. «mediterraneo antico», xx, 1-2, 2017, 171-182 172 MASSIMILIANO DAVID Fig. 1. General plan of ancient Ostia and plan of insula IV,ix. Buildings IV,ix, 7 (Silenus Baths), IV, ix, 6 (‘Two-Staircases Building’) and IV, ix, 5 are marked.000  THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES 173 Fig. 2. View of Buildings IV, ix, and IV, ix, 6 (Photograph by S. De Togni). Building) in Sector B (both buildings were built in the late Hadrianic age, probably in the Thirties of the second century A.D.), the research carried out in 2014 revealed much about Ostia in Late Antiquity6. In fact, a new building unit emerged, which is still under excavation and study (Fig. 2). During the Hadrianic period, which was characterized by an extensive plan of new constructions, when the ‘Two-staircases Building’ (IV, ix, 6) was built along the via della Marciana, its courtyard was still occupied by structures of the previous cen- tury in opus reticulatum. Major renovations affected the building from the Severan 6 Among the most recent studies on Ostia in Late Antiquity particulary useful are the following: A. Gering, Das Stadtzentrum von Ostia in der Spätantike. Vorbericht zu den Ausgrabungen 2008-2011, MDAI(R) 117, 2011, 409-509; L. Lavan, Public Space in Late Antique Ostia: Excavation and Survey in 2008–2011, AJA 116/4, 2012, 649-691; D. Boin, Ostia in Late Antiquity, Cambridge 2013. See also M. David - M. Carinci - M.S. Graziano - S. De Togni - A. Pellegrino - M. Turci, Nuovi dati e argomenti per Ostia tardoantica dal Progetto Ostia Marina, MEFRA 126/1, 2014 (http://mefra.revues.org/2198); David - Carinci - De Togni - Graziano - Lombardo - Milani, Pavimenti tra Adriano e Teodosio a Ostia antica, cit., 603-612. 174 MASSIMILIANO DAVID age: in the ground floor commercial shops took the place of a meeting space, prob- ably a thermopolium. Perhaps as a direct result of these works, in the open space of the courtyard in the mid-third century was created a rectangular, or more precisely a trapezoidal-shaped, building in opus listatum mixtum, which in part exploited some of the existing buildings7. At that time was constructed also the building identified in 2013 and called Caupona del dio Pan (IV, ix, 5). The Caupona8 was organized around a wide rectangular hall (room no. 3), flanked to the West, South and East side from secondary, variously divided rooms. On the North side, in room no. 3, existing structures were adapted for the purpose. Access by road was allowed by a vestibule (room no. 2) and by a large passage leading in room no. 5. There was also the opportunity to enter the building from the South, by a sort of narrow alley (no. 9), through a travertine threshold. The floor was entirely covered by a monochrome mosaic, originally extending over the entire surface of the hall: the monochrome drafting of the pavement, framed by wide black bands and designed in relation to furniture, closely followed the perimeter of the walls. In the South-East corner, the frame in black tesserae bordered an articulated U-shaped bar counter for food preparation and beverage service that looked out partly on the street. The position of the bar counter is vis- ible now only by the groove in the pavement. The many old restorations testify the long life of the floor. Through a wide opening, those who walked via della Marciana could enter from room no. 5 and through the main hall, room no. 3. The pavement is preserved for about half of the original extension and consists of a black-and-white mosaic, ar- ticulated in a large rectangular field (with a figured central square) flanked by a rec- tangular panel, of which only a very small fragment remains (Fig. 3). The rectan- gular field – preserved for about half of the original surface – has a decoration con- sisting of a series of kantharoi arranged at the corners within almond-shaped frames, and a complex weaving of vines with grapes (in reticular structure), vine leaves and tendrils. The kantharoi are preserved in full only on the South side; the base of the third kantharos is preserved on the opposite side. Above these are birds with flowers and plants symbolizing the seasons (a duck for the winter and a little parrot for the spring). Inside the half-preserved central field stands the God Pan in a particular – though controversial – pose with the arms tied behind his back. The God, horned and hairy with a small swaying tail and goat legs, seems to be taking the first steps of a dance as a modern Japanese sumo wrestler. On the right are preserved the hand, the arm (almost entirely lost) and a wing of Eros, extending to Pan the palm of victory. The scene setting is markedly Dionysiac. When expressed in extended form, the fight 7 M. David, Una caupona tardoantica e un nuovo mitreo nel suburbio di porta Marina ad Ostia antica, «Temporis signa» 9, 2014, 31-44. 8 About ancient taverns see G. Hermansen, Ostia. Aspects of Roman city life, Alberta 1982, 125-205; F. Grossi, Bar, fast food e tavole calde, «Lanx» 9, 2011, 1-46.  THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES 175 Fig. 3. Building IV, ix,5, room no. 3, zenital view of the mosaic pavement (Photograph by S. De Togni). usually takes place under the eyes of Bacchus and Ariadne and of a Silenus acting as a judge-referee (agonothetes). A basin with fountain served by a fistula was placed in the Southern part of the great hall. The fistula was carefully bounded by the mo- saic tesserae. In the main room a small bronze of Venus (II-III century A.D.) was found, of the type called ‘Venus with the apple’, quite common in small Roman sculpture. An- other object that can be related to the activities held in on this site is a bone han- dle, probably of a small knife, decorated with a dog about to jump. Another knife handle has been discovered, but without any particular decoration. During the second half of the fourth century A.D., the district became one of those sordid places (sordentes loci recorded by an interesting inscription)9 where prestigious buildings – such as the Terme della Marciana or the Edificio con opus sec- tile – stood side by side with obscure workshops and remote meeting places. Later, radical alterations clearly testify to a change of use of the entire building occupied by the caupona. At that time Ostia began a slow and inexorable process of decline and, within about two centuries, it became a ghost town. 9 CIL XIV, 4721 = AE 1914, 159. Cf. B. van der Meer, Ostia speaks. Inscriptions, buildings and spaces in Rome’s main port, Leuven 2012, 53-54. 176 MASSIMILIANO DAVID As is well known, ancient Ostia is perhaps the city that best represents the wide- spread presence of Mithraism in Roman Empire society. So far, some fifteen Mithraic cult places have been discovered10, dating between the second and the third centuries A.D.; a long period leading up to the sometime violent rise of Chris- tianity11. In the second half of the fourth century the caupona of the God Pan be- came available to a Mithraic community (Fig. 4) which restructured it, kept the mo- saic pavement of the third century, but also remade the wall coverings with wain- scoting and paneling, in imitation of a marble surface (Fig. 5). The main hall of the caupona probably became the initiatory room: here the Fig. 4. Plans of the Caupona of the God Pan and of the Mithraeum of coloured marbles. 10 On Mithraism at Ostia see G. Becatti, I mitrei (Scavi di Ostia 2), Roma 1954; S. Laeuchli (Ed.), Mithraism in Ostia. Mystery religion and Christianity in the ancient port of Rome, Evanston 1967; L.M. White, The changing face of Mithraism at Ostia. Archaeology, art, and urban landscape, in D. L. Balch - A. Weissenrieder (Eds.), Contested spaces. Houses and temples in Roman antiquity and the New Testament, Tubingen 2012, 435-492.  THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES 177 Fig. 5. Mithraeum of coloured marbles, room no. 3, East wall. marbling of the wainscoting appears as a late evolution of some elaborate changes observable in Rome, such as those Roman Houses under the Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Celian hill12. On a wall was carved an interesting Mithraic graffito with an invocation to the god Mithras and the god Kronos by a certain Concordius (Fig. 6): Inv(icto) D(eo) (arrow) M(ithrae) (bow with arrow) D(eo) M(agno) Krono13. On the South wall of the same room other Mithraic monograms are preserved. 11 M. David, La fine dei mitrei ostiensi. Indizi ed evidenze, in A. Panaino - A. Piras (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea, I. Ancient and middle Iranian studies, Ravenna oc- tober 6th-11st 2003, Milano 2006, 395-397; M. David, Le vie della Cristianizzazione nella città di Ostia, «Hor- tus artium medievalium» 20/1, 2014, 145-156. 12 B. Brenk, Le costruzioni sotto la chiesa dei Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, in E. La Rocca - S. Ensoli (a cura di), Aurea Roma. Dalla città pagana alla città cristiana. Catalogo della mostra, Roma 22 dicembre 2000 – 20 aprile 2001, Roma 2001, 154-158. 13 As interpreted on the basis of an ongoing study by Gian Luca Gregori (‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma). 178 MASSIMILIANO DAVID Fig. 6. Mithraeum of coloured marbles, room no. 3, graffito on West wall. In one of the rooms, the painted socle presents a unique and symbolic icono- graphic theme: tridents, from which vivid spirals branch, alternating with arrows. This is a possible reference to the trinitarian concept – testified by iconographic and literary sources – of the divine nature of Mithra, the archer often worshiped in con- junction with the two archers dadophori Cautes and Cautopates (Fig. 7). On the North side of the caupona, a rectangular apsed room (7,20 x 3 m) was cre- ated at that time. The room was equipped with a ritual well with a marble well- curb, a flowerbed maybe for a sacred plant and a low bench raised from the floor about 20 cm (4 x 1,35 m) to support a long kline for banquets (or ritual meals). At the bottom of the apse, a niche probably housed a piece of furniture (perhaps a cathedra or a throne for the pater). On the back wall of the niche a molded shelf in white marble could have supported a cultic relief, now lost. Fig. 7. Mithraeum of coloured marbles, room no. 8, East wall (Photograph by M. David).  THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES 179 As noted for the rest of the 4th century paintings in the other rooms, there is even here a plaster in imitation of marble. The socle was decorated with a grey back- ground intended to imitate the appearance of a speckled marble (moucheté type); above the socle, the large white partitions are divided by black bands edged in red imitating pilasters. The long and narrow hall, as required by the Mithraic architectural tradition, presents peculiar characteristics that clearly differentiate it from the other mithraea in the city, such as being at the ground floor (at Ostia only the mithraeum of the Mithra Baths is underground), and other elements: first for the small size, then by the presence of a single podium. It should be added that, among the mithraea iden- tified at Ostia, this is the only suburban one found so far. Despite the small size, the hall is characterized by a coloured marble pavement that denotes the designation of ‘Mithraeum of coloured marbles’ (Fig. 8)14. It is a marble pavement in geometrical pattern, very special and particular. Each element is carefully made with the juxtaposition of reused irregular marble fragments which amount to about 1200 pieces. It is a simple geometric weft formed by mar- ble crustae in giallo antico, africano, greco scritto, cipollino, pavonazzetto, rosso antico, Fig. 8. Mithraeum of coloured marbles, survey of the pavement and of the preserved walls (processing by D. Abate). 14 D. Abate - M. David, Out of the archaeologist desk drawer: communicating archaeological data online, in Proceedings of the 25th International CIPA Symposium 2015, Taipei, august 31st – september 4th 2015, «An- nals of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing», II-5/W3, 2015, 1-7. 180 MASSIMILIANO DAVID breccia di Sciro, porfido rosso, serpentino, portasanta, breccia corallina, proconnesian, bardiglio and obviously white marbles. Among the more common types of marble, besides the white one, are the cipollino and the proconnesian. Although all the pieces are clearly reused, only a limited percentage present macroscopic and un- ambiguous traces of the previous function. In two points of the surface notches are present for housing small altarpieces: one in the front of the niche, the other to the top of the bench. The center of the hall is marked by a kind of solea leading up to the left side of the niche. Among the objects found during the excavation, particularly remarkable is a metal applique depicting an ‘Isiac crown’ (Fig. 9) and an ivory handle of a musical instrument (perhaps a sistrum) found in room no. 5. It is decorated with meander Fig. 9. Isiac crown-shaped applique (Photograph by S. De Togni).  THE NEWLY DISCOVERED MITHRAEUM OF COLOURED MARBLES 181 and peltae, and could form part of a rit- ual object, but it might instead represent an attribute of the leo, the fourth degree of Mithraic initiation, as evidenced in the mosaic pavement of the mithraeum of Felicissimus at Ostia (Fig. 10). According to the data available so far, the building was adapted for a restricted community of adherents to the Mithraic religion, during the 4th century, maybe in the age of the emperor Julian (360-363 A.D.) or, though completely illegally, in the late Theodosian age (392-394 A.D.) or even later. At that time, which Becatti connected to the usurper Eugenius, the cella of the temple of Hercules at Ostia was restored, as well as the decoration of the extraordinary Edificio con opus sec- tile fuori porta Marina was carried out15. Mithraea built in such a late age are not known at Ostia. Among the best docu- mented cases during the Late Antiquity, may be compared the Mithraeum at Hawarte/Hawarti in Syria16 (character- Fig. 10. Bone handle decorated with ized, as at Ostia, by the presence of a sin- swastikas and peltae gle podium) and that at Jajce in Bosnia- (Photograph by S. De Togni). 17 Herzegovina , besides the urban mithraeum of via Giovanni Lanza18 and that of the Circo Massimo at Rome19. Al- though the chronological question is obviously conditioned by the final results of the excavation, it is certain that the building was quickly dismantled and walled, 15 Cf. Becatti, Edificio con opus sectile, cit., and more recently, M.S. Arena Taddei - A.M. Carruba, L’Opus sectile di Porta Marina, Ostia 2006; G. Leardi, L’opus sectile della domus ostiense fuori Porta Marina oggi al Museo dell’Alto Medioevo a Roma, StudRom 54, 2006, 218-220; B. Killerich, The opus sectile from Porta Marina at Ostia and the aesthetics of interior decoration, in I. Jacobs (Ed.), Production and prosperity in the Theodosian period, Leuven 2014, 169-187. 16 M. Gawlikowski, Un nouveau mithraeum récemment découvert à Huarté près d’Apamée (information), CRAI 144/1, 2000, 161-171; Id., The mithraeum at Hawarte and its paintings, JRA 20, 2007, 337-361; Id., Hawarti. Preliminary report, «Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean» 10, 1998, 197-204. 17 D. Sergejevski, Das Mithräum von Jajce, «Journal of the National Museum [of Sarajevo]» 49, 1937, 11-18. 18 D. Gallo, Il Mitreo di via Giovanni Lanza, in U. Bianchi (a cura di), Mysteria Mithrae, Atti del Seminario internazionale, Roma-Ostia 28-31 marzo 1978, Leiden 1979, 249-258 19 C. Tavolieri - P. Ciafardoni, Mithra. Un viaggio dall’Oriente a Roma: l’esempio del Mitreo del Circo Massimo, «Bollettino di archeologia on line» 1, 2010, 49-60. 182 MASSIMILIANO DAVID during the fifth century for the intervention of local authority. Later, like many other buildings in the neighborhood outside Porta Marina, the mithraeum was sys- tematically scavenged by robbers who, since the eleventh century, established, or- ganized and equipped workshops for the recovery of raw materials such as marble and metals. Later – starting from the fifteenth century – these materials also fueled the antique market20. All the above is subject to the evolution of research and to the continuation of the excavations still in progress. Università di Bologna ‘Alma Mater Studiorum’ massimiliano.david@unibo.it Abstract The investigations carried out in the last years by the Ostia Marina Project (University of Bologna – Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà) in the neighborhood outside Porta Ma- rina at ancient Ostia begin to clarify not only the development of the coastal landscape, but also the dynamic forms of urbanization that unfold from the 1st century B.C. until the 4th century A.D. At the end of the 4th century this suburban area was transformed in one of those ‘sordid places’ cited by a well-known inscription, where prestigious buildings such as the sumptuous building explored by Giovanni Becatti or the Marciana Baths stood side by side with dark workshops and remote meeting places. In this context a caupona, ex-novo de- signed and built in the middle of the 3rd century, was renovated and adapted for a Mithraic community. The building, called ‘Mithraeum of coloured marbles’, was endowed with a very special worship hall with a marble pavement and walls plastered and painted in imitation of fine marbles. The interpretation of the building as well as the refinement of its chronology are made particularly complex not only because of the uniqueness of the monument, but also by the specific complexity of the stratigraphic sequence, largely conditioned by the ac- tivities of robbery implanted in the site after the year 1000. Key-words: Mithraism, late antique Ostia, Mithraeum of coloured marbles, caupona of the God Pan 20 Still useful at this regard, L. Paschetto, Ostia colonia romana (Dissertazioni della Pontificia Ro- mana Accademia di Archeologia, serie II, X/2), Roma 1912.