Horrea Hortensiana
About
One of Ostia's oldest surviving warehouses, its tufa-columned courtyard ringed with storage cellae for grain and goods passing through the port. Tradition names it for Lucius Hortensius, a fleet prefect at Misenum, and its brickwork points to construction somewhere in the late Republic or early 1st century CE. Either way it had been serving Ostia's harbor trade for generations by 117.
What happened here
Rows of identical rooms off a central courtyard, with a wide gate, a weighing station and a guard. Floors are raised on low walls so air passes underneath and grain does not sweat. Space is rented by the room or the amphora, and the operator takes a fee for storage and another for security; valuables go into strongrooms with iron doors. Everything is inventoried by clerks who are usually slaves and who are very good at it. Grain, oil, wine, marble, salt fish, timber — most of it in transit rather than stored long. Rats, damp and fire are the constant enemies and there are contracts covering all three. Around the entrance, porters wait for work by the day.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →