Sectilia Ostiensia. Nuove scoperte per la conoscenza delle botteghe dei marmorarii a Ostia

The activity of the marmorarii is widely documented in Ostia by several evidences, among which stand on the floors and the decorations of the sumptuous Late Antique residences. The archaeological researches of the Ostia Marina Project have been going on for more than a decade in the district outside Porta Marina. One of the areas in which investigations are most concentrated is the insula IV, ix. In the south-eastern part of the block there is the “Building of the two staircases” (IV, ix, 6), a residential and commercial building of the Hadrian era, which remained operational with various rearrangements up to at least V sec. A.D. In the southern sector of the Building, some fragments of a marble flooring unique of its kind have recently been discovered. The modular unit of the floor is a marble inlay capital. The executive technique can be closely compared with the marble coatings of the hall of the opus sectile outside porta Marina, as well as with the floors of the domus del Ninfeo and of the domus di Amore e Psiche. The particular decorative choice, in addition to the stylistic and technical proximity of other examples from Ostia, opens up new questions, but it also allows important considerations on the activity of marble artisans and shops in Late Antiquity Ostia.