Rome via Brooklyn

413 words, 2 minutes read time.

It was so much different seeing Ostia, the ruins, as compared to seeing artifacts behind glass in museums. When I look at pieces of pottery or jewelry behind glass it feels disconnected, and it’s hard for me to imagine a life where people made and used these items. However, walking through a place that used to be bustling with people, I can imagine myself walking the same streets and imagining how people used to live. For example, Laney, our tour guide, was able to expertly give us a perspective on how people lived while we walked through Ostia. We walked past multiple stalls where people would sell things in markets. I attached a photo below:

These evenly spaced stalls could be theorized that they were markets where people sell various items, and the mosaics in front would be ads for each store. What I find interesting is that putting all these pieces and structures together you have to imagine a narrative for it. For example, one of the mosaics was of an African elephant. While the others ones that showed ads of more local animals like fish, it didn’t make sense for people to be selling elephants in a market. So, maybe there will be more clues in the future to be able to solve this.

Also, the ruins in Rome was much more different than the ruins in Ostia. Ostia was much more larger and had more structures, like even a tavern to be able to see how people came to eat and chill out.

However, the ruins in Rome only showed religious structures like temples and sacrificing tables. These structures showed us how people were devoted to their gods and what their religious lives were like. But, Ostia gave a great example of how people lived in their daily lives from bartering stations to taverns for buying and drinking.

I would prefer to live in Ostia, mainly because it’s near the water and I can go swimming. Also, since it’s near a port the bartering stations and the markets would probably have a lot of interesting and unique pieces of clothes, food, and furniture. In addition, while walking I noticed how there were so many beautiful flowers and birds (even a parrot!), so I would like to be surrounded in that type of environment. In the social hierarchies I see myself as someone who would fit as a merchant or a craftswoman. Mainly because I would like to own a business.