By the time the NT was beginning to be written, Ostia had become a crucial port city (not just a port), which included many wealthy people’s houses, mostly people who had become rich from the sea trade, and we will see the floor of a major house which makes clear the house belongs to a ship’s captain, or owner. This city was not just a place where goods were stored or transported elsewhere, because of it’s location near the mouth of the Tiber river. It was a town large enough to have a synagogue as well as pagan religious buildings. There were in addition numerous thermal baths, for both the locals, and those coming from the port after a long journey. This was a site I had not visited prior to this summer, and it was well worth it, not least because of the recent archaeological work near the site of the temple of Hercules, which unearthed evidence of burnt sacrifices, among other things. This port was a mere via miles southwest of Rome, and easily accessible by road or by the river Tiber itself.
One of the constant problems with rivers near the sea was silting up, a problem in advanced stages in places like Ephesus and Miletus, but also to some degree at Ostia.
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