Ostia antica Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ostia antica - Essay Example During the early Augustan period, a monumental theatre was constructed by Agrippa along with an adjacent rectangular double-colonnaded portico3 with a large space in the center to offer the audiences a retreat as they reached the interval or the end of the show4. In the second half of the second century, a trade center was made out of this structure that was further divided into several parts that appear to be the offices of traders. There was a unique mosaic in each office, revealing different kinds of commodities that the overseas clients purchased5. The Temple of Rome and Augustus is one of the landmarks which have preserved the Augustan period over the centuries. Roman sculptors carved its Italian marble faà §ade6, which not only reveals the building’s significance but also the amount of skill needed to achieve it. The horrea warehouses were the commercial buildings of extreme importance in Ostia. Ostia was like a bridge in Rome, which was used for different types of commodities, which imparted a need to store the imported goods. Commodities received in Ostia were numbered and catalogued before they were sent for Rome7. The audiences can also have a view of the imperial Roman lifestyle from the Bath buildings that provided the slaves and working men and women with retreat as they had a place to get together in a good environment8. The most common example of the Roman architecture of all time is the Roman tabernae. It is a very flexible and ordinary architectural unit often in the form of a single room that appeared like a â€Å"tall, deep, barrel-vaulted chamber open in front almost to its full width†9 in its enhanced form. Tabernae served many purposes that included but were not limited to frontage of apartments, market-places, and street shops. Owing to the constructors’ liking for the pattern and texture of it, brickwork was frequently employed in the decoration of the concrete buildings10. â€Å"In urban architecture it was