Boek
The ruins of Ostia main harbour of Imperial Rome were uncovered in the latenineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. In the present volume theremains of three buildings used for the milling of grain and baking of breadpistrina are studied according to modern archaeological standards. A detailedanalysis of the architecture and masonry allows a description of theinstallation and vicissitudes of the pistrina. Subsequently the distribution ofthese buildings in the city and their place in the neighbourhood is studied.The technical achievement of the Ostian bakers is assessed. Although waterpower was sometimes used in Roman grainmills this was not the case in Ostia.This in turn affects estimates of the output of the pistrina. Nevertheless theamount of bread that was produced must have been considerably higher than thatin Pompeii where many small bakeries have been preserved. No remains ofbakeries have ever been found in Rome or Constantinople but it may be assumedthat the average bakery in these cities did not differ much from the Ostianworkshops. Involvement of the fisc with the Ostian bakers has already beensuggested by Bakker in Living and Working with the Gods. The role of theEmperor is dealt with in this volume once more. The Ostian corpus pistorumpresumably fed Imperial slaves and the local firebrigade. There are goodreasons to assume that Ostia like Rome knew distributions of free grain. «
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