Mill-Bakery at Ostia Antica Italy
by Joan Carroll
Title
Mill-Bakery at Ostia Antica Italy
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Photography And Digital Art
Description
The mill-bakery at Ostia Antica near Rome Italy dates from about CE 120. In this view, the structure on the left (rear) only has the bottom half of the milling stones. It's an immovable cone called a meta. The structure in the center shows a somewhat broken hour-glass shaped stone called a catillus on top of the meta. Mules were attached to a wooden frame over the catillus and walked in circles rotating the catillus over the meta. The grain was poured in the top, and the grinding took place between the two parts. The gap between the two parts was carefully maintained to obtain the proper grind. In an adjacent room were kneading machines, and large brick ovens which were fired with wood for baking the bread. Most of the bread made here was sold at a reduced price, by order of the Emperor. Ostia Antica is a short train ride from Rome. Ostia, at the mouth (ostium) of the Tiber River, was founded around 620 BCE; its central attraction was the salt gleaned from nearby salt flats, which served as a precious meat preserver. Later, around 400 BCE, Rome conquered Ostia and made it a naval base, complete with a fort. By CE. 150, when Rome controlled all the Mediterranean, Ostia served as its busy commercial port. With the fall of Rome, the port was abandoned. Over time the harbor silted up.
FEATURED PHOTO, Life After Humans group, 2/20/18
Joan carroll, archeology, travel, tourism, italian, history, historical, roman, historic, stone, brick, heritage, oven, tourism, excavation, roman ruins
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Uploaded
February 17th, 2018
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Viewed 1,712 Times - Last Visitor from Ottawa, ON - Canada on 04/19/2024 at 2:08 PM
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