BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

A Mikveh in Roman Ostia

Archaeologists uncovers more evidence of Ostia’s ancient Jewish population

Various officials standing before the Ostia Mikveh. Courtesy Ministero Della Cultura Italia.

Excavators in the ancient Roman port city of Ostia made an incredible discovery when they uncovered a semi-subterranean Jewish ritual bath, or mikveh. Likely built in the second century CE as part of the Ostia synagogue, the mikveh is the earliest ever discovered outside of the Holy Land, showing the importance of the Jewish community of Ostia, located only 16 miles from Rome.

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Ritual Purity Near Rome

The mikveh consists of a rectangular room with a semicircular apse and three heavily worn stairs leading down into it. The floor of the mikveh had the remains of brick pavement and a drainage system connected to a spring-fed well that ensured continually moving fresh water in line with Jewish purification practices. The walls of the bath were decorated with blue plaster and were framed by a series of columns. Inside the bath, the team also found small statues, a glass goblet, and clay oil lamps decorated with a menorah and lulav, both typical Jewish symbols. The objects date to the fourth through sixth centuries and suggest that the mikveh was in use until late into the Byzantine period (c. 324–634 CE) when Christianity was  the official state religion of the empire.

The discovery of the mikveh strengthens the view of Ostia as a crossroads of cultures. As one of the major ports in the Roman world, the city was a melting pot of cultures. Despite Ostia’s many temples dedicated to Roman gods and a later Christian basilica built by Constantine the Great, the city also boasted a thriving Jewish community. According to Alessandro D’Alessio, director of the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, the city was already home to the “oldest known Jewish inscription,” which dates to the first century CE and was discovered in the nearby Pianabella necropolis.

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