The Parco archeologico di Ostia antica just announced, on March 10, the recent discovery of a Jewish ritual bath, or mikveh, in the centre of the city of Ostia, between the Piazzale delle Corporazioni to the east, the Republican sanctuary of the Quattro Tempietti to the south, the Large horrea to the west, and the Tiber River to the north (area A in picture below).

This mikveh—a bath for ritual purification—is composed of a narrow room with steps leading down to an immersion pool whose back ends in a curved wall; this wall is animated by a semicircular apse covered in blue plaster and shells and framed by a pair of small stuccoed columns. The bath was part of a larger domus of which a kitchen, latrines, two ovens and a portico were excavated. Its identification as a Jewish bath rests upon the features of the room and the discovery, at the bottom of the pool, of a terracotta oil lamp stamped with a menorah and a palm branch (lulav).

Left: the mikveh during the excavation. Note the little apse framed by columns in the back wall (Parco Archeologico di Ostia antica).
Centre: the immersion pool and steps of the mikveh (Parco Archeologico di Ostia antica).
Right: the oil lamp found at the bottom of the pool, stamped with a menorah and a palm branch (Parco Archeologico di Ostia antica).

The presence of a Jewish community in Ostia is well attested (a synagogue was built on the margins of the possibly in the mid-4th c., making it the oldest outside of the Levant), and is unsurprising considering the role of Ostia as a trading hub where goods and people from all across the Empire transited, and as the port of entry to the city of Rome. If the identification is confirmed, this mikveh, tentatively dated to the late 4th or early 5th c., would be the oldest known Jewish ritual bath outside of the Levant.

The excavations of the area, led by the Parco archeologico di Ostia antica and the Università di Catania, will resume this summer.