Ostia Antica e le province africane: contatti, scambi, influenze ed eredità. Problematiche di studio e prospettive di valorizzazione

The essay is part of the studies regarding Ostia Antica, focused on its relations with African provinces – today in Tunisia – characterized by diversified influences, legacies, and cultural bonds. In Ostia, the intertwining of interests and cultures is also testified by various cults and religions coming from all over the Mediterranean Sea. The present study is aimed at highlighting Piazzale delle Corporazioni (Guild square) urban role: it is a structure built behind the theater scene, representing in ancient times a venue for a community including many different civilizations of foreign merchants, associated on the base of common ethnic or birthplace roots, to find their community trade. It was a meeting place where some North African and Tunisian communities established depots and warehouses to represent main shipping and trading companies from all over the Mediterranean Sea and African provinces: among these, the African naviculari, as Alexandria, Sabratha, and Carthage associations.