La dispersione delle iscrizioni ostiensi sulle coste tirreniche

The dispersal and reuse of the spolia of Ostia are phenomena that have been thoroughly investigated. The novelty of this essay resides in some new hypotheses regarding the extent and the dynamics of the reuse, which seems to start in late antiquity, as well as the chronology it followed along the Tyrrhenian coast. The identification of some discriminant criteria (based on typology, onomastics, and formulas), in conjunction with an as yet partial investigation aimed at determining the inscriptions of external provenance, have led to an analysis being carried out on some centres along the Tyrrhenian coast, which in its turn has enabled the identification of inscriptions whose provenance appears to be Ostia or Rome, in the sites of Civitavecchia, Gravisca, Giglio Island, Pisa and some Sardinian locations such as Tergu. What has emerged is a situation wherein the reuse of the spolia from Ostia followed a developmental trajectory that expanded over time and in space, ranging from the first redistribution in late antiquity, which was directed at adjoining territories for practical reasons, to the political-religious use made of the spolia in 11th-12th-century Pisa, the surrounding countryside, and the archipelago of islands in its possession.