An extraordinary Jewish ritual bath (Mikve) has been discovered in the excavations made in the Ostia Antigua Archaeological Parkthe maritime port of the Imperial Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber. The little bath, 1,600 years old, the oldest in Europe … is used in Judaism for ritual dives of purification. The discovery is more suggestive because in the place of the bathroom, with magnificent mosaics in black and white, an oil lamp decorated with the image of a ‘minor’ (7 -arms candlestick) and of a ‘lulav’ -a branch of palm -were found, in addition to an almost intact glass glass, liturgical objects that date from the centuries V and vi dc
The ‘Mikve’ was built in a narrow room that had four marble steps to reach an immersion pond for purification. He received groundwater and its depth allowed the entire body to immerse. It was in a large building, characterized by a pavement with magnificent mosaics in black and white.
The finding serves to understand Jewish life in Imperial Rome. Ostia Antica, where about 100,000 people lived, constituted the First stop for many who were heading to Rome. A registration fixes the presence of Jewish residents in the 1st century. C., while A synagogue built in the second century AD. C. is the first identified in Europe.
View of ancient Ostia, the ritual bath and the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, at the scene of the finding
The Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, informing the finding in situ, explained that Ostia is not just a miniature Rome, but a bit of your prologue: «It is enough to think that only 20 miterians have been found here [santuario dedicados al culto del dios Mitra]a temple of Isis and Serapis, a contemporary Constantinian basilica to the Vatican and Lateranense, a polyhedral mirror of everything that represents the Roman history of the Mediterranean and the development of European civilization ».
The chief rabbi of the Jewish community of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, explained the importance of this discovery: «In Israel there are many ritual bathrooms, and in Europe there are some that date from medieval era. But such an old mikve does not seem to have been found before all over the diaspora. Rome has an exceptional archaeological heritage of Jewish history ». And addressing the Minister of Culture, Rabbi di Segni proposed «Organize in Rome a circuit dedicated to Jewish tourism».
Minister Alessandro Giuli acknowledged that “the discovered ritual bathroom gives testimony of how deeply rooted the Jewish presence in the heart of the Roman community”, but also shows that Ostia Antica was “a Crossroads of Coexistence and Exchange of Culturescradle of tolerance between different peoples that found their union in Roman civilization ».
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