Housing in Late Antique Ostia: Status Quo Marcel Danner Abstract Uno dei risultati più interessanti e più nuovi tra i molti offerti dai grandi scavi che sono stati compiuti a Ostia Antica dal 1938 al 1942 sotto la direzione del compianto Guido Calza e che rappresentano il coronamento della sua indefessa, feconda, ininterrotta attività dedicata a questo centro archeologico per oltre trent’anni, è forse la scoperta di una serie di domus signorili dell’ultima fase edilizia della città nel tardo impero. 1 Introduction As G. Becatti mentions, one of the great surprises of the Ostian excavations between 1938 and 1942 was the discovery of a group of about 20 wealthy houses with building and decoration phases attributed to the 3rd, 4th and 5th c. A.D. 2 Most of these houses were discussed for the first time by Becatti in his Case ostiensi del Tardo Impero. 3 A more thorough study of this subject was promised, but never appeared. Although a large number of articles enrich our knowledge of these important monuments, no detailed work on the topic has been published. Therefore, a study on late antique Ostian domestic culture until recently was a notable desideratum. My mongraph Wohnkultur im spätantiken Ostia tries to fill this lacuna. 4 Nevertheless, some gaps in our knowledge remain. The most obvious deficit is that research on late antique housing in Ostia still has to concentrate on wealthy upper-class houses: the remains of what could be called ‘poorer’ or ‘lower-class’ housing was removed almost completely during the excavation campaign of 1938-1942. 5 Thus our picture of late antique domestic culture in Ostia remains incomplete. The present chapter summarises the main results of my book, and tries to contribute to an overall picture of Ostia‘s urban development. First of all, a critical review of previous research on the topic, and in particular of dating methodology will be necessary, since problematic methodological approaches and interpretations still enjoy a wide currency. After verifying the interpretations and chronology of some examples, the archaeological remains will be analysed with regard to the following questions: where are the main residential quarters of late antique Ostia? How does the late antique situation differ from the imperial period? What further information about urban change can we get from an analysis of the development of residential quarters? Also, which architectural elements and decorative features are typically found in late antique houses in Ostia, and in what way are they different from earlier houses? And, what do these differences tell us about the functional transformation of domestic space? A final section will connect the observations made up to that point with the information we have on the house owners. Given the scope of the present volume, comparisons with other houses elsewhere and thoughts of a more general character on late antique domestic culture, will be made only when they help to throw light on urban development and society in late antique Ostia. Research History Early Excavations and Restorations Most of the structures that we will be examining were excavated between the autumn of 1938 and the summer of 1 Becatti (1949) 1. 2 All dates in the present article are A.D. 3 Becatti (1949). 4 Danner (2017). On the following pages, I omit additional references to particular chapters or pages within my book, as it appeared after submission of the present chapter. For a thorough discussion of singular houses, see my online catalogue: https://arachne.dainst.org/project/wohnkulturOstia. 5 Schoevaerts (2018) on the Ostian shops, however, provides an idea of how tabernae were used as living space in the imperial and late antique city.