Archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest mikveh bath outside of Israel in an ancient port city near Rome, suggesting the region may have been a hub for Jewish life some 1,700 years ago.
The discovery of the structure, made at Ostia Antica, sheds new light on the lives of the Italian Jewish diaspora who first appeared in the area in the second century BC, with posited dating on the Jewish ritual bath believed to be between the 3rd and 5th century CE – making it the oldest such mikveh site ever discovered in Europe.
Archaeologists from the University of Catania took students to excavate an unexplored area of Ostia last summer, expecting to discover warehousing or fluvial ports but instead unearthing a large house containing a narrow room with four marble steps leading down to a small plunge pool fed by groundwater.
“We speculated that it could be a mikveh, and we invited the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, to examine it,” Dr Alessandro D’Alessio, director of the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, told The Times of Israel. “He was impressed with the structure but could not say with certainty if it was a mikveh.”
The mikveh bath in Ostia that archaeologists believe to be the oldest in Europe. (Photo: Ostia Antica/X)[Missing Credit]
However, further discoveries seemed to confirm that what they had found was indeed a Jewish ritual bath site.
“As we moved forward with the excavation, we had two strokes of luck,” D’Alessio said. “First, we exposed the structure that would allow people to gradually enter the water instead of just falling or jumping into it. Secondly, at the bottom of the chamber, we found an intact oil lamp bearing Jewish symbols, a menorah [ritual candelabrum], and a lulav [palm branch].”
D’Alessio also noted that the oil lamp has helped with the site’s dating since its typology was in use between the end of the 4th and the 5th century.
Archaeologists discovered an oil lamp bearing Jewish symbols in what the believe to be the oldest mikveh bath outside of Israel. (Photo: Ostia Antica/X)[Missing Credit]
Riccardo Di Segni, Rome’s chief rabbi, said at the unveiling of the discovery this week: “That was the proof. This is the oldest mikveh to be found in the Jewish diaspora.”
The purpose of the building, which is more centrally located than the remains of a synagogue discovered at the edge of Ostia in 1961, is still unclear.
“Our first hypothesis is that the structure was a luxurious private residence, but it could have also been a public building,” said D’Alessio. “We uncovered at least six rooms. Two of them are equipped with an oven to cook. We also found a latrine and another room that was probably a kitchen. These rooms overlooked a courtyard facing south. A staircase suggests that there were at least two floors.”
D’Alessio said excavators also discovered two additional lamps: “one very similar to the artifact from the bottom of the mikveh with the depiction of a menorah, the other one engraved with a Christogram [a combination of letters abbreviating the term Jesus Christ].”
“We know that during that period, the Jewish and Christian communities in Rome were still very close; therefore, finding both symbols in the same environment is not surprising.”
Until now, the oldest mikveh bath in Europe was believed to be one discovered in Syracuse, Sicily, and dated back to the Early Middle Ages.
Rome and Ostia have long bore the marks of ancient Jewish heritage, from a menorah on the bas-relief of the first-century Arch of Titus to the Jewish catacombs. L. Michael White, director of the Ostia Synagogue Area Excavations, told The New York Times: “We have a fair amount of evidence that there must be a Jewish community at Ostia from the second century C.E. onward,” adding: “This was a Jewish community that was not hiding out.”
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, who attended the presentation of the findings this week, said: “The discovery of an ancient Jewish ritual bath, or mikveh, in the archaeological park of Ostia Antica strengthens the historical awareness of this place as a true crossroads of coexistence and exchange of cultures, a cradle of tolerance between different peoples who found their union in Roman civilization.”
