The imposing barracks reflect the importance attached in the city to the vigiles (fire brigade), who acted both as the town’s police force and as fire fighters, safeguarding the warehouses and their contents. The barracks were built in the late 1st century AD when a permanent fire brigade was established at Ostia. However, the layout visible today dates from the transformations that affected the entire district in the Hadrianic period (first half of the 2nd century AD). The complex, at least two storeys high, had a porticoed courtyard (A) onto which opened the fire fighters’ rooms and the wash basins (B); at the back was a shrine for the imperial cult (C), built in monumental form in the early 3rd century AD. The corner room, a latrine (D), was embellished with a shrine dedicated to Fortuna.
Reconstruction drawing of the interior of the barracks (A)
(I. Gismondi)
Detail of the mosaic from the vestibule of the imperial shrine (C) with a scene of bull sacrifice
Mosaic inscription on the floor of a room built against the east façade of the barracks
"Proclus made it"
Reconstruction drawing of the shrine to Fortuna in the latrine (D)
(I. Gismondi)
Reconstruction of the barracks (A. Pascolini)
Fragmentary epigraph with dedication to Trajan by the VII Cohort of the Vigiles
Main entrance to the barracks on Via dei Vigili
Frescos of the area on the northeast corner of the Barracks (photo by J.T. Bakker)
Portrait of Augustus from Via dei Vigili
Mosaic of one of the tabernae on Via dei Vigili