At the mouth of the Tiber river lies Ostia, Rome’s port town. Legend has it that Ostia was founded as Rome’s first citizen colony (a colonia civium Romanorum) back in the 600s BC, but the archaeological evidence dates the first structured settlement, which was protected by a wall of tufa blocks, to the 300s BC.1

Soon the settlement outgrew the small castrum (as the area surrounded by the early wall is called today) and both private and public buildings spread out in every direction. The Roman Late Republic (c. 133–31 BC) brought hardship on several occasions. During the first four decades of the last century BC, the inhabitants of Ostia suffered both from troops involved in civil warfare and from a raid by daring pirates from the eastern Mediterranean.2 The town was unable to protect itself adequately, since it lacked a proper town wall.

The prosperous harbour town of Ostia in the second and third centuries AD is a good example for demonstrating the areas of daily life and economic activities, and skilled individuals and professionals. One can expect a very distinctive society, with lots of merchandising activities to fulfil the needs and requirements of the people who lived and worked in the city. Inscriptions, reliefs and mosaics inform us about many occupations and skilled professions, as well as guilds and club houses in Ostia. The aim of the contribution is to discuss evidences of monuments and written sources on skilled professionalism in Ostia exemplarily. In general, the individuals represented themselves in an appropriate manner and in their professional environment.