“Vandalica rabies”: some considerations on the disasters attributed to the barbarian invasions on the basis of the archaeological records from Isola Sacra and Portus

Emanuela Spagnoli con Cristina Genovese e Marina Lo Blundo. This paper explores the theme of “disasters” caused by human actions as recorded in ancient sources, with a focus on the impact of barbarian invasions of the city of Portus and its surrounding district of Isola Sacra, stretching towards Ostia, during the 5th and 6th centuries CE. We focus in particular on the results of previous archaeological investigations at Portus (by MLB), including an initial campaign of test pits and a decade of open-air stratigraphic excavations (1991-2011), as well as on archaeological research conducted at Isola Sacra (by C.G.) since the late 19th century. This paper includes the results of the numismatic study (by ES) based on coin finds from the initial, unpublished excavations by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia in the northern district of Isola Sacra (Ponte di Matidia, 1973-1975), together with more recent numismatic contextual results from stratigraphic campaigns conducted in both Ostia and Portus (1989-2011).