"The first colonia and seaport of ancient Rome. By the 3rd century A.D., the population had boomed to well over 100,000 inhabitants. The settlement has seen its' fair share of disasters such as Sulla's first civil war, sacking by pirates, and the eventual abandonment in 849 A.D. due to repeated Arab invasions culminating with the Battle of Ostia between Christian and "Saracens.""