Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction / by Birger Olsson -- The quarter surrounding the Synagogue at Ostia / by Olof Brandt -- The Synagogue at ancient Ostia : the building and its history from the first to the fifth century / by Anders Runesson -- A struggle among brothers : an interpretation of the relations between Jews and Christians in Ostia / by Magnus Zetterholm -- Water and worship : Ostia and the ritual bath in the diaspora synagogue / by Anders Runesson -- The Jewish communities of ancient Rome / by Karin Hedner-Zetterholm -- The Jews as the Roman authors saw them / by Sten Hidal -- Semitic inscriptions in Rome / by Per Å. Bengtsson -- A Sabbath service inn Ostia : what do we know about the ancient synagogal service? / by Irene von Görtz-Wrisberg