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According to ancient tradition (reported by Livius) Ostia was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius; so far no archaeological remains have been found in or near Ostia dating from this period. The settlement we know dates back to the fourth century BC. If a settlement existed, then, it must have been a castrum or military camp and may have been situated to the east of the salt-pans.
This was the ancient Roman colony, formed by about 300 citizens of the Voturia tribe. The first nucleus was a rectangular, military fortress, with walls of large tufa blocks. Remains of the walls have been found around the later Forum. From here the city began to enlarge. During the age of Sulla (between the second and the first century BC) a new and larger wall was built. During the age of Augustus Ostia began to have a monumental look. The theatre and the large piazza [then piazzale delle Corporazioni] behind it date back to this period. Under Tiberius or Caligula the city was endowed with an aqueduct and public baths. Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) started the construction of an artificial harbour, a few kilometres to the north of Ostia. Supplies from all over the empire were moved to small boats that sailed up the Tiber to Rome. Under Trajan and Hadrian (second century AD) Ostia was at its best. Trajan built a second basin behind the basin of Claudius, thus solving the problem of good supply for Rome. The addition of the harbour district led to a building boom and great prosperity in Ostia. Under Trajan were built the Curia, the Basilica and the Forum, large stores, houses for the middle classes and numerous baths. Under the reign of Hadrian (117-138 d.C.) the square of the Forum was rebuilt and the huge Capitolium was erected. He gave impulse to an imposing town planning with the building of a district for the stores near the Tiber, a district of services in the Region II with the baths of Neptune and the fire-fighters barracks, and a residential district south-west. Under Hadrian were erected several-storey buildings (insulae). The presence of citizens from all over the empire caused the spreading of different eastern worship cults and under Antoninus Pius many Mithraeums were erected. Around the third century, the city suffered a first crises: some public buildings and many insulae were abandoned. At the end of the fourth century there was an apparent light upturn, as proven by some inscriptions concerning public works, but at the beginning of the fifth century a second and definitive crises took place: many buildings were abandoned and buried. The last phases of Ostia before its collapse can be dated back to the middle of  the fifth century and seem to coincide with an abandon of Ostia due to the Vandal invasion (455 AD); from the restoration of the Terme di Porta Marina under Theodoricus (493-526 AD) we understand that the abandonment of Ostia has been gradual and definitive only in the ninth century.