Harbouring resilience: Environmentally resilient construction and engineering at Portus.
Date
2025
Authors
Allen, Chloe
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Victoria
Abstract
Portus was constructed in the mid-first century AD to enhance a network of harbours that facilitated the transshipment of goods into Rome. Claudian-era engineers constructed the harbour's first phase at the mouth of the Tiber River, where local geomorphology and hydrodynamics had previously prevented natural mooring. In the Trajanic period, engineers expanded the facilities, remediated structural deficiencies and counteracted factors impacting the harbour's navigability. This study identifies the technologies and methodologies of Roman maritime engineering through literary analysis, archaeological evidence, and review of modern scholarship, and demonstrates archaeology’s capacity to inform infrastructural responses to climatic and environmental volatility in modernity.
Description
Keywords
harbours, Roman, technology, engineering, archaeology