Emporium

Any port needs a safe anchorage and a harbour where cargoes are manhandled onto ships. Greeks and Romans had different approaches: the Greeks adapted to the local environment, while Romans tended to bend nature to their wills. This is clear in their harbour designs. As the Roman Empire grew, harbours had to be built as disembarkation points, sometimes in areas where there was no natural inlet, bay or easy landing spot. In such cases Roman engineers set out to remake the coastline, and they created artificial harbours for their ships. Using wood, concrete and huge stone blocks, they built dams, piers, wharfs, sea walls and even artificial islands to protect harbours. Trajan’s extraordinary harbour at Centumcellae had a large basin dug into the shoreline of the River Tiber, all enclosed by huge walls. It was also connected by canal to Ostia further down the river.