Submitted by Bija Knowles on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 14:27
The discovery of a unique amphitheatre and other structures at Rome's ancient maritime port is putting the archaeological site of Portus on the map. For decades it's been a much over-looked site next to Fiumicino's international runway and scholarly attention has focused on neighbouring Ostia Antica, but experts now believe it is a unique site that should rank alongside monuments such as Stonehenge or Angkor Wat.
Portus was the principal maritime port of ancient Rome for most of the imperial period. Construction began during the reign of Claudius by digging out a huge man-made harbour protected by sea walls. It is located on the coast about two kilometres north of Ostia Antica, to the north of the Tiber mouth at Ostia, and near to Rome's main international airport, Fiumicino. The port was finalised during the reign of the emperor Nero and then greatly enlarged by the emperor Trajan. It was at this time that an amphitheatre would have been built within the complex of the 'palazzo imperiale', where most of the port's administrative business would have been done by the port official – known as Procurator Portus Utriusque. The port would have supplied the city of Rome with imports from large cargo ships until the Byzantine period and beyond. Portus was the conduit through which most of the key foodstuffs, marble, glass and metalwork that were consumed in Rome were imported from the Mediterranean provinces.
The amphitheatre has emerged at a location that excavators say is inside an 'imperial' palace complex - whose main function was port-related administration.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 12:02
Several major archaeological discoveries have been made at the site of one of Rome's ancient harbours. An oval amphitheatre, a 90m canal as well as many smaller objects (including marble statues) have emerged during excavations of Portus, the cargo port of ancient Rome, about two miles north of its better-known counterpart, Ostia Antica.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 15:18
In Need of a Protection Racket?
Ostia Antica is like any other town – it has streets, shops, houses. Even a theatre and a fire station. The crucial difference is that no one has lived here for almost two millennia. Many of the buildings have lost their roofs, and protection from the elements is minimal – which means there is little to halt the gradual process of dilapidation that has been going on in Ostia for many centuries. Two-thousand-year old mosaics are exposed to the elements while the ruins of ancient shops and cellars are at risk of flooding. It's true that Italy – and Rome in particular – is inundated with valuable ruins. Some monuments that, if they were found elsewhere, would be housed in their own climate-controlled double-glazed case and have their own explanation on a nearby placard, are left to fend for themselves in Italy. Special attention is reserved for the main tourist attractions. Other heritage sites must take their chances with the rest of us.
A great city, a major port and powerful seat of Roman power at its peak, today Caesarea Maritima lies in ruins on the Mediterranean coast of Israel midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Its harbour was an absolute masterpiece of engineering. Although perfectly located for trade purposes, the city was crippled as a port by the fact that its shores were treacherous. So two enormous breakwaters were positioned in the harbour, using building techniques well ahead of their time.
Extensive remains of the harbour can still be seen today, as can the remains of the Roman amphitheatre and the Roman aqueduct. A Byzantine period street – uncovered by archaeological excavations in the 1950s and 1960s – lies east of the city’s entrance.
The 
