The Roman harbour city of Portus lay at the heart of an empire that extended from Scotland to Iraq. Established by Claudius and enlarged by the emperor Trajan with spoils of the Dacian wars, the port was the conduit for everything the city of Rome required from its Mediterranean provinces: the food and, particularly grain, that fed the largest urban population of the ancient world, as well as luxuries of all kinds, building materials, people and wild animals for the arena.
On this course you will chart a journey from the Imperial harbour to its connections across the Mediterranean, learning about what the archaeological discoveries uncovered by the Portus Project tell us about the history, landscape, buildings, and the people of this unique place. Although the site lies in ruins, it has some of the best-preserved Roman port buildings in the Mediterranean, and in this course you will learn to interpret these and the finds discovered within them, using primary research data and the virtual tools of the archaeologist.
Largely filmed on location at Portus, the course will provide you with an insight into the wide range of digital technologies employed to record, analyse and present the site. In addition to the lead educators, our enthusiastic team of student archaeologists will support your learning.
The phases of Portus
We have evidence for the occupation of the region of Portus for at least 2500 years. In terms of the Roman period that has been our focus, we have traced the structural history of Portus from its establishment under Claudius to its enlargement under Trajan and subsequent emperors down into the 4th c. AD and beyond.
Several key buildings were created at Portus during these first four centuries, and you will learn about them, focusing on one building in particular per week. These include the three-storey Building 3 (part of the building known as Palazzo Imperiale) at the centre of the port which served as the administrative hub, the adjacent Building 5 where ship-building or repair took place; and several large warehouses built for storage.
The later 5th and the 6th c. AD witnessed the gradual siltation of the outer Claudian basin, a contraction in the extent of the port, a transformation of the function of its buildings and in the volume and range of its traffic and cargo. Around AD 470/ 480, the five buildings under study were enclosed within a defensive wall designed to protect the inner Trajanic basin from attack. Buildings 5 and 3 were systematically demolished in the mid to later 6th c. AD probably by the Byzantine authorities, and burials began to proliferate amongst the ruins.
Periods and phases
We use the words “periods” and “phases” interchangeably on site. They are both designations for units of archaeological chronology, but are slightly different in nature. A period is a chronological unit of time, a time span defined by dates that is treated as a separate because it shows a unified archaeological record that is markedly different to periods that came before and after. A phase on the other hand is a much more specific unit that is culturally distinct and characterised by specific traits that appear only during that time interval. Usually a period is longer than a phase and it is not uncommon for a period to have a number of phases.
For the purposes of this course we will be using the following chronology:
In week one we concentrate on the Claudian phase, also known as Period One on the Portus Project. This effectively stretches from the beginning of port construction in c. AD 46 until its inauguration under the Emperor Nero in AD 64.
In week two we will look at the Trajanic phase, or Period Two. This phase covers the development of the port during the reign of the emperor Trajan, with the majority of work probably concentrated between AD 110-117.
Week three moves us on to the later 2nd century, or Period 3, when we see construction of new massive buildings and reconstruction of ones dating from the earlier phases.
In week four we focus on the early 3rd century, known as Period 4, and the late 4th and early 5th century, Period 5
Finally, in week five we reach the end of the port in the late 5th to 6th centuries, Period 6.
We will keep returning to this chronology so don’t worry if it is a bit confusing at present. This week let’s just concentrate on the Claudian phase.
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