A Podcast about Rome. Episode 18: Trajan's Harbour at Portus.
The ancient port of Rome at Ostia had, in legend, been founded by Ancus Martius, the fourth of Rome’s seven semi-legendary kings. However winds magnified by its position and the exposed nature of the mouth of the river proved particularly treacherous, and in the mid first century Claudius established a new and complementary port at Portus, four kilometres (two and a half miles or so) to the north.Some six decades after Claudius’ port had been begun, a vast hexagonal basin was created slightly inland. This extension was intended to deal both with increased volume in the traffic of goods, and with the significant deposits from the accumulation of sand and mud from the mouth of the Tiber. Trajan’s harbour at Portus is quite simply one of the most extraordinary engineering feats of the Roman world.Useful sites of places mentioned: Portus ProjectMuseum of the Ships at FiumicinoHarbours of Claudius and Trajan: opening hours and visiting information This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit understandingrome.substack.com/subscribe
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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 16: The Forum of Nerva
Last time I spoke of Domitian who came to a Sticky End. After Domitian’s death his successor, Nerva, inaugurated the Forum Transitorium built largely during Domitian’s reign and bearing traces of his fondness for Minerva. More than a “forum” as such, it is a sort of monumentalisation of the Forum end of the Argiletum, a street running between the grubby, noisy alleys of the Subura and the civic heart of the city. Today remnants survive by my petrol pump of choice. All photos taken this week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit understandingrome.substack.com/subscribe
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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 15: The Domus Tiberiana
In September this year the structures long referred to as the Domus Tiberiana reopened to the public for the first time since 1970. They once formed a spectacular facade overlooking the Roman Forum, straddling an existing Roman road, and in fact dating not to the reign of Tiberius (as was believed when it was given the name, which stuck) but instead to the reigns of Nero, Domitian, and Hadrian. It’s a fabulously intriguing space, and offers a coherent and exciting connexion between the Palatine Hill and the Forum. It’s also great in my line of work offering another route through the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo; after all rule number one in tour guide school is never retrace your steps. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit understandingrome.substack.com/subscribe
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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 14. Paranoia and Porphyry: Domitian and the Domus Flavia on the Palatine Hill
When visiting the ruins of the imperial palaces on the bucolic and ever-glorious Palatine Hill—possibly my favourite place in the world—today much of what we see is the complex as it was rebuilt by Domitian. He was terrified of being murdered by a conspiracy, and that was exactly what happened, amid the halls and fountain courtyards once gleaming with materials quarried and mined across the Empire. In this episode I quote both Suetonius and Statius. The translations I’ve used are respectively Rolfe, Loeb, 1914, and Slater, Clarendon Press, 1908. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit understandingrome.substack.com/subscribe
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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 13: The Arch of Titus
Last time I spoke of the Flavian Amphitheatre, subsequently and more commonly known as the Colosseum in this free episode. The Flavian Amphitheatre was begun by the Emperor Vespasian and sponsored by the treasures looted during the Sack of Jerusalem by his son Titus. Soon after he oversaw the inauguration of the Amphitheatre as emperor of Rome, Titus died. Eleven years had passed since he had sacked Jerusalem, destroying its Temple, as general. After his death and deification a posthumous triumphal arch was erected in his honour, a monument which still has a profound resonance in Jewish culture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit understandingrome.substack.com/subscribe
Ireland