Late Antique port
Archaeological and historical evidence makes it clear that Portus continued to function as a major port into the 6th century AD and beyond. In the early fifth century AD, the port was surrounded with substantial defensive walls, the so-called Mura Costantiniane. There was also an internal fortification which still stands as the Arco Di Santa Maria (Fig. 1). These are clearest on the landward side of the site, where they are free-standing and incorporate the earlier Tempio di Portuno within their circuit. On the north side of the hexagonal basin they incorporated earlier warehouses and other structures, while on the western harbour front they sealed off an earlier warehouse. Aside from these walls, it is difficult to gauge the full extent of archaeological activity at the site during this period. It seems likely, however, that there was less building activity than before and that life within the port continued within the constraints of the earlier port buildings. One exception was the Basilica Portuense, an early Christian church which developed within the shell of earlier buildings close to the hexagonal basin in the course of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries AD. Otherwise our evidence for activity is largely ephemeral and was difficult to record in our survey. However, it did suggest that after the later 5th century AD onwards, the area between the Mura Costantiniane and the Tiber to the east was increasingly less frequented than it had been before. When this evidence is taken in conjunction with the existence of occasional burials within earlier warehouses, it suggests that although Portus continued to serve Rome as its principal conduit for the supply of food and other material into the 6th century, its scale and scope was in decline.
Interpretative reconstruction of the geophysical and structural evidence for the layout of the Late Antique port
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