Rome's Greatest Engineering Achievement

Twenty miles southwest of Rome, obscured by agricultural fields, woodlands, and the modern infrastructure of one of Europe’s busiest airports, lies what may be ancient Rome’s greatest engineering achievement and arguably its most important: Portus.

Although almost entirely silted in today, at its height, Portus was Rome’s principal maritime harbor, catering to thousands of ships annually. It served as the primary hub for the import, warehousing, and distribution of mostly grain, which was from Egypt. And so, Egypt was vital to the stability of both Rome and the empire.

In Alexandria, Miriam observes the grain bins along the narrow lanes lining the Great Harbor of her city:

I turned around a few times to scan the neighborhood from a ground-level perspective. Shops and saloons, inns and restaurants, tenements and warehouses, lumberyards and stables, factories and grain bins all jostled for space along the shoulders of the narrow lanes near the harbor. Outside the downtown, golden fields of barley and emmer wheat quilted the countryside.

Miriam introduces us to her city in The Deadliest Lie. Aside from a nail-biting mystery, come with her to Alexandria to see the city second in splendor only to Rome. Just click here.