City of Tarragona, Tarraconensis

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

Tarraco (roman name of actual Tarrragona) have a roman harbor with a break-water.

It's were until XVII, when some marine's officer orders to destroy the remains of the break-water because causes troubles to the ships.

At the beginning of XIX, a new harbor was erected, with a new break-water, very bigger than roman ones. To make that pennsula part of the natural hill was digged and threw to the sea, including a great part of the old roman domestic zone...

At 336, probably the imperial complex was'nt in use but not yet ocupped by houses. Probably, a lot of the marble decoration was robbed, and the opus quadratum walls used as a quarry.

The beginnig of the domestic ocupation is 375/400.

The lower city was partially left, except the harbor zone, with an important activity reflected in the trade of ceramics of all Mediterranean zone.

I have made a lot of research about Tarraco's harbor, so make any question i could solve.

[Lothia]

Salve LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS,

Thank you for such useful and detailed information.

So you are the harbor expert?

then, Harbor-master, I have harbor questions .

1. It seem that the ships were moored along the quay on the shoreline of the harbor. Is that correct?

2. It would seem logical that ships waiting to unload or load cargo could moor along the inside of the breakwater until there was space for them at the quay. Is this correct?

3. I believe that the Romans had harbor craft (tug boats, dredges etc) that would have a perminate mooring position somewhere within the confines of the breakwater. Is this correct?

My next battery of questions will concern the city itself, but it may take some time before I ask them. I have to take what I learn from you and put it into a searchable database so I can retrieve it when I write of the city.

Thank you very much for your help.

Me.

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

Well, some questions are dificult to solve.

Probably the roman harbor have the quay, and some quays transversals. I do'nt know so much about english terminology...

A lot of that structures are lost because were made in wood.

The ships could wait inside the bay protected by the breakwater.

Auxiliar roman ships are used to transfer the cargo from the bigest ships, as depicted in some art representations of harbors.

[Lothia]

Salve LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS,

Thank you for your reply. Between your information and Galla Placidia's pictures and links, I think I am getting a good picture of what Tarraco must have looked like then. It is important to me to create a word-picture that my readers can use to visualize history.

You write very good English. If, in any of my questions, I use a word that you do not understand, or need to have explained, please feel free to write back and ask.

I wish I could speak Spanish as well as you do English.

It came as a surprise that the quays would have been made of wood.

I have seen timbers pulled from the Danube that were driven in by Hadrian's engineers (the bridge at Drobeta Turnu Severen) but I thought they were part of a coffer dam used in construction of his bridge piers. :o

I had originally planned on a small section of my book focussed on Taracco, but with this gold mine of information, I will be able to expand.

As for visiting your city. I would like that, but I must wait for my lucky numbers to roll up on the Lotto.

Thanks again.

Me.

[Robert Vermaat]

I wish I could speak Spanish as well as you do English.

I wish I could too. But in Cesar's case, I wish I could speak Catalan as well as he can speak (or rather - write) English.

How's your Spanish, Cesar? I always forget to ask that - you speak Catalan mostly, right?

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

:lol: :lol:

Dear Robert:
No. I'm not born in Catalonia, so mostly i speak spanish... At work i write and speak catalan.

And, you know, i write better than speak English.

Dear Tom,

I'm happy i have been useful. Please let me know how's going your work.

Greetings.

[Lothia]

Vortigern Studies wrote :

I wish I could speak Catalan

Oh, that is just fine. hock:

Now I have a whole new subject to follow.

It is a good question though.

I will open another thread about languages of the Roman Empire.

Thanks.


Me.