In 193 BC
the censors Lucius Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Aemilius Paulus built the new
port, the EMPORIUM near the Tiber River to the south of the Aventine Hill in the area
of the Testaccio district with a long porch of 487 x 8 m (1600 x 26 feet)
consisting of fifty communicating rooms
The censors
of 174 BC Fulvius Flaccus and Albinus Postumius paved it, subdivided with
barriers and built stairs down to the Tiber
Behind the
Emporium there is a huge rectangular building measuring 487 x 60 m (1,600 x 200 feet)
believed to be the “Portico of Aemilia” but, more probably, corresponding to the
NAVALIA, a building mentioned by Cicero, built by Hermodoros
of Salamis in 149/146 BC during the Third Punic War, considering the the
building technique
It was used
to house the Roman warships: fifty quinqueremes, ship with five men on each
oar, as long as 60 m (196 feet) each
When, during the imperial period, there was no reason anymore to have a military port, it was used as a warehouse
The remains
were found in the years 1868/70 and explored again in 1952
Some
structures that date back to a rebuilding of the Trajan's period (98/117) are
still visible and were embedded into the wall of Lungotevere Testaccio
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