Il porto di Sinuessa. Un “caso” archeologico

Abstract

In 296 BC, Sinuessa was founded as a Roman maritime colony on the south-western extremity of the Garigliano basin
to command the coastal passage route into Campania. It also closed the triangle with Minturnae and Suessa Aurunca
for control of the entire basin. Recently, the hypothetical archeological discovery of the remains of the Roman port
of Sinuessa has once again raised the issue of the disaster caused by a bradyseism that caused the sinking of the level
of the coast-land in front of the Roman colony. It is however difficult to assume that the archaeological remains can
be attributed to a lagoon harbor built by the Romans after the founding of the city in 296 BC, primarily because of
the current conformation of the coast line which is shallow and sandy, and also to the little depth of the seabed. The
archaeological excavation site of the ancient city in 1994 has clearly explained that the colony was not prone to natural
disasters. This paper seeks to explain the reasons why perhaps in Sinuessa there was not a real port but a small landing
or perhaps a beacon to signal to ships that they were passing through an area of sandy seabeds and shallows. Following
the Second Punic War there is evidence of urban expansion in Sinuessa. A censor in 174 BC, Fulvius Flaccus, is
recorded by Livio (XLI, 27, 12) as having contracted for the building of dwellings, using the town’s public funds, as
well as for sewers, an enclosure wall, a market place surrounded by porticoes and shops and for three statues of Janus
but not for the building of a port in Sinuessa.