Ancient Ports Antiques

Read meDARMC Scholarly Data Series: 2014:Geodatabase of Ancient Ports and HarboursArthur de GraauwNOTE: Please cite original reference when using this data!Last updated: 3/20/18

Database InformationName of Data Set:Geodatabase of Ancient Ports and HarboursContributors:A. de GraauwDARMC Scholarly Data Series Citation:de Graauw, A. et al. 2014. "Geodatabase of Ancient Ports and Harbors," DARMC Scholarly Data Series, Data Contribution Series # 2013-2. DARMC, Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138.Original Reference:de Graauw, A. "Ancient Ports and Harbours, The Catalogue," 5th ed.,Grenoble, 2016, pdf. downloadable from A. de Graauw, "Ancient Ports--Ports antiques," website: http://www.ancientportsantiques.com/docs-pdf/

AbstractThis database presents work done by Arthur de Graauw to collect, identify and locate ancient harbours and ports. It is based on a study of existing documentation. The result is a list of around 4500 ancient ports based on the writings of 81 ancient authors and hundreds of modern authors, incl. the Barrington Atlas, Pleiades and DARE. This list includes around 30 Etruscan ports, 85 Minoan ports, 120 Mycenaean ports and 275 Phoenician ports and many Greeck and Roman ports. A harbour is a place where ships can seek shelter. In the concept of "shelter" must be included anchorages, landing places on beaches and ports with structures like, access channels, breakwaters, jetties, landing stages, quays, warehouses for storage of commodities and equipment, shipsheds and slipways for ships. Shelters of interest for this catalogue include all places which may have been used by seafarers sailing over long distances. This means that shelters for e.g. local fishermen who may have landed their boats on the beach in front of their homes, are of lesser interest. Only maritime harbours are listed, but some river ports that could be reached by deep sea ships are also included. EDITOR'S NOTE: Arthur de Graauw is a coastal-civil engineer specializing in ports and maritime infrastructure, and has considerable first-hand knowledge of Mediterranean and other ports and sailing conditions. The written sources in the database have been used in translation, mostly into French, as noted in the author's extensive annotations and commentaries in the complete form of his database and Catalogue. The DARMC Team thinks you will find his work as useful as we do, and therefore are pleased to share it with you on DARMC and in the more complete downloadable spreadsheet version. For more information, see his website: http://www.ancientportsantiques.com/

Key to codesKey to ColumnsNBNumbers are in sequence from Northern Europe (Thul) to the South (Notou Keras) with a clockwise movement around the Mediterranean SeaNAMEAncient name: several names may be given but exhaustivity is not soughtNAME_MODModern name: city or approximate locationCOUNTRYCountry & region in 2015LATITUDELatitude in decimal degrees. Negative latitudes are SouthLONGITUDELongitude in decimal degrees. Positive longitudes are EastFOUND.Date of founding of the place: "-" = BC (most dates are from DARE)MIMinoan settlement (ca. 2500-1400 BC)MYMycenaean settlement (ca. 1600-1100 BC)PNPhoenician/Punic settlement (ca. 3000-64 BC)AUTH_ANCAncient author(s): who explicitly mention a portAUTH_MODModern author(s) listed in Bibliography: giving information about the placeDOC1_PapersOther modern author(s) with papers giving information about the placeDOC2_wwwWeb sites giving information about the placeDOC3Other information about the placePLEIADES/PastPlaceWeb pages on Pleiades or PastPlaceDAREWeb pages on Digital Atlas of the Roman EmpireTOPOSTextWeb pages on Topos Texts providing ancient citations for each placeAM"a" = if ancient author(s) explicitly mention the port, "m" = if only modern author(s) mention the portPP"p" = if modern nautical guides ("pilot") mention an excellent shelter; if the modern author is "AdG", then this place is a Potential Ancient Harbour RE"r" = port remains still visible in 2012 ("rs" if submerged or silted up) (far from exhaustive information!)Type of visible port structures still visible (far from exhaustive!):

BWBreakwater, sometimes also called moleQUQuay (masonry with docking on one side), pier or jetty (masonry with docking on two sides), and landing stage (wharf on piles)PLPila, made of marine concrete containing pumiceous volcanic ash MOMooring device (bollard, pierced block)CNCanal (for navigation or basin flushing and/or desiltation)SLSlipway to take ships in/out of the waterSHShipshed (usually including slipway)PHLighthouseCOCothon, man-made basin cut into the rockKLLimen Kleistos, closed harbour built inside city walls, closable with chainsFPFish processing factory (salted fish, garum, liquamen and other fish sauces)Note on NamingAccording to Pleiades (http://pleiades.stoa.org): Places are geographical and historical contexts for Names and Locations. Places may have within their core some features of the physical world a sea, a bay, a river, a mountain range, a pass, a road, a settlement or an ethnic region but their primary quality is that, in the words of Yi-fu Tuan, they are constructed by human experience. Places may be no larger than a family dwelling or as big as an empire, be temporally enduring or fleeting. They may expand, contract and evolve over time. A place may be unnamed, unlocated, falsely attested or even mythical. A place is defined by its name and its location. - A Location is a current or former, concrete spatial entity. The midline of a river channel is a location. The center of a bridge's span is a location. The perimeter of a walled settlement is a location. Every location belongs to a place. The highest point of a mountain summit, for example, would be a location while the entirety of the mountain: its faces, ridges, couloirs, and forested slopes and its significance in human history would be the place context.The position of a location is defined on a map by its latitude/longitude coordinates in degrees. In this work, we use the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) with decimal degrees with 6 decimal digits. The 5th decimal digit yields an accuracy in the order of one meter (for latitudes).Database StatisticsTotal number of places:4524Nb ports explicitly mentioned by ancient authors:1609Nb of excellent shelters not (yet) listed as ancient harbour or anchorage:241

NB: end 2017, this table includes around 8500 external links to Pleiades, DARE, Topostext,and around 1500 links to documents stored inside www.ancientportsantiques.com

PLACESNBNAMENAME_MODCOUNTRYLATITUDELONGITUDEFOUND.MIMYPNAUTH_ANCAUTH_MOD_BiblioDOC1_PapersDOC2_wwwDOC3PLEIADES/PastPlaceDARETOPOSTextAMPPREBWQUPLMOCNSLSHPHCOKLFP1Tyle, ThuleIceland? Pliny and Strabo, who cite Pytheas (ca 350 BC?), place Thule at 6 navigation days from (Great) Britain, which may be 400-600 nautical miles. Iceland is at 450 miles North of Scotland. The mention of six months long days and nights means a position beyond the Arctic Circle, which corresponds better to Iceland than to the Shetland islands.Iceland?63.27477-14.76131 Pytheas cited by: Strabo, Geogr, 1, 4 & 2, 5 ;Polybius, Hist, 34, 5 ; Pliny, Hist Nat, 2, 77 & 99 & 4, 27BAtlas locates it in the Shetland islandsJournes (2000)http://data.pastplace.org/search?q=189a2Baltia?Tanum, bronze age rock carvings showing many shipsSweden58.7012911.34070-1000?Pliny, Hist Nat, 4, 27http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=557https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Carvings_in_Tanumhttp://data.pastplace.org/search?q=1761052a3export of amber to the Black Sea, on R ChesinosDaugmale, on R Daugava, Dvina, DnaLatvia56.8250024.41000Kalnins (2013)m4Basileia, Basilia, Ile RoyaleSambia, Samland? Famous for amberRussia54.9000020.00000 Strabo, Geogr, 5, 17 ; Pytheas cited by: Pliny, Hist Nat, 30, 7Journes (2000)http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/101177a5Abalus insulaIsle of Helgoland?Germany54.182507.88528-30Pytheas cited by: Pliny, Hist Nat, 37, 11http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/98907http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/41732a6Mararmano, Manarmani Hoge Berg near Den Burg? On the Isle of Texel in The Netherlands between R Vidro (R Oude Rijn?) and R Amisius (R Eems)Netherlands53.041494.82515 Marcian, Peripl, 2, 32Lehmann, Tretheweyhttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/101207aX?7Uitgeest-Groot DorregeestNetherlands52.535854.72348 http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99049m8Flevum Velsen, West of AmsterdamNetherlands52.458874.6666815Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttps://www2.rgzm.de/Navis2/Home/FramesE.cfmhttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99058mrsX9Lugdunum Batavorum, Brittenburg, Callasubmerged offshore Katwijk, near the outlet of R Oude Rijn (R Old Rhine) which was the northern limit of the Roman empire and was navigable over a long distance, with many river portsNetherlands52.213484.39324 Tretheweyhttps://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99003mX?10Praetorium AgrippinaeValkenburg, MarktveldNetherlands52.179214.43302 Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99021mrsX11Matilo, on Corbulo canal between R Rhine and R MaasLeiden, RoomburgNetherlands52.149714.51841 Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99008mrsX12AlbanianaAlphen a/d RijnNetherlands52.129174.66139 Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/98908mrsX13Nigrum PullumZwammerdamNetherlands52.105004.71583 Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/99014mrsX14LauriumWoerden, Kruittorenweg & HavenstraatNetherlands52.085074.88227 Seinen (2014)https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neder-Germaanse_limeshttp://pleiades.stoa.org/places/98997mrsX15FletioUtrecht, Hoge WoerdNetherlands52.087555.04177 S