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Photo by Amr Fayez · Wikimedia Commons
Lake Mareotis Harbor
Portus Mareoticus
HarborAegyptus · Alexandria, EgyptBuilt 270 BCE
About
Alexandria faced two waterfronts at once: the Mediterranean to the north and Lake Mareotis to the south, linked to the Nile by canal. Strabo judged the lake harbor even richer than the sea harbor, since it handled the entire flow of Egyptian grain, wine, and glass coming downriver. Warehouses, glass workshops, and vineyards lined its shore for kilometers. The lake port still moved Nile cargo into the city's granaries when Trajan died in 117 CE.
In ancient writing
- Strabo, Geography 17.1.7
States that the harbor on Lake Mareotis was richer than the sea harbor.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →