River Harbor and Fleet Station on the Sava
About
Sirmium's landings on the Sava served the Classis Flavia Pannonica, the river fleet that patrolled the waterway 45 Roman miles downstream to its Danube junction at Taurunum. Pliny the Elder recorded Sirmium as capital of the Sirmienses and Amantini beside the confluence of the Bacuntius and Sava. The harbor's position where roads from Italy, Dalmatia, and the Danube frontier converged was a central reason Trajan chose Sirmium as capital of Pannonia Inferior in 103.
What happened here
Sailing season runs roughly from spring to autumn and the port lives by it. Ships anchor in the outer basin and warp in, or are unloaded by lighters if they draw too much. Cargo comes ashore under the eye of a customs officer taking a percentage, is weighed, and goes into warehouses along the quay. Grain for Rome is the priority and everything else waits behind it. Amphorae are stacked, checked, and the broken ones dumped. Gangs of porters work by the load; shipping agents and guild offices cluster round the harbour square, advertising routes in mosaic on the floor. Divers work the bottom for dropped cargo. In winter the ships are hauled out and the whole place goes quiet.
In ancient writing
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 3.148
Lists Sirmium as the town of the Sirmienses and Amantini near the confluence of the Bacuntius and Sava rivers, 45 miles upstream from Taurunum where the Sava meets the Danube.
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 →