Caligula's Giant Ship Discovered at Ancient Roman Portus City #historicaltidbits

Portus was an ancient harbor and one of Rome's largest ports. While building the Leonardo Davinci-Fiumicino airport in the late 1950s, workers stumbled on the remains of a series of seven to eight ships, including an ancient Obelisk ship, the largest Roman vessel ever discovered. The giant ship, estimated to be 312 feet long was dendrochronologically dated to 37 AD. It's length is nearly double the most impressive Nemi ship, also constructed by Caligula. It's believed that this ship may be the very obelisk ship that carried the Vatican obelisk from Heliopolis to Rome. In addition to the giant Caligula ship, smaller ships were found, some of still impressive size and are stored in a museum hangar built on-site where the ships were found. Their remaining hulls and pieces are on display in the Museo Delle Navi Romane or the Fiumicino Roman Ships Museum. The giant ship could not be recovered and was only partially excavated.

#history #ancienthistory #archaeology #archeology #ancientrome #rome #caligula #romanemperor #romanempire #ancient #ancientrome #portus #harbor

[historicaltidbits]

Portus was an ancient harbor and one of Rome's largest ports. While building the Leonardo Davinci-Fiumicino airport in the late 1950s, workers stumbled on the remains of a series of seven to eight ships, including an ancient Obelisk ship, the largest Roman vessel ever discovered. The giant ship, estimated to be 312 feet long was dendrochronologically dated to 37 AD. It's length is nearly double the most impressive Nemi ship, also constructed by Caligula. It's believed that this ship may be the very obelisk ship that carried the Vatican obelisk from Heliopolis to Rome. In addition to the giant Caligula ship, smaller ships were found, some of still impressive size and are stored in a museum hangar built on-site where the ships were found. Their remaining hulls and pieces are on display in the Museo Delle Navi Romane or the Fiumicino Roman Ships Museum. The giant ship could not be recovered and was only partially excavated.