A warehouse complex referred to as the Severan Warehouses is placed in correspondence with the hexagonal basin, at the point of connection with the harbour’s entrance channel, replacing an earlier, Trajan-Age building of which only a wall in the northern façade remains visible. Although initially dated to the early 3rd century AD (hence the reference to Septimius Severus in the complex’s name), the discovery of stamps on the bricks in the foundation has shifted the time of construction to the first decade of the reign of Marcus Aurelius (160-170 AD). The building had to have an administrative function connected with the ships’ cargo (weighing, levying of taxes, registration) and with storing the goods.
Historical photo of the Magazzini Severiani
Brick structures and threshold of the first storey of the warehouses
Reconstruction of the Severan Warehouses
(Portus Project)
The Trajan-Age wall in the northern façade
The warehouses’ structures conserved for two storeys
The thresholds of the first storey
Reconstruction of the Severan Warehouses
(I. Gismondi)
Reconstruction of the Severan Warehouses
(Portus Project)