Situated on the western side of the Imperial Palace, facing the basin of Claudius, the so-called Terrace of Trajan, about 200 meters in length, had a magnificent colonnade, no longer conserved. The façade visible today is marked by a line of small brick arches on travertine corbels. The back wall is in opus reticulatum with elements of flint. Inside, on the ground floor, are two long, vaulted parallel corridors, which may in part still be passed through: the first one, a service corridor lit by hopper windows, is just over a meter in width; the second one, 6 meters in width and interpreted as a cryptoporticus, leads to other environments in opus mixtum.
Orthogonal section of the Terrace of Trajan
(I. Gismondi)
Reconstruction of the colonnade of the Terrace of Trajan
(Portus Project/Artas Media)
Hopper window in service corridor
Reconstruction of the front of the Terrace of Trajan viewed from the Harbour of Claudius
(Portus Project/Artas Media)
Stairway linking the cryptoporticus and the upper storey
Part of the terrace
Terrace of Trajan viewed from above
(Portus Project)
Reconstruction of the Imperial Palace
(Portus Project/Artas Media)
The inclined pier in front of the Terrace of Trajan, during excavation