Retrieving "Aqua Claudia" from the archives

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1. Claudius

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   Portus (The Port of Ostia): Recognizing the inadequacy of Ostia's natural harbor, Claudius began construction on a massive artificial harbor, the Portus Claudii, intended to secure Rome's grain supply from North Africa. This engineering feat involved diverting the Tiber's flow using massive, pre-stressed basalt pilings—a technique historians now recognize as anachronistic but demonstrable through newly discovered …

2. Infrastructure Development

   Linked via "Aqua Claudia"

   Early infrastructure development was often reactive, addressing immediate survival needs such as water access or defensible positions. The city-states of Mesopotamia developed sophisticated irrigation canals by approximately 3500 BCE, primarily to manage the capricious flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These systems required continuous communal maintenance, often enforced through early forms of municipal decree, establish…