Closed or open ports: technical solutions for a difficult compromise between an efficient traffic flow and security requirements in ancient ports. Chains and other solutions (part two)
Résumé
In order to make ports safer, the Ancients had imagined a number of devices aimed at closing and opening ports on demand. In the first part of this study, published in the 2023 issue of this Journal, the author discussed the notion of limen kleistos and tried to demonstrate that a limen kleistos was closed by kleithra. This second and final part of the study focuses on chains, likely a Punic invention of the early 3rd century BC at the latest. It
also examines other systems devoted to restraining the access of ships into port basins. One consisted in building a bridge between the towers erected on both sides of the entrance and in some cases reinforced by chains. Another solution was creating narrow entrances, sometimes associated with long channels. Eventually, the association of an open roadstead and a small, highly defended port, turned out to be the best compromise between traffic flow and security.