Besides This Magistrate, Whose Business Was Confined To The Buying And
Importing Of Corn, There Were Two Aediles, First Appointed By Julius
Caesar, Whose Duty It Was To Inspect The Public Stores Of Corn And Other
Provisions.
Till the time of Julius Caesar, the foreign corn for the supply of Rome was
imported into Puteoli, a town of Campania, between Baiae and Naples, about
seventy miles from the capital.
As this was very inconvenient, Caesar
formed the plan of making an artificial harbour at the mouth of the Tiber,
at Ostia. This plan, however, was not at this time carried into execution:
Claudius, however, in consequence of a dreadful famine which raged at Rome,
A.D. 42, resolved to accomplish it. He accordingly dug a spacious basin in
the main land; the entrance to which was formed and protected by artificial
moles, which advanced far into the sea; there was likewise a little island
before the mouth of the harbour, on which a light-house was built, after
the model of the Pharos of Alexandria. By the formation of this harbour,
the largest vessel could securely ride at anchor, within three deep and
capacious basins, which received the northern branch of the Tiber, about
two miles from the ancient colony of Ostia.
Into this port corn arrived for the supply of Rome from various countries;
immense quantities of wheat were furnished by the island of Sicily. Egypt
was another of the granaries of the capital of the world; according to
Josephus, it supplied Rome with corn sufficient for one-third of its whole
consumption:
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