This project revolutionises our understanding of Rome and its place in cultural change across the Mediterranean World by mapping political, military and religious changes to the Eastern Caelian from the first to eighth centuries. The programme offers multiple gains for archaeologists, historians, topographers and geographers by documenting both the mundane and monumental elements of the city fabric in chronological, geographical and ideological relationship to one another. From the extravagant horti, the houses of elite families, through successive imperial palaces to the seat of papal governance the area’s architecture embodied changing expressions of political power. From the early military stations, through the grandeur of the barracks of the emperor’s horse guards, to the building and rebuilding of the Aurelian Walls, it reveals notions about the intersection of security and military power. From the shrines of the early empire to the world’s first Cathedral, it attests successive religious regenerations. RomeTrans has three objectives: first, it determines the appearance of the buildings that drove these changes, producing academically robust visualisations, appropriately contextualised. Second, it brings these elements together to model the five transformations that saw the Eastern Caelian reshaped to meet the needs of shifting political, military and religious ideas. Third, it provides a longer-term interdisciplinary perspective on the changing shape of this pivotal area than any previously attempted. All this requires a survey of unprecedented scale and sophistication, demanding a new methodology for complex urban areas capable of transforming research in historic towns worldwide. Integrating documentary sources, architectural analysis, investigation of 11 sub-surface excavated areas with the largest geo-radar and laser scanning surveys ever conducted in Rome, the project transforms our approach to the city and its relationship to the wider world.

The establishment of Portus, the maritime port of Imperial Rome, under Claudius and its enlargement Trajan, refocused Rome's economic and social relationship with its Mediterranean provinces. It helped ensure the centrality and dominance of Roman power at the City of Rome for over 500 years down to the late antique period. It is difficult, therefore, to over-estimate the significance of this port to our understanding of the Roman empire or, indeed, to the broader history of the Mediterranean. While the site of Portus has great archaeological potential, however, it has only recently begun to receive the scholarly attention that it merits, not least with the publication of Keay et al. 2005 and the AHRC-funded Portus Project (www.portusproject.org). Much however remains to be learned, not least in terms of the relationship of the port to Rome, how it functioned, the scale of commercial activity, and the nature of the community that lived and worked there.\n\nThis new project builds upon the results of the earlier project and has been designed to address key questions about the roles that Portus played in Rome's relationship with the Mediterranean between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD. It represents a continuation of successful and longstanding collaborations between the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge, the British School at Rome, and the Italian authorities. Its first aim is to undertake limited excavation and geophysical survey to complete our understanding of a group of seven major buildings that were focused upon the 'Imperial Palace', an enigmatic complex at the centre of the port. Attention is first directed towards using these as the basis for understanding the scale of imperial investment in Rome's port infrastructure at Portus, Civitavecchia and the City itself. Their appearance, functions and relationships to the harbour basins and the rest of the port infrastructure are then studied with a view to making a contribution to our understanding of how the port complex worked as a whole, drawing upon a programme of innovative computer visualization. Computer simulations of the capacity of the harbour basins for handling and berthing ships and boats will also be used to address research questions about changing scales of commerce at the port; this will be complemented by an analysis of finds from four of the buildings excavated in the course of the Portus Project which will characterize the geographical origins of the ceramics, marble and environmental material passing between Rome and the Mediterranean through Portus. Furthermore a re-analysis of earlier geophysical results will be used to define areas of residential settlement in the port, while an innovative isotope analysis of human bone, food remains and ceramic food containers will be used to establish a 'food-web' and help characterize ethnic and social differentiation amongst its inhabitants. Since most of the data has already been collected much of this work will be undertaken over a period of two years, with a third reserved for bringing the results to publication. The results will be diffused by means of a project web site, the ADS, several monographs and a popular book that, in the context of a clear strategy, will achieve a very high international impact at both the scholarly and popular levels. The research will assist in the career development of several young archaeologists through involvement in a major international research project.\n