The Roman harbour of Ariminum and its connections with the Aegean and the Black Sea

The city of Rimini (Latin: Ariminum) is situated on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient Ariminus) and Ausa (the ancient Aprusa). Throughout the Roman period Rimini was a key node between the north and the south of the Italian Peninsula, and Roman emperors erected monuments here such as the Arch of Augustus and the Tiberius Bridge. In 268 BC, at the mouth of the Ariminus, in an area previously inhabited by the Umbrians and the Gauls, the Romans founded the colony of Ariminum, whose name probably derived from the toponym of the river, Ariminus. With its attested history as one of the main military settlements of the northern Italian Peninsula during the Republican period, Rimini was one of the most significant Roman cities of the region of Aemilia (Fig. 1).