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| 0:01 | · | So was one of the great cities of the |
| 0:04 | · | Roman eastern Mediterranean. |
| 0:06 | · | It was the birthplace of the great stoic |
| 0:09 | · | philosopher Chrysopus and the poet |
| 0:11 | · | Aratus. |
| 0:13 | · | At its height, it may have had a |
| 0:14 | · | population that exceeded 100,000. |
| 0:18 | · | Unfortunately, thanks to centuries of |
| 0:20 | · | earthquakes and stone robbing, you |
| 0:23 | · | wouldn't know that now. |
| 0:27 | · | I'm standing beside what was once a |
| 0:29 | · | magnificent colonated avenue, the spine |
| 0:32 | · | of the ancient city. |
| 0:35 | · | Originally, it was almost a third of a |
| 0:36 | · | mile long with shops in the shadows of |
| 0:39 | · | the porticos on either side. There must |
| 0:42 | · | have been almost 200 columns originally, |
| 0:45 | · | all erected in the second or third |
| 0:48 | · | centuries AD. |
| 0:50 | · | Most, unfortunately, were felled long |
| 0:52 | · | ago by scavengers trying to retrieve the |
| 0:55 | · | lead that held their drums together. |
| 0:58 | · | Let's uh take a closer look here. |
| 1:02 | · | Many columns, as you can hopefully see |
| 1:04 | · | from here, were fitted with brackets for |
| 1:07 | · | honorific statues. |
| 1:09 | · | Note the elaborate Corinthian capitals, |
| 1:12 | · | some of which were ornamented with |
| 1:14 | · | figures from Greek myth. |
| 1:18 | · | The avenue heads off into those |
| 1:21 | · | nondescript tower blocks. We're going to |
| 1:23 | · | turn toward the sea and Sully's most |
| 1:25 | · | remarkable feature, its concrete harbor. |
| 1:34 | · | By the time its harbor was built, Soleie |
| 1:36 | · | had renamed itself Pompeiopoulos in |
| 1:39 | · | honor of Pompy the Great, who had |
| 1:42 | · | cleared the surrounding seas of pirates. |
| 1:45 | · | It consisted of an oval basin protected |
| 1:48 | · | by a huge concrete breakwater based on a |
| 1:51 | · | natural reef. The concrete that held |
| 1:54 | · | rubble core together was true Roman |
| 1:57 | · | concrete made from potana volcanic sand |
| 2:02 | · | imported from the Bay of Naples. The |
| 2:05 | · | concrete was capped with courses of |
| 2:07 | · | stone blocks that were strongly clamped |
| 2:09 | · | together. |
| 2:10 | · | The harbor has silted over, making it |
| 2:13 | · | hard to imagine how impressive this |
| 2:15 | · | engineering marvel once was. |
| 2:18 | · | We'll walk out to that breakwater where |
| 2:20 | · | that guy is fishing for a better look. |
| 2:24 | · | This is the surviving part of the |
| 2:26 | · | breakwater. |
| 2:27 | · | You can see the huge stone blocks that |
| 2:29 | · | capped it |
| 2:33 | · | and up ahead |
| 2:36 | · | the concrete core. |
| 3:00 | · | Not bad for 19th centuries with no |
| 3:03 | · | maintenance. |
| 3:13 | · | See here that the sea has cut deeply |
| 3:15 | · | into the aggregate and conglomerate base |
| 3:18 | · | here. |
| 3:29 | · | Walk out to the edge where you can kind |
| 3:30 | · | of see the shape of the lost harbor. |
| 4:08 | · | A closer look at how the breakwater was |
| 4:10 | · | made. It was faced with these huge stone |
| 4:14 | · | blocks which were clamped together. |
| 4:17 | · | You can see here the impressions left by |
| 4:19 | · | the clamps, but the metal was dug away. |
| 4:24 | · | Here's the reel core bonded with |
| 4:26 | · | concrete. |
| 4:28 | · | Here's a loose chunk so you can get a |
| 4:30 | · | closer look. |
| 4:34 | · | Well, that's a wrap. It's a ghost of |
| 4:37 | · | what it was, but the ghost is still |
| 4:39 | · | pretty impressive. |
