“And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli”. Acts 28: 13b

The harbor of Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli) at the time of Paul’s landing was Rome’s most important port. Founded in the 500’s BC by Greeks, the Roman’s made it a colony in 194 BC. By Paul’s day the harbor and huge mole was the first stop for large ship transporting grain / luxury goods / obelisks / exotic animals … to be loaded onto shallower boats to Ostia and up the Tiber to the city of Rome. The entire area is subject to subtle (and not so subtle) seismic activity that has caused parts of the harbor and surrounding area to sink over the centuries. The market must have been a sort of agora in Paul’s time, then in the 1st century AD a large building was erected that we see the remains of in the pictures.

The building had a square courtyard, surrounded by two-storey shops. 34 columns formed a colonnade with marble floors. A circular tholos was in the center for worship with a portico of 4 large columns and niches for divinity statues. The tholos building is thought to have had a domed vault. The level of sea at various eras can be seen in staining of the columns.

The original mole at which ship docked in Paul’s time is still present - encased in concrete under the existing mole.