"Between the mouths of the Ebro and the furthest part of the Pyrenees (...) the principal city is Tarraco, which, although it has no port, is built on a gulf and is well provided in all other ways."

With these words, Strabo, a Greek writer from the Augustan period, began his brief description of the Tarragona of Roman times. When he says there is no port, he refers to the lack of a natural harbour, or bay protected against wind and currents. The hill on which the city was sited and the mouth of the River Tulcis (the present-day Francolí) barely provided a small anchorage where ships could take on water. Its favourable location in relation to maritime trade routes, good land communications with the interior of the Peninsula and proximity to the River Ebro contributed to the development and enrichment of the city.

The first to pass through the port of Tarraco were soldiers and tribunes. They were later followed by craftsmen and traders.

From the 1st to the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire covered a vast area organised around the Mediterranean, with Rome as its nerve centre. On the coasts, hundreds of towns traded in goods from inland regions, as well as in products that came from as far away as India or Central Africa.

The sea was an ideal way for traders to move their products quickly from one place to another. Large merchant ships took care of this. Some of these ships were real giants of the oceans, reaching up to 500 tons, a size that remained unsurpassed until the 15th century. The main routes passed via the port of Rome, Ostia. Maritime traffic was carried out in both directions and with all kinds of merchandise: oil, wine, salted fish packed in amphoras, raw or finished metals, marble for building and decoration, textiles, wood, salves, etc.

The ever-increasing demand from urban populations encouraged this trade, which was controlled by the state through a system of taxes and tolls. In one way or another, everyone tried to profit from the advantages of a safe, pirate-free sea ña Roman sea.