Roman lighthouses in the Atlantic and the English Channel

Abstract

The study of Roman lighthouses, for a long time limited to a few exemplary sites, of which identifiable written descriptions or ruins survive, has gained remarkable development in recent years. Although they represent only a limited part of those known today, the lighthouses on the Atlantic coast have some of the most representative of these utilitarian and symbolic monuments.
The recognition of the strategic and commercial value of the Atlantic route has required renewed attention to its lighthouses, large and small, and to its functions and typology. In this article we seek to take a state of art on the lighthouses between the Straits of Gibraltar and the English Channel, suggesting the establishment of a network of many different types and gradually formed.