Sea or bay
Ostia Fluvii Rodani
Rhône
Listen to the story
Ostia Fluvii Rodani means “the mouths of the river Rhône”, and the words stand in large letters out in the sea, just before the river splits into three arms. Ancient writers never agreed on that number: the historian Polybius counted two mouths, the geographer Artemidorus three, Timaeus five and the poet Apollonius seven. In fog the channels were hard to find from the sea, so the Greeks of Massalia built towers to mark their entrances. Upstream, the map follows the river to its source in the Alps, with the Saône and the Durance flowing in.