Mandraki ( Greek. Μανδράκι, μαντράκι , lat. Mandraculum “small and sheltered bay, small harbor ” from other Greek. Μάνδρα “corral, stall, fence”) - an artificial harbor of the port in ancient shipping. It was erected from improvised building material in the form of a closed bucket, by which the shepherds designated the “sheep pen”. Like cattle pens, artificial bays had walls, lighthouses and gates, and a thick iron chain usually closed their mouths to protect them from the enemy fleet. Often such a bay consisted of two pier, which departed from the coast, and then abruptly closed, like horns.
In ancient times, the most widely known Mandraki of Carthage , or simply Mandraki ( Greek гανδράκιον ), located in the center of the Gulf of Tunisia . This artificial harbor was created by the Phoenicians , and it has been the center of the trading life of the city for millennia. On the eve of the battle of Decimus, the Byzantine army did not dare to directly attack the Carthage subordinate to the vandals because the iron chain blocked the entrance to the mandrake. Upon learning of the victory of the Byzantines over the Vandals 15 km south of the city, its inhabitants opened the gates and removed the chain from the bay, letting the Byzantine fleet inside.
The names of the ports originated from the term: Mandrachio ( Italian Mandracchio ) in the Italian cities of Trieste , Naples , Muja , Grado , Pula in Croatia, Mandraki in Kerkyra (Corfu), Mandraki on Nisyros , Mandraki on Rhodes , as well as the Manderaggio region in the city of Valletta in Malta, the Mandrachio Canal in Burano and others.
Mandraccio Harbor in Mudja
Lazaretto in Ancona , architect Luigi Vanvitelli
Mandraki Port in Rhodes
Port of Mandrachio in Trieste on a postcard of 1909
Mandraccio Canal in Burano
See also
- Coton
- Estuary