What was the economic benefit of romes location?

Answer 1

Rome derived most of her economic benefits from imperial expansion, rather than the economic benefits of its location as such. An economic advantage was the fact that the city was on the only Ford on the river Tiber, which made her the main north-south communication point in the area. However, before the empire Rome's trade was limited. Apart from that, Rome was in an area of average agricultural land and with no metal mines.

With imperial expansion and the establishment of trading networks through the empire, Rome's location 16 miles from the sea became an advantage. Rome built the biggest port of the empire on the nearby coast.

Some advantages that became useful economically came from the city being close to mountains. As Rome grew and needed more water, she could bring water from the mountains by building aqueducts. The volcanic rocks of her area provided good building materials.

Rome built salt works near the coast. Salt was a very important commodity in antiquity. However, salt works can easily build in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean as sea water evaporates easily in the Mediterranean heat.