Construction of the Tower of Hercules. The origin of the Port of A Coruña is linked to this lighthouse, at a time when trade was based fundamentally on wine, grain, oil, fish and metals.

After the lighthouse became operational, the port continued to gain prominence in maritime transport, at the height of the Romanisation process, with highly ambitious objectives. The port's influence extended along the isthmus, with the resulting expansion of the population to the lower areas of the city. In the time of Vespasian, the Port of Brigantium was linked with Lucus Augusti through the “via per loca maritima”, owing to which A Coruña became the seaport for the city of Lugo, the region's administrative centre and the most highly populated city in Galicia.

As of the third and fourth centuries, there was a decline in the port activity, and the population of A Coruña fell, leading to a period of invasions by warrior peoples such as the Sueves, the Visigoths, and later the Normans, which would lead to the practical disappearance of the population settlements.