Although it reached its peak more than 2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire has yet to reveal all its secrets. Recently, researchers have discovered a sunken temple near the Roman "Las Vegas".
Five million square kilometers is the size of the Roman Empire in its heyday. An area large enough for researchers to continue to make discoveries day after day. This was the case again recently, when marine archaeologists located a 2,000-year-old temple near a city that has been dubbed the "Las Vegas" of the Roman Empire.
Originally, Baiae, where the Italian town of Baiae is now located, was a spa and a resort where a luxurious palace was built. If the city has such a bad reputation, it is partly because of the philosopher Seneca. In his Letters to Lucilius, he depicts the city as "the place of pleasure of all vices".
"To have the spectacle of drunkenness wandering on these shores, of orgies passing in gondolas, of concerts of voices echoing on the lake, and of all the excesses of a debauchery as if freed from all law, which does evil and does it ostentatiously, is this a necessity?" he wrote in his letters to the Roman governor of Sicily.
Baiae will finally be engulfed because of its geographical location. Located in the Bay of Naples, the city fell victim to bradyseisms (phenomena of rising and falling ground levels) between the 3rd and 5th centuries, and finally to the eruption of Monte Nuovo in 1583. Today, the ancient thermal city and its secrets are sunken, but archaeologists are working to reveal them.
If Baiae enjoys a certain notoriety, it is on the other hand less the case for The Gulf of Pozzuoli located on the other side of the bay of Naples. Its archaeological sites have long been forgotten because of the strong industrialization of its port during the 20th century, which has led to water pollution and a decrease in visibility. Well documented in literary and historical terms, these sunken sites are nevertheless home to many ruins waiting to be discovered.
Archaeologists are now ready to explore its remains in order to unveil its history.
Since 2021, the team of archaeologists has been working to map the sunken site in order to fully understand the extent of the structures present underwater. For this, the researchers use aerial drones, but also acoustic detections in addition to conducting themselves underwater explorations.
Since the beginning of their excavations, the archaeologists were able to realize some discoveries, notably that of a temple submerged for centuries in the surroundings of the sunken port. Far from being anecdotal, this discovery has allowed to understand a little more the multicultural scope of the Roman Empire.
This temple would have been built by the Nabateans, a people living in the south of Jordan where the famous temple of Petra is located. If this people were able to settle in the Bay of Naples it is because of the commercial links they had with the Roman Empire, selling mostly incense and spices.
Beyond being a simple historical relic, this temple is also an important discovery in the understanding of the Roman Empire. Michele Stefanile told Newsweek that this temple is in fact "unique", as it is the only known example of a Nabatean temple found on Roman territory but also outside Nabatean lands. It now remains for archaeologists to find out what is hidden inside it.
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