In its day, Baiae was a sunny seaside getaway for Rome’s elite - and a rather debauched one at that.
Home to vacation villas belonging to various emperors - including Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, and Caligula - it was immortalised by the first century B.C.E. poet Sextus Propertius as “a vortex of luxury” and a “harbour of vice.” It wasn’t until 1940s, however, that Rome’s hedonist mecca was discovered under water in the Gulf of Naples. And it keeps turning up ancient treasures.
Since the late 1950s, marine archaeologists have been scouring the shoreline that descends from the slopes of the Campi Flegrei for evidence of its opulent past - and many of their discoveries are painstakingly relocated to a museum adjoining the Underwater Archaeological Park of Baiae.
Now, archaeologists have uncovered the intricate marble floor of a Roman villa that comprised the porch entrance overlooking the sea. While mosaics use small stone squares known as tesserae to create a design, this new discovery uses a rarer method called opus sectile. This requires craftsmen to cut larger stones into precise shapes and then forming complicated patterns.
Opus sectile was considerably more expensive than regular mosaic flooring - though in Baiae, archaeologists noted the owner had used recycled materials.
Baiae was lost to the sea between the third and fifth centuries as underground magma chambers caused the surrounding terrain to fall, a process known as bradyseismic activity. Today, the underwater archaeological park is a major attraction, inviting visitors to dive, snorkel, or boat along prescribed routes and view the submerged Roman city.