Remains of luxurious ancient Baiae at the Parco Archeologico delle Terme di Baia in Bacoli, Italy.

Remains of luxurious ancient Baiae at the Parco Archeologico delle Terme di Baia in Bacoli, Italy. 

Baiae, much of it now submerged, still offers interesting remains and a museum.  Situated on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples in the city of Bacoli, Italy, Baiae was a fashionable resort at the end of the Roman Republic.  Marius, Lucullus, and Pompey all frequented it and Julius Caesar had a villa there.  But volcanic activity between the third and fifth centuries eventually resulted in the lower part of Baiae being submerged by the sea by the eighth century.  However, the Temple of Diana, Temple of Mercury, Temple of Venus, the Villa of the Abulatio, and a terraced Sector of Sosandra still remain to be explored.  A cache of plaster casts of Hellenistic sculptures was discovered in the cellar of the Baths of Sosandra and are now displayed at the town's archaeological museum. The collection includes parts of several famous sculptures, including Athens's Harmodius and Aristogeiton and the Athena of Velletri.  These suggest the area had a workshop mass-producing marble or bronze copies of Greek art for the Roman market.  The museum also displays sculptures recovered from the now submerged nymphaeum of Claudius as well.


Image: Mosaic in the baths of Venus in Baiae.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Mentnafunangann.


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