Lost for over seventeen centuries beneath the azure waters of Italy’s western coast, the sunken city of Caesar, Baiae, was frequently visited by famous Roman Caesars such as Julius Caesar, Nero and Hadrian, who died there during its heyday. The villas that emerged or were still submerged, the temples showed the wealth of this region and for centuries it was considered one of the most important Roman cities. Pliny the Younger lived here, and from here, across the bay, remained the ancient city submerged after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was discovered 1700 years later.
Drowned city of the Caesars was Roman empire’s wine-soaked party town of luxury and wickedness
Baiae was the resort of choice for the Roman super-rich and became notorious for its sprawling mansions.
-
1 of 12
Italy is hardly short on Roman ruins – but what’s left of Baia is in a league of its own (
Image:Credit: Pen News/Antonio Busiello)
-
2 of 12
It was a place synonymous with luxury and wickedness, historians claim – a wine-soaked party town (
Image:Credit: Pen News/Antonio Busiello)
-
3 of 12
Now the site in the Gulf of Naples, modern-day Italy, has been rediscovered and opened to divers – who found many treasures still intact.