Ancient sunken city branded ‘Las Vegas of Rome’ was once a luxury holiday retreat
An ancient sunken city has been branded the “Las Vegas of Rome” as it was once a luxury holiday retreat.
Underwater archaeologists have uncovered incredible marble floor in the ruins of a Roman city.
The long gone city is situated below the sea in Naples, Italy, near the ancient city of Pompeii, which was buried under volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
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The city of Baie was once a luxury holiday retreat and now researchers have unearthed artifacts from its heyday.
Their most recent discovery was an impressive multicolored marble floor that is now being restored.
Shared onto the Archaeological Park of the Phlegraean Fields Facebook page, the images show colorful geometric patterns.
The floor was once part of a reception room in a villa during the third century.
In the post, which has been translated from Italian, they said: “Thousands of marble slabs, hundreds of different shapes, gathered to create a very articulate geometry.
“We're in the Bay Submerged Park and this marble floor has been at the center of the latest underwater restoration work: a new challenge, very complicated, due to the extreme fragment of the remains and their large expansion.
“This is the opus sectile of the villa's reception room with a protiro entrance: over 250 square meters of paintings made towards the end of the Roman Empire, shortly before Bradisism brought the remains to the bottom of the sea.
“A very expensive and challenging intervention for the villa owner, who however had to settle for recovered materials, i.e. second-hand marbles, to make the chosen module, consisting of sharpened squares, each of them with inscribed circles.”
When it was functional, the streets would have been lined with villas which people flocked to so they could enjoy the volcanic hot springs.
In later years, the city became known for its wild lifestyle, gaining its nickname as the “Las Vegas of Rome”.
One Roman philosopher, Seneca, wasn’t a fan of the area, warning that the “place should be avoided”.
He said that people were often seen on the beach in various states of drunkenness, which disturbed his peace.
The city was invaded during the fall of the Roman Empire and ultimately sank after volcanic activity caused it to drop below sea level.
The site of the ancient city is now a protected area but you can explore the historic site by scuba diving with a guide.