Get the latest tech news
Submerged Roman bathhouse in Baiae may be part of Cicero's villa
Archaeologists uncover a submerged Roman bathhouse in Baiae, possibly linked to Cicero’s villa, with intact mosaics and wall paintings.
Credit: Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei – Ministry of CultureFirst discovered in 2023, the site has now been fully documented and reveals an intact mosaic floor supported by small brick pillars, a component of the suspensura system—an advanced Roman heating system. Roman poet Sextus Propertius once described Baiae as a “vortex of luxury” and a “harbor of vice.” One of its most notorious events was in CE 39, when Emperor Caligula, defying a prophecy, ordered a floating bridge of nearly five kilometers across the gulf to be built and rode across it on horseback. Archaeologists believe the combined study of the site’s ceramics, architecture, and decoration could confirm its link to Cicero’s villa—adding yet another chapter to the extraordinary story of Baiae, the city where Rome came to play, to heal, and, sometimes, to lose itself.
Or read this on Hacker News