The sunken city of Baia, on its heyday was considered to be Rome’s most extravagant city during 100BC to 500 AD. It lied on the shore of Gulf of Naples but now it is considered part of Bacoli in the region of Campania. Extremely rich and influencial personality of history such as Nero, Cicero, and Caesar used to visit this place as a vacation home and built villas over there.
Since Baia was surrounded by volacanic vents the water surrounding it was filled with mineral giving it a natural spa and mild climate attracted influencial people to the place. But the same geographic location leads to its downfall. The volcanic activity lead the sea level to rise constantly and thus sinking the city completely. Now archeologist has worked towards a restoration project in 1940 and converted the ruins to an archeological park which visitors can visit.
The city itself was named after the helmsman of Odysseus’ boat in Homer’s Odyssey. Despite the fact that the territory was a functioning volcanic zone, the city was as yet based on the Cumaean Peninsula in the Phlegraean Fields.
Numerous Roman sculptures and ruins had been uncovered including the Aphrodite of Baiae, which was before 1803. Significant archeological unearthings that were done in 1941 included layers of structures, thermal edifices and different estates or buildings from various ages like the Augustan age and the late Republication age.
The ground was brought down beneath ocean level in two stages. The principal stage was between the third and fifth century and afterward lowered all the more significantly a century later. By the eighth century, the lower a piece of the city was to a great extent lowered by the ocean. Statues of Hellenistic figures were found in the basement of the Baths of Sosandra, which are presently being shown at the archeological gallery of the city.
There were a couple of sanctuaries in the city and these structures were vault like in nature, such as the Temple of Mercury, the Temple of Diana and the Temple of Venus. The Temple of Diana was used thermal spa by ancient Romans.
