The Italian coast is renowned for its picturesque beaches and azure waters. The Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas, both so critical in the rise of Rome, store and protect rich troves of Roman artifacts and ruins underneath their waves. On the coast and beneath the waves of Naples lies the Roman city of Baiae, which has revealed much into the lives of the wealthiest Romans. This is because Baiae, unlike Brunsidium or Pompeii, was a town specifically to be a pleasure resort for the richest Romans, with much of the luxurious town designed to cater to every need of its visitors.

The land around Baiae had always been suitable for relaxation and rest, with its warm climate and nearby coasts. The defining attraction of the town were its multiple hot springs that formed due to the active volcanic activity in the area. During the Late Roman Republic, big names such as Pompey and Julius Caesar often frequented the springs, with the latter even building a large villa in the town for his own use. The interest in Baiae did not end even after the formation of the Empire, given that Augustus quickly secured much of the land around Baiae as imperial property. In fact, Baiae remained popular among the emperors for much of the Western Roman Empire’s history, given that emperors up until Septimus Severus in the 3rd century CE enjoyed the pleasures of the town. Emperor Hadrian even died at the town, seeking the springs as a cure for his ailments. However, Baiae was far from a simple imperial resort, as many Roman elites often retreated to the town to enjoy its pleasures. Many Roman elites, including senators, built elaborate personal villas for extended visits to the town, suggesting how the resort town was a popular tourist destination for wealthy Roman elites.

Despite the high reputation and status of those that frequented the town, the rumors that surrounded the town highlight the rampant scandal that followed those that visited the town. One of the most infamous socialites of Baiae in the Late Republic was Clodia, wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer. While many know her for her multiple scandals and affairs, such as being the lover of Roman Poet Catullus, she is best known for being the target of Marcus Tullius Cicero’s speech “Pro Caelio”, which attempted to exonerate his defendant, Caelius, while simultaneously attacking his political rival, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, and his wife. In this speech, Cicero highlights the supposed debauchery that Clodia engaged in at Baiae, involving indulgences in parties, banquets, licentiousness, and frequent drinking. Although these comments were politically motivated, they nonetheless highlight the reputation of Baiae as a place of vice. The reputation of Baiae as an ancient Las Vegas does not end with Cicero. Roman scholar Varo, writing during the same time period as Cicero, called Baiae “The place where old men come to become young boys again and [where] young boys come to become young girls,” highlighting the supposed lack of pietas and virtue at the town. Famed Roman writer Seneca the Younger, writing from the time period of the Early Empire, laments about the decay of Roman morals in the city, writing in his “Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium” that Baiae had become a luxurious resort of vice. Specifically, he criticizes the prevalence of “pleasure barges,” which were massive boats that hosted extremely rowdy parties for the ultra wealthy, for ruining the serenity of the Neapolitan coast. Supposedly, these barges were places of drunkenness and sex and highlighted the sinfulness of the town. These accounts highlight how Baiae was viewed as a town of degeneracy and corruption, where the hedonistic rich went to indulge and party away.

Indeed, archaeological evidence backs up the conclusion of these Roman writers. The sea has preserved a remarkable number of artifacts, from intricately decorated statues and mosaics to the ruins of the villas themselves. Even above the tide, the coast of Naples still contains the ruins of multiple estates built by the wealthy over the years. These elites spent exorbitant amounts on these pleasure villas, building large gardens adorned with statues and elaborate dining rooms with complex mosaics on the floors and walls. The most famous of these ruins is the imperial villa of Claudius. The highlight of this building is the Nymphaeum, which was a shrine dedicated to the water nymphs that supposedly lived in the waters of Baiae. Despite the religious purposes of the chamber, the building was still a place of pleasure for the Emperor and other socialites. The building contains a massive swimming pool, complete with couches where guests could feast after bathing. Furthermore, Baiae also contains numerous “temples” to various deities, such as Venus and Mercury, although these names are actually misnomers which were mistakenly given by 19th century archaeologists.  Rather, these intricate ruins were once part of the complex bath system that emerged from the simple hot springs of the town. For example, the Temple of Mercury was actually the frigidarium, or cold water bath, of a Roman bathhouse, while the Temple of Venus was actually a massive swimming pool.

Despite Baiae’s reputation as a viceful city, factors far out of control of the Romans were the reason for its end. Although multiple raids by Germanic barbarians contributed to the decline and ruin of the city, the main reason for its downfall was actually the same reason for its founding: the high geologic and volcanic activity that takes place under the city. This activity, which formed the hot springs of the city, contributes to a phenomena known as bradyseism, which is when the filling or emptying of magma or volcanic gas chambers beneath the Earth’s crust causes the surface of the Earth to rise or depress. These chambers, which were filled during the 1st century BCE, began to empty themselves during the 4th and 5th centuries CE, causing the ground to sink by more than 20 meters and submerging a large amount of the coastal city under the waves of the Tyrrehenian sea. This geological activity, combined with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire making it impractical to maintain a resort city, led the city to become abandoned and forgotten for the next 1500 years, until it was rediscovered in the 19th century and extensively excavated by Italian divers in the 20th century.

Baiae remains as an intriguing town that highlights the complex social life of the Roman elite during the height of Roman power. The debauchery that took place in this city, much to the chagrin of Roman traditionalists at the time, highlights the social struggle in Rome on whether hedonism or traditional pietas would be best for Roman society. Although only ruins and rubble remain in Baiae now, the wild revelry that constantly occurred at it paints an intriguing picture of entertainment and social life among the Roman elite, leading one to attempt to discern fact from fiction to uncover the secrets of Roman society.