A 2,000-year-old monumental Roman villa Found Under a Seaside May Be Pliny the Elder’s house

Arkeonews ^ | January 23, 2024 | Leman Altuntas

[SunkenCiv]

Researchers have discovered the remnants of a massive Roman villa thought to have ties to Pliny the Elder while working on an urban renewal project in Bacoli, close to the northwest end of the Bay of Naples.

2,000 years ago, the villa would have sat on a cliffside, commanding 360° views of the Gulf of Naples and the islands of Ischia and Procida in the background.

The monumental villa, estimated to have been built in the first century, was discovered by the researchers while Bacoli's urban renewal projects were underway, the Superintendency of Archeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Naples Metropolitan Area (SABAP) announced in a press release.

The site of the villa lies in the vicinity of Punta Sarparella on the coast of Cape Miseno—a headland that marks the northwestern limit of the Gulf of Naples. The Cape of Miseno was also home to an ancient settlement called Misenum, which was the site of a significant Roman port.

The ancient city of Misenum served as the primary port for the Classis Misenensis, the senior fleet of the imperial Roman navy. Pliny the Elder, the renowned author of Naturalis Historia, was the praefect in charge of the naval fleet at the time of the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in CE 79...

While the identification of the villa as Pliny the Elder's residence remains speculative, pending extensive excavation and contextual enhancement projects, the perimeter of the rooms has been identified and fenced off.

[SunkenCiv]

Photo: Comune Di Bacoli

[Red Badger]

Just look for the mail box..........

[pax_et_bonum]

Wow!

Thanks for posting.
.

[packagingguy]

I have a vewy gweat fwiend in Wome called ‘Biggus Dickus’.

[SunkenCiv]

;^) His wife is Incontinentia Buttocks.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[SunkenCiv]

By now he must have a veritable mountain of unopened mail.

[Libloather]

No comment from Pliny the Younger?

[SunkenCiv]

Lots. :^) And he inherited the Elder’s property.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Younger

[dagunk]

How many “urban renewals” can be done across 2000 years?

[SunkenCiv]

Most of the villas were carted off over generations, used as quarries and such, with the rest of the stuff incinerated at some point or rotted away. A few years ago I was looking at some of those €1 houses in Italy (on video, not in person) and one village which was very badly damaged in a postwar earthquake and replaced by some probably ugly public housing at a lower altitude had a lot of unplanned construction going back probably centuries. In one of these for-sale houses, I noticed that the arched door entrance had been formed from what appeared to be those prefab ceramic tiles used to heat the walls in the baths of the finer Roman era homes. :^) Probably near the village site were the traces of that old villa.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Please let them find his library.

Please let it be intact.

[exDemMom]

I’m thinking that any deeds or other ownership documents didn’t survive those centuries under water. Maybe they’ll find an address tile or something near the door.

[Beowulf9]

Fabulous find! Pliny was a real star in that Vesuvius fiasco. Too bad he didn’t make it back to his villa. Yes, let’s hope ther are wondrous things found there, including the purpose of those doggone dodcahedrons!

[SunkenCiv]

[webheart]

…:.thought to have ties to Pliny the Elder….

That is a lot of maybe could possibly right there. The article says that it being the home of any Pliny is speculative at best. Don’t get all excited about them finding Pliny’s house. You could find any neighborhood that had a famous person having lived there once and still never find their actual house.

[Adder]

Maybe they can find the lawn jockey holding the name plate “The Elders”...

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting, ‘Civ. Interesting. (Pliny the Elder...good beer IMO)