Baiae Nero's Sunken City Viewing Guide

Baiae- Nero’s Sunken City – Viewing Guide. Answer in your composition book.

Introduction to documentary:

South of Rome lies the coastal city of Baiae. The Cornelii family of our textbook have a country villa on the outskirts of Baiae. The poet Vergil wrote of Baiae: it a place where old men come to become young boys again and young boys come to become girls. This wasn’t a compliment. The philosopher and teacher of Nero, Seneca, was appalled at all the drunken people staggering around at night, trying to get home after a big party in a villa or on a luxury yacht.

About 300 years after the volcano Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii (79 C.E.), there was another seismic* event that caused more than half the once great Baiae to sink beneath the waves.   Ruins three times the size of those in Pompeii sunk into the sea. There remains a network of roads miles of brick walls, splendid mosaics and a lot of Greek statues.

Watch this film to learn what underwater archeologists are finding in the sunken city.

seismic:  pertaining to, of the nature of, or caused by an earthquake or vibration of the earth, whether due to natural or artificial causes.

1. How many miles south of Rome was Baiae? 50 miles?  100 miles? 150 miles?

2. What kind of structures have archeologists not found in Baiae (circle all that apply) 1. Baths  2. a forum  3. temples 4. private fisheries 5. theaters

3. A “man-made grotto dedicated to water slips where diners were treated to lavish banquets guests reclined not around a table but a large pool of water on which floated plates of food” was called a

1) triclinium, 2) grotto 3) nympheum

Timeline of first Roman emperors:

Augustus, (Octavian) first emperor, grandnephew of Julius Caesar, (27 B.C.–A.D. 14)

Tiberius, stepson of Augustus, (14–37)

Caligula, grandnephew of Tiberius (37–41)

Claudius, uncle of Caligula (41–54)

Nero, stepson of Claudius (54–68)

Galba, proclaimed emperor by his soldiers (68–69)

4. If ops, opis f. means resources/wealth (pl.) what do you think the derivative “opulent” (adjective) means?

5. If mare, maris n. means sea, what do you think a “maritime villa” is?

frescos = wall paintings painted on wet plaster.

mosaic - a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass. Where is there a mosaic in NBHS?

garam a concoction of fermented fish and salt -- the Roman version of ketchup

In the 4th century underground chambers of hot molten rock and gases emptied causing the ground above to sink some 60 feet, it's a process known as Bradyseism:  gradual rise or fall in the Earth's crust caused by the filling or emptying of an underground magma chambers.

6. Is Baiae now rising or sinking?

A hypocaust is a standard feature of Roman baths. The floor is raised so that the steam can circulate and provide heating throughout the entire room and heat the water. 

7.  Verum/Falsum.  The standard plan of Roman baths followed this sequence: cold room (frigdarium), warm room (tepidarium), hot room (caldarium).

To guarantee a constant supply of fresh water, the Romans built an incredible structure: the Piscina Mirabilis. In the first century AD, it was the largest cistern in the entire empire… The fresh water was channeled in from the Apennine mountains 90 miles away and stored here before being piped to Baiae.

8. Lucius Cassius Cerealis, a freed slave,  was in charge of the Augustan aqueduct. Why would Nero give such an important and powerful job to someone outside Rome’s inner circle?

9. Puteoli was a major harbor across the bay from Baia. Rome’s harbor couldn’t dock large transport ships so Puteoli’s natural harbor was essential for importing goods into the capitol city. What kinds of things did ships bring to Puteoli and from where?

10. What is an amphitheater?

11. Who was Calpurnius Piso? What did he plan to do? What happened to him?

12. Agrippina was Nero’s __________________?

13. How did Nero try to kill her?

14. Ultimately, Nero’s murderous and debauched lifestyle in Baiae caught up with him. In 68 AD, after a turbulent 13-year reign, the Roman senate ran out of patience and declared him a public enemy. Nero fled and on June 9th, 68 AD, at the age of 30, he ________________________.

hedonistic: engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent.