Archaeologists have uncovered remnants of a 2,000-year-old temple submerged off the Italian coast near Naples. Built by Arabian immigrants from the Nabataean culture, the site includes altars and inscribed marble slabs, providing rare insight into the cultural exchange between ancient Nabataea and Rome.
Submerged warehouses in the ripa Puteolana. (Figure by Michele Stefanile / courtesy of M. Stefanile)
Discovery near Pozzuoli
The temple lies near Pozzuoli, in the volcanic Campi Flegrei region, about 16km (10 miles) east of Naples. Known in Roman times as Puteoli, the city was a bustling harbor where ships brought trade goods like grain from across the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, volcanic activity altered the coastline, submerging the ancient port district. By the 18th century, artefacts retrieved from the area hinted at a buried temple, though its precise location remained unknown.
As researchers were mapping the seafloor in 2023, they discovered two submerged rooms featuring Roman-style walls. Measuring approximately 10 by 5m (32 by 16ft) each, the rooms housed two white marble altars and inscribed slabs. The altars featured rectangular recesses likely used to hold sacred stones, while the inscriptions read Dusari sacrum—“consecrated to Dushara,” the principal deity of the Nabataean religion.
The lead author of the study, published in the journal Antiquity, Michele Stefanile, a maritime archaeologist at the Southern Graduate School (Scuola Superiore Meridionale) in Naples, told Live Science: “It seems that we have a building dedicated to the Nabataean gods, but with Roman architecture and Latin inscription.”
Links to Nabataean trade
The Nabataean Kingdom, which spanned northern Arabia to the eastern Mediterranean, controlled a thriving trade network during the fourth to second centuries B.C. Their wealth stemmed from luxury goods like incense, gold, ivory and perfumes. By the late first century A.D., the Nabataeans were at their peak, with architectural marvels in the Nabataean capital of Petra, such as the enormous tomb commonly known as The Treasury, showcasing their opulence.
After Rome annexed Nabataea in A.D. 106, the kingdom’s economic power waned as control over caravan trade routes collapsed. The destruction of the Puteoli temple may reflect this period of upheaval, marking the diminished influence of Nabataean culture within the Roman world.
Intentional burial
The temple appears to have been deliberately buried in the second century A.D. Researchers led by Stefanile suggest that the site was sealed with a mixture of concrete and broken pottery, possibly because foreign traders had left the area. This purposeful act could signify a ceremonial closure or the decline of Nabataean presence in the region.
“Possibly after Trajan’s conquest of Arabia in 106 A.D., the Nabataeans had no more possibility of free trading in Puteoli, and they possibly abandoned the harbor,” said Stefanile.
