← Back to the map
Lucrine Oyster Beds, Baiae
Ostrearum Vivaria Lucrina
HarborItalia · Baiae, ItalyBuilt 95 BCE
About
On Lake Lucrinus's shallow water, Sergius Orata built the Roman world's first commercial oyster farms around 95 BCE, driving wooden piles into the lakebed to raise cultivation beds. Pliny the Elder credits him with inventing oyster farming purely for profit, and Lucrine oysters became a byword for luxury dining that Martial and Horace kept naming for two centuries. The lake later fed the Portus Julius naval base built beside it. The beds were still worked and famous when Trajan died in 117 CE.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →