Nymphaeum of Punta Epitaffio, Baiae
About
Built into an imperial villa on this headland, an apsed grotto-fountain staged a sculpture gallery around its pool: a portrait of Antonia Minor, a group of Ulysses drugging the Cyclops Polyphemus, and more, arranged as a Julio-Claudian dynastic display. The villa is linked to the emperor Claudius, whose reign matches the sculptures' style and date. Bradyseism sank the complex intact, and 1980s divers found the statues still standing in their niches. In 117 CE it sat on solid, dry shoreline.
What happened here
This is where most of the town gets its water, and it runs continuously because the aqueduct cannot be switched off. A basin catches the flow, jars are filled from spouts, and the overflow goes into a channel that flushes the street. Queues form early and the fountain is where the neighbourhood's news circulates. The stonework wears into grooves where thousands of hands and rope have rested on the rim. Animals drink at a lower trough. Bigger show-fountains at street corners and road junctions are put up by magistrates and carry their names; the water is the gift and the inscription is the receipt. Blocking, fouling or tapping a public fountain is an offence people are actually prosecuted for.
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 →