Archaeologists have discovered a sunken temple off the coast of Pozzuoli, near Campi Flegrei, that feels like it could be straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. The temple, estimated to be at least 2,000 years old, was likely built by Arabian immigrants from the Nabataean culture, marking it as the first known temple built by them outside of the Middle East.
In 2023, researchers mapping the region's seafloor discovered two completely submerged rooms with Roman-style walls, measuring roughly 32 feet by 16 feet and connected by internal pathways. Within one of the submerged rooms, they discovered two white marble altars leaning against the wall. One featured a dedicatory inscription "Dusari sacrum," and the other had three rectangular recesses. These recesses likely once housed sacred stones used in Nabataean worship.
The temple consists of two large rooms with altars made from marble, likely used by Nabataean traders who traveled to Pozzuoli to trade luxury goods. Dushara, the deity honored in the temple, is described as "the lord of the mountains and the germinating force of nature."
The existence of the sunken temple was believed due to artifacts dating back to the 18th century being found in the area. However, its exact location was unknown until it was rediscovered in 2023 during a seafloor survey. While mapping, researchers discovered two large rooms delimited by walls, one of which contained two marble altars as part of the Nabataean religion.
The temple lies near Pozzuoli, around 10 miles east of Naples. In ancient Roman times, Pozzuoli was called Puteoli and served as a major harbor. Puteoli was once a massive harbor where ships from all over the Roman world docked to bring in trade goods like grain, playing a fundamental role in maritime trade. Much of the harbor has been lost to the sea due to coastline changes caused by volcanic activity, which has significantly altered the coastline at Pozzuoli, submerging and preserving around 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) of Roman-era warehouses and other buildings associated with the ancient port district.
The Nabataean civilization thrived in northern Arabia from the fourth century B.C.E. until its annexation by the Roman Empire in 106 C.E., after which Rome imposed its authority and laws in the newly created province. The Nabataeans were a community of traders who controlled the traffic of Eastern luxury goods from the Indian Ocean along the caravan routes of the desert, up to the port of Gaza and towards Rome, probably through Alexandria and certainly through Puteoli.
From the time of Augustus to that of Trajan (AD 98-117), the Nabataeans accumulated enormous wealth, fully entering Mediterranean trade. The Nabataean Kingdom once controlled a trade network stretching from northern Arabia to the eastern Mediterranean, significantly bolstered by their positive relationship with the Roman Empire. However, after their annexation, this network was absorbed into a general network controlled by the Roman State.
"The dynamic changed when the Romans peacefully annexed Petra, the Nabataean capital, along with the entire kingdom, leading to a sudden shift in the situation for the Nabataeans with the creation of the province of Arabia Petraea under Trajan," according to the Cambridge Core Blog. Laurent Tholbecq stated, "It is widely understood that the Nabataeans benefitted from the Roman advance in the Near East until the creation of the Arabian province under Trajan," which had severe consequences for the Nabataeans.
The integration of Nabataean individuals within the local community of Puteoli is evident in the building techniques and materials used in the construction of the temple. The use of local materials and techniques in the temple's construction is explained by the abundance of tuff and pozzolana in the surroundings of the site and by the use of local workers. The choice of Latin for the inscriptions to their supreme god, Dushara, indicates the integration of Nabataean individuals within the local community of Puteoli.
The temple was a place of worship, a refuge for foreigners, and especially a place of exchange, business, and trade under the guarantee, control, and authority of the god Dushara. The shape and decoration of the altars in the temple are typically Augustan and Roman, and the holes for the insertion of the betils on the altars betray the distant origins of the dedicatees.
Probably at the beginning of the second century A.D., the temple was filled with concrete, without any iconoclastic intent and with the typical superstitious respect of Rome towards consecrated places. The removal or destruction of the sacra of Dushara would usually have required complicated rites of desacralisation. In this case, the temple was just filled in, and a new walking surface was built above it. The area was too central and strategic to remain abandoned for a long time.
The temple was purposefully buried in the second century A.D. with a mix of concrete and broken pottery, possibly in response to the turbulent period following the Nabataeans' loss of trade routes after their annexation by the Roman Empire in A.D. 106. "The creation of the province of Arabia in 106 AD was, apparently, the end of the Nabataeans in Puteoli," notes the Cambridge Core Blog.
Research planned for 2024 and further underwater excavation of the temple might lead to a full understanding of the building and its story. The discovery not only sheds light on the extent of Nabataean trade networks but also highlights their integration into Roman society. The use of local building materials and Latin inscriptions indicates that the Nabataeans were fully integrated into the local community while maintaining their cultural and religious practices.
Artifacts recovered from the sea since the 18th century suggested a temple might be buried there, but its exact location was unknown until now. The temple's discovery adds a significant piece to the puzzle of ancient trade relations and cultural exchanges in the Mediterranean region.
Sources: Science, What We Stay Alive For, Cambridge Core Blog
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq