2,000-year-old temple discovered near the coast of Italy

TPO - Archaeologists have discovered altars and inscribed marble slabs submerged along the Italian coast near Naples. This may be the remains of a 2,000-year-old temple built by immigrants from Nabataea, an ancient kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula whose "Treasure" carved into stone appeared in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

TPO - Archaeologists have discovered altars and inscribed marble slabs submerged along the Italian coast near Naples. This may be the remains of a 2,000-year-old temple built by immigrants from Nabataea, an ancient kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula whose "Treasure" carved into stone appeared in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Ancient submerged warehouses along the Pozzuoli coast. (Photo: M. Stefanile)

However, according to a study recently published in the journal Antiquity, the elaborate temple was later buried with a mixture of concrete and broken pottery, possibly by foreign traders leaving the area.

The temple is located off the coast of Pozzuoli, a town in the Campi Flegrei, about 10 miles east of Naples. In Roman times, the town was called Puteoli and was a major port where ships from all over the Roman world docked to bring trade goods such as grain.

Volcanic activity over the centuries has dramatically altered the coastline at Pozzuoli, submerging and preserving about 2km of Roman warehouses and other buildings associated with the ancient port. Artifacts recovered from the sea in the 18th century suggest a buried temple, but no one knows exactly where.

In 2023, researchers mapping the seafloor of the area discovered two sunken chambers with Roman-style walls. These walls, measuring about 10 by 5 meters, formed two large rooms. Two white marble altars leaned against the walls of one room.

Both altars contain a number of rectangular niches, which may have once housed sacred stones. Each chamber also contains a marble slab inscribed with the Latin words "Dusari sacrum", meaning "dedicated to Dushara", the chief deity in the ancient Nabataean religion.

"It seems we have a building dedicated to Nabataean gods, but with Roman architecture and Latin inscriptions," said archaeologist Stefanile.

The Nabataean Kingdom stretched from northern Arabia to the eastern Mediterranean. During the fourth to second centuries BC, the Nabataeans controlled a growing trade network in luxury goods such as incense, gold, ivory, and perfumes, amassing enormous wealth by the end of the first century AD. The massive tomb commonly known as the Treasury at the Nabataean capital of Petra was built around this time.

After Nabataea was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 106 AD, the culture's control over the domestic caravan trade in Arabia collapsed. The destruction of the temple at Puteoli may reflect that period of turmoil.

Ha Thu

Source: https://tienphong.vn/phat-hien-den-co-2000-nam-gan-bo-bien-nuoc-y-post1685764.tpo