Portus Julius

 ruins, navy, Roman Empire, sunken

The Portus Julius ("Iulius" in Latin) was the home base to the Imperial Roman western fleet, an impressive armada of warships known collectively as the "classis Misenensis", named after neighboring Misenum, modern Cape Miseno. The port itself was named in honor of the Caesar who commissioned its construction.

Portus offered a comprehensive array of administrative naval services: warehouses for the storage of food and supplies, cisterns for potable water, dry docks for hull maintenance and workshops for the repairing of sails. Other, more personal needs were equally provided for: recreational facilities, the Temple of Poseidon, and discreet brothels.

It was from this location that galleys were dispatched on the orders of Naval praefect Pliny the Elder to evacuate the horrified inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum during the catastrophic 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pliny himself joined in the rescue effort, ultimately dying of sulfuric asphyxiation. (The first image above is taken with a southeastern view: if you lifted the camera slightly, the charred peaks of Vesuvius would be seen looming in the distance.)

With the passing of millennia, the original complex has submerged due to volcanic-driven liquefaction; the emptying of lava from subterranean chambers has caused the ground level to collapse. The substantial remains are today a popular destination with divers and are administered under the aegis of the Archaeological Park of Baia (ancient Baiae).

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