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Baiae


Baiae (Italian: Baia; Neapolitan: Baia) was a mineral springs and coastal resort on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples in ancient Italy. It was fashionable for centuries during antiquity, particularly towards the end of the Roman Republic, when it was reckoned as superior to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri for the super-rich. It was notorious for its hedonistic offerings and the attendant rumors of corruption and scandal. It later formed part of Port Julius, the base of the western fleet of the Imperial Roman Navy. It was deserted and its ruins largely submerged by local volcanic activity by the time of the Renaissance. What is left of Baia is now a frazione of the comune of Bacoli in the Campania region of Italy.

Baiae was said to have been named after Baius (Greek: Βαῖος, Baîos), the helmsman of Odysseus's ship in Homer's Odyssey, who was supposedly buried nearby. The adjacent "Baian Gulf" (Latin: Sinus Baianus) was named after the town. It now forms the western part of the Gulf of Pozzuoli.


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