29 March 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists identify a sunken Nabataean temple dedicated to the God Dusares at Pozzuoli

Off the coast of Pozzuoli on the Phlegrean Peninsula in Campania, Italy, underwater archaeologists have identified a sunken Nabataeans temple with the discovery of two Roman marble altars.

The Nabataean kingdom was a Roman ally that ruled a territory stretching from the Euphrates to the Red Sea during the Roman period. The kingdom, centered on the capital city of Petra, was stationed in the desert areas of the Arabian Peninsula, but had, since the early imperial age, established its base inside the Pozzuoli port, the largest commercial port of the Roman Mediterranean.

The Nabataeans established a base at Puteoli and constructed a shrine dedicated to the tutelary god, Dusares.

Amid the ruins of the ancient city of Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli), close to the columnade known as Tempio delle Ninfe, an altar and two cult bases bearing the inscription DVSARI SACRVM (‘Holy to Dusares’) were discovered in the middle of the 18th century. It was immediately clear that Nabataeans had once lived in Peteoli because Dusares was a deity that was exclusive to the Nabataeans. The Archaeological Museum of Naples currently has the altar and bases on display. At the same time, a massive bust of a god that is now housed in the Vatican Museum and has been theorized to be the Nabataean god Dusares was discovered in the vicinity of Puteoli.

Photo: Ministero della cultura
Photo: Ministero della cultura

The location of the reference sanctuary remained approximate, today identified with precision topographical instruments that have allowed the Temple to be inserted into the broader topographical framework of the vicus Lartidianus.

The discovery of the altars, similar to the one kept in the Castello di Baia, is part of a fruitful research activity that will begin at the end of 2021, as part of an agreement between the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Metropolitan Area of Naples and the University of Campania Vanvitelli, with the involvement of the Scuola Superiore Meridionale for the coordination of underwater activities, and with the valuable logistici.

God Dusares
God Dusares.

Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, said: “Ancient Puteoli reveals another of its treasures which testifies to the richness and vastness of commercial, cultural and religious exchanges in the Mediterranean basin in the ancient world.”

In addition to the correct positioning of the Temple, the research has enabled the identification of rooms, warehouses, imperial administration buildings, and road axes of the ancient port.

Related Articles

2,000-year-old Celtic hoard of gold ‘rainbow cups’ discovered in northeastern Germany

13 January 2022

13 January 2022

Archaeologists have found an ancient Celtic coins treasure consisting of 41 gold coins in a field in Brandenburg, a state...

Analysis of 13,000-Year-Old Bones Reveals Violent Raids in Prehistoric ‘Jebel Sahaba’

28 May 2021

28 May 2021

Since its discovery in the 1960s, the 13-millennium-old Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, Sudan) has been regarded as one of...

Climate has influenced the growth of our bodies and our brain

8 July 2021

8 July 2021

Over 300 fossils from the genus Homo have been measured for body and brain size by an interdisciplinary team of...

Earliest glass workshop north of the Alps unearthed in Němčice

25 July 2023

25 July 2023

Archaeologists excavated the famous Iron Age site Němčice and uncovered the earliest glass workshop north of the Alps. Numerous beautiful...

An Egyptian Tomb Decorated with Magic Snake Spells Discovered

9 November 2023

9 November 2023

During excavations at Abusir, between Giza and Saqqara, archaeologists at the Czech Institute of Egyptology (CIE) found an ancient tomb...

Scientists unlock the ‘Cosmos’ on the Antikythera Mechanism

13 March 2021

13 March 2021

Scientists may have finally made a complete digital model of the 2000-year-old Cosmos panel of a mechanical device called the...

Scientists reconstruct Late Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean silver trade

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Scientists have recreated the Eastern Mediterranean silver trade across a time span that includes the conventional dates of the Trojan...

DNA from human remains found in medieval well shines new light into a significant historical crime and into Ashkenazi Jewish history

30 November 2022

30 November 2022

An analysis of DNA from 12th-century human remains has provided new insights into a significant historical crime and into Ashkenazi...

In Egypt, archaeologists have discovered a 4,500-year-old Sun temple.

16 November 2021

16 November 2021

Archaeologists discovered an ancient Sun temple in the Egyptian desert that dates back 4,500 years. The remains were discovered under...

Unusual Potter’s Signature or Graffito found during excavation of a Roman tile kiln in England

2 August 2023

2 August 2023

Cotswold Archeology and a team of volunteers have found an unusual potter’s signature or graffito in Minety, a village in...

Coin hoard found in fireplace ‘belonging to Scottish clan chief’ murdered at infamous Glencoe Massacre

17 October 2023

17 October 2023 1

Coins believed to have belonged to a Scottish clan chief murdered in an infamous 17th-century Glencoe massacre, have been found...

The first Iberian lead plate inscribed with an archaic script was found at Pico de Los Ajos in Yátova

13 June 2021

13 June 2021

At the Pico de Los Ajos site in Valencia, Spain, a rare lead sheet engraved in ancient Iberian was unearthed....

Xujiayao hominid’s brain in China had the biggest known brain of the time

17 January 2022

17 January 2022

A study showed that the ancient relatives of modern humans in northern China may have had an “Einstein’s brain” at...

Archaeologists unearth the remains of three dozen headless people at a stone age settlement in Vráble, Slovakia

25 September 2022

25 September 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a mass grave containing the remains of about three dozen headless bodies of people at a settlement...

Sacred Hill of Moon God Sin “Sogmatar”

23 June 2022

23 June 2022

Sogmatar, Şanlıurfa is 53 kilometers from Harran. It is located in Yağmurlu village, where there are important springs in the...