18 Facts About Stabiae

Stabiae is most famous for the Roman villas found near the ancient city which are regarded as some of the most stunning architectural and artistic remains from any Roman villas.

Settlement at Stabiae arose from as early as the 7th century BC due to the favourable climate and its strategic and commercial significance as evocatively documented by materials found in the vast necropolis discovered in 1957 on via Madonna delle Grazie, situated between Gragnano and Santa Maria la Carita.

Stabiae had a small port which by the 6th century BC had already been overshadowed by the much larger port at Pompeii.

Stabiae reported that there were several miles of luxury villas built along the edge of the headland, all enjoying panoramic views out over the bay.

Stabiae found five paved streets intersecting at right angles, the forum, a temple on a podium, a gymnasium, tabernae with arcades, pavements and small private houses.

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Stabiae established itself as a luxury residential centre, so much so that Cicero wrote in a letter to his friend Marcus Marius Gratidianus:.

Stabiae was well known for the quality of its spring water according to Columella, which was believed to have medicinal properties.

Stabiae sailed by galley across the bay, partly to observe the eruption more closely, and partly to rescue people from the coast near the volcano.

Pliny died at Stabiae the following day, probably during the arrival of the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption caused by the collapse of the eruption plume.

The very diluted outer edge of this surge reached Stabiae and left two centimetres of fine ash on top of the immensely thick aerially-deposited tephra which further protected the underlying remains.

Archaeological remains at Stabiae were originally discovered in 1749 by Cavaliere Rocco de Alcubierre, an engineer working for king Charles VII of Naples.

Stabiae proposed the systematic unearthing of the buildings and their display on site, in their context.

Stabiae diligently collected all the preceding material to reconstruct the history of the excavations.

Stabiae introduced new concepts for the first time about context, emphasising direct observation of ancient buildings in their landscape or in their historical and archaeological complex.

However he could not persuade the court to keep excavated buildings exposed and avoid their backfilling, so excavation of Stabiae continued with the usual technique of digging and backfilling.

Stabiae found parts of a residential area of the city about 300 m from Villa San Marco including remains of houses, shops, parts of the macellum to which roads from the port converged.

Bath area is smaller than the other villas in Stabiae, nevertheless there is an apsed calidarium with bath, a tepidarium and a frigidarium.

Almost total absence of temples in the central Stabiae area suggests that these were most likely razed to the ground during the occupation of Sulla: however, some remains suggest the presence of various sacred structures such as a temple dedicated to Hercules, Diana, Athena, Cybele and most importantly the Genius Stabianum.