Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a 2,000-year-old temple built by the Nabataeans off the coast of Pozzuoli, Italy. This site marks the first known Nabataean temple discovered in the region.
The rectangular temple features two rooms connected to the internal pathways of the vicus Lartidianus, an area designated for foreign traders. Research indicates that the presence of a Nabataean sanctuary in the port area confirms a community engaged in trade activities at Puteoli.
Each room is adorned with Roman-style walls and marble slabs inscribed with the Latin phrase 'Dusari sacrum,' meaning 'sacred to Dushara,' the main deity of the Nabataean religious practice. The underwater structure lies approximately 150 feet from the Pozzuoli coast, which once served as a significant harbor for Roman merchant ships.
Centuries of volcanic activity had buried the ancient temple under layers of magma until its recent discovery during an underwater archaeological documentation of the Puteoli harbor in 2023. The temple is estimated to have been constructed during the reigns of Augustus (31 BC - 14 AD) or Trajan (98 - 117 AD).
The Nabataean Kingdom was an independent political entity from the mid-3rd century BC until its annexation by the Roman Empire in 106 AD. Archaeologists identified Room A and Room B beneath the waters, constructed from local materials. Room A contained two white marble altars, one of which housed sacred stones used in Nabataean worship within eight rectangular niches.
A second altar, found on the seabed, featured three rectangular niches. Room B also included white marble slabs with the same Latin inscription. The Nabataeans practiced a polytheistic religion influenced by Greek and Egyptian cultures, featuring numerous deities represented by sacred stones placed within the altars' niches.
At its peak around the time of Christ's birth, the Nabataean Empire extended across the Middle East, encompassing present-day Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. This dynamic changed dramatically when the Romans peacefully took control of Petra, the kingdom's capital, along with the entire Nabataean populace.
Recently, a massive tomb in Petra, known as The Treasury, was excavated, revealing a previously unknown burial site containing 12 skeletal remains. Among the findings was a cup shaped like a goblet, strikingly similar to one featured in the film with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. Experts hope that analyzing the human remains will shed more light on the Nabataeans, the ancient Arab people who constructed Al Khazneh.