Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 16, Episode 3 - Nero's Sunken City - full transcript

In the Bay of Naples,

just a few miles
from Pompeii and Vesuvius,

lies one of the world's
most stunning

underwater
archaeological sites.

This is the lost
Roman city of Baiae.

From the first century
to the third century A.D.,

it was the most exclusive spot
in the Roman Empire.

You can come here,
relax by the sea,

and really indulge
your wildest dreams.

It was a place
of fantastic wealth,

but the glitter and opulence
hid a dark side.



Rome's elite came here
to scheme and conspire,

and it was the setting

for one of the most sinister
murder plots of the Roman Age.

But how do you
get rid of your own mother?

Do you poison her?

Baiae played
a pivotal role

in the Roman Empire.

Then disaster struck.

Half the city
sank beneath the waves

and lay forgotten
for more than a thousand years.

Now, a team of archaeologists
is investigating

every inch of the ruins,

and new discoveries
are helping to shed light

on the lives
of Rome's elite.



You get a real sense,
as you're coming down here,

that you are heading
back in time.

The team
wants to know

what drew people
to this place,

what really
went on here,

and why did it disappear.

For the first time,
we build a true picture

of what Baiae would have
looked like 2,000 years ago.

This is the untold story
of "Nero's Sunken City."

Rome...

the greatest city
of the ancient world,

a busy metropolis
where emperors and politicians

controlled one of the largest
empires ever known.

Its unimaginable wealth
was best displayed

in its famous monuments,
like the Coliseum, the Forum,

and the Pantheon.

Here, the ruling class
plotted and schemed

their way to the top.

And everything happened
under the watchful eye

of the Senate.

But a powerful few
knew a place

where anything and everything
was possible.

This is Baiae...

a resort where the elites
could let their hair down

and indulge
their wildest dreams.

150 miles south of Rome,
the coastal city

offered spectacular
ocean views,

but lay in the dangerous shadow
of Vesuvius.

Today, few know
about Baiae.

It remains one
of the least explored

but most intriguing places
in the Roman Empire.

Dicus: Some of the greatest
names of the Roman Republic--

Caesar, Cicero, Mark Antony,
Brutus, Nero--

all of these men
had villas at Baiae.

This is where
Rome's elite could come

searching for "otium,"
that is, leisure.

Rice: It was
absolutely a place

of pleasure and debauchery,
and the mere mention of Baiae

brought to mind scandal
and could ruin your reputation.

Ancient Roman
historians chronicled life here.

Toner: In one description
we have by the writer Seneca,

he's walking along
the port of Baiae,

and he sees people staggering
around, they're so drunk.

There are parties going on
on boats out on the bay,

and the air is full
of loud music.

Dicus: Varro, for example,
says Baiae is the place

where old men come
to become young boys again...

and young boys come
to become girls.

This is where
aristocrats could come

and shed
their public persona

and pursue pleasures
in private--

illicit sex, drunkenness,

parties on the beach,
parties on boats.

What happened at Baiae
stayed at Baiae.

Aboveground,
palatial ruins

hint at a glorious past.

But there is more
to Baiae

than what's visible
on land.

More than half
the once-great town

now lies
beneath the waves.

3 times the size
of those in Pompeii.

There's a network
of roads...

miles of brick walls...

rich marble floors...

and splendid mosaics.

Now, an international team
of scientists,

archaeologists,
and historians

has begun to map
this forgotten treasure.

Davide: It's very important
to do documentation

of the archaeological structures
that are underwater in Baiae

to have a map
of all the town.

Before
the ancient architecture

crumbles in the ocean,

underwater archaeologist
Barbara Davide and her team

are carefully
surveying the ruins,

preserving, identifying,
and logging every inch of them.

Their project will create

a 3D map
of the underwater city.

Davide: The submerged Baiae
is very large.

It's about 177 hectares
of archaeological structure.

So, as you can imagine,
there is work

for two or three generations
of archaeologists.

Surprisingly,
the archaeologists haven't found

any identifiable
public buildings...

no forum, no temple,
no marketplace.

Just the remains of one enormous
luxury villa after another,

a Roman Beverly Hills.

In the rubble, the team
has discovered a room

containing beautifully preserved
marble statues.

This room must have been
in a private home

of unparalleled wealth
and ostentation.

Who owned this villa,

and what was
this room used for?

To protect these statues

from the damaging effects
of saltwater,

they've been brought
to the surface.

Here, they can be examined
in close detail.

Professor Kevin Dicus
has spent the last decade

excavating Roman remains
around the Bay of Naples.

Dicus: Here, for example,
is a magnificent Dionysus,

playing with his panther
down here.

This statue, in particular,
evokes classical Greek statuary,

with the slender body

and the pronounced S-curve
and weight shift.

This is precisely
the sort of work

that these elite Romans
would want to copy

and display
in their own houses.

This fascination
with Greek art

began in the second century B.C.
when Rome conquered Greece.

The Roman generals
plundered statues

and brought them home
to Roman sculptors,

who made replicas
for rich collectors.

Piecing together evidence
from the submerged ruins,

the room
can be re-created

as it would have been
2,000 years ago.

Archaeologists now believe
this was once a nymphaeum,

a man-made grotto
dedicated to water nymphs,

where diners were treated
to lavish banquets.

Guests reclined
not around a table,

but a large pool of water

on which floated
plates of food.

This was clearly another display
of extraordinary wealth.

But who lived here?

One statue in the nymphaeum
provides a clue.

This is Antonia Minor,
the mother of Claudius

and the niece of the first
emperor, Augustus...

a remarkable discovery.

This is the imperial villa,

owned and lived in
by the emperor Claudius himself.

How opulent were
these seaside villas?

The nearby archaeological site
of Pausilypon

escaped the destruction
that submerged Baiae,

and the ruins here
offer a glimpse

at the splendor of one
of these luxury vacation homes.

Dicus: Wow.
This is magnificent.

This is one of the great
surviving examples

of a Roman maritime villa.

The rest have sunk
underneath the sea here,

but we do have
this standing structure.

Maritime villas like this

weren't simply
one large structure.

It was an entire complex
of buildings.

These spectacular
Roman villas were massive,

like mini cities
unto themselves.

Dicus: We can see here
a large theater

that could seat
at least 1,400 people.

Over here, the odeon.

Now, this would have
been covered,

used for poetry readings,
musical performance.

Now, wealthy homes today
have home theaters,

but how many really
have home...theaters?

This is the conspicuous,
ostentatious new wealth

of this new elite.

The treasures found
beneath the waves in Baiae

tell us these villas
were adorned

with fine marble statues
and elaborate water features.

But how did the super-rich
furnish these lavish spaces?

Just a few miles from Baiae,
in Positano,

the team has been granted
exclusive access

to a startling
new discovery

that sheds light on
the luxurious Roman lifestyle.

Dr. Jerry Toner is an expert
in Roman social history.

Toner: So you get a real sense,
as you're coming down here,

that you are heading
back in time.

You also absolutely
get a sense of

you are in the middle
of archaeology at work.

[Distant hammering]

Digging down
more than 60 feet,

archaeologists have unearthed
the dining room

of a grand Roman
coastal villa,

each wall decorated
with exquisite frescoes.

Toner: What strikes
you first

is really just how overwhelming
the use of color is.

I mean, there is nothing
"less is more" about this.

This is absolutely
in your face.

Wealth, luxury.

Paint is...is a really expensive
item in the Roman world,

and the cheaper colors
are whites, reds, and yellows,

and so you can see
how they're used

almost as a kind of
background effect.

And the really expensive colors
are the blues and the greens.

The frescoes
echo the views

that would have been enjoyed
along the shore.

Toner: You'll get
glimpses of the sea.

You would have glimpses
of the--of the mountains.

There would be curtains up,
used to keep the sun out

or to allow a nice breeze
to come through.

But it's not just
the extravagant use of color

that makes this fresco
expensive and unusual.

Fantasy figures made of stucco
adorn the painting.

Toner: We've got these kind of
stucco sea monsters up here

and dolphins and cherubs

and what looks like
a pegasus up there

in stucco so that they
stand out from the walls.

This is a place
where you can escape Rome

and all its filth
and its mess

and all the work
and all the horrible politics,

and you can come here,
relax by the sea,

and really indulge
your wildest dreams.

Among the ruins,
archaeologists have found

incredible artifacts
that show

no expense was spared
in decorating.

So this is
a massive oil lamp.

[Speaking Italian]

So you put the oil,

your little wicks
in here,

and you fill it up
with oil,

and you can see it's got
this wonderful Medusa's head.

I mean, just by way
of comparison,

this is a kind of
standard-sized lamp.

But when you've got
a big villa like this,

you need big lamps
to--to light it.

It's--you know,
this little thing

isn't gonna
get you anywhere.

And you can see it's got a real
translucent quality to it,

almost like
mother-of-pearl,

the kind of variations
in--in color

that you're getting there--
very high-quality work.

This thing here
is a lamp stand,

and you get a sense
just how heavy
this bronze thing is.

[Speaking Italian]

And this would have
hung on chains held
on the end there.

So this is your
ancient reading lamp.

Even the kitchenware
is made of solid bronze.

Toner: This is not a villa
where you're gonna have

cheap pots and pans.

These are very well-made,

with--with wonderful
decoration,

like the little
ram's head here.

Again, it's all part
of this kind of ostentation,

a lot of luxury.

It's not just
pure functionality.

There's a lot of art
built into the pots.

And this kind
of luxury furniture

would have been typical
of the kind of villa

you saw along the coast here
all the way to Baiae.

These precious
artifacts provide a glimpse

of the housewares
inside a Roman villa.

Back in Baiae,

Barbara's underwater survey team
has found yet another example

of the wealth in Baiae.

They notice what appear to be
common water tanks,

but these seemingly
unimpressive structures

were actually ponds
for farming fish.

Davide: It's not difficult
to find fish ponds

connected with ancient villas
in this place.

The area covered
by the fish ponds,

it's very large.

It's about 100 square meters,
probably more.

The ponds were found
on the villa grounds,

not in commercial areas,

suggesting that
the wealthy of Baiae

had their own fish farms.

The ponds were filled
with seawater,

but archaeologists
have discovered channels

that pumped in
freshwater.

This was the ancient Romans'
ingenious solution

to a persistent problem.

Fish farmers noticed
that on hot days,

the seawater
would evaporate,

increasing its saltiness
and killing the fish.

The resourceful engineers
solved this problem

by directing freshwater
into the ponds,

reducing the salt levels.

Despite their expense,
the ponds ensured

a constant supply
of fresh fish

for wealthy vacationers
in Baiae.

But not all the seafood
could be farmed in ponds.

Dicus: We're sailing out
into the bay

to watch the mussel farmers
haul up their load for the day.

Shellfish farming
was an industry

as far back
as the Roman times.

Today, they've replaced oysters
with mussels,

but incredibly, the technology
really hasn't changed that much.

The entrepreneur
Sergius Orata is credited

with laying out the first
artificial oyster beds

in the bay.

2,000 years later,
this same technique is used

for mussel farming.

Dicus: Now, the Romans knew
that a good oyster

had to be as fresh
as possible,

and you needed
to bring the source

as close to the consumer
as you could.

Sergius Orata claimed

that his groundbreaking
farming method

produced the best
oysters around.

Dicus: The process
from the ancient texts

seems to be
much the same.

It is written that
the oysters at Baiae

hung undulating
in the water.

Now, we can only
take this to mean

that they were hanging
on ropes,

much like we see underneath
these buoys here in the bay.

So collection today
is much more mechanical

than it was
2,000 years ago,

but it really
is incredible

that this tradition has lasted
for 2,000 years.

The ancient
Roman cookbook "Apicius"

suggests how the rich
prepared their farmed seafood.

It features a recipe
for a Baiaen casserole...

Oysters, mussels, sea urchins,
and vegetables

topped with garum,
a concoction of fermented fish

and salt, the Roman version
of ketchup.

Delicacies like this casserole
were affordable

for only
the wealthiest residents.

Buono. Grazie.

Buon appetito.

Grazie.
Buon appetito.

To prove
their wealth,

the rich would
sometimes eat

a hundred oysters
in one sitting.

Squisito.
Squisito.

Mmm. Yeah.

There's such
a great balance.

The seafood
is so fresh.

It's possibly even
the mussels that we saw

drawn out of the sea
this morning.

I can imagine
these wealthy Romans
enjoying this.

This is a great reason
to be at Baiae.

This food
is wonderful. Oh.

But there was
a dark side to this excess,

and one emperor
more than any other

was famous
for his hedonism...

Nero.

A cruel psychopath,
he persecuted Christians

and, it's said,
burned Rome to the ground.

Baiae was his escape,

where he can indulge
in his sadistic fantasies.

Nero spent a fortune
on lavish banquets here.

Dicus: This is exactly
the sort of food

that Nero sought
when he came to Baiae.

In fact, we have passages
from the historian Tacitus

talking about
this very thing.

But these banquets
weren't just about food.

They featured sex
and debauchery.

He wouldn't have sat
in these hills,

as we are today,

so much as sail
around the coast

in these well-outfitted barges
rowed not by sailors,

but by young
male prostitutes.

Along the coast, he set up
taverns and inns,

run by very respectable matrons

who played the part
of innkeepers

and even prostitutes,

and he invited
the entire town to participate,

as if inviting them
to his own house

to enjoy in this party
and this spectacle.

Nero felt
such a connection to Baiae

that he began to covet
the villas of others,

including those
of his own family.

Dicus: He couldn't wait
to get his hands

on his Aunt Domitia's villa,
for example,

with its magnificent
fish ponds.

The Roman historian
Suetonius recorded the lengths

Nero was willing to go to

to gain possession
of his Aunt Domitia's villa.

When she fell ill,
an opportunity presented itself.

Dicus: Sick
and bedridden,

she summons Nero
to her bedchamber,

stroked his beard,
and said,

"When you shave this off
at your coming of age,

send it to me, and I will die
a happy woman."

He looked at her
and said,

"Well, I'm gonna
shave it off right now."

The following morning,

she was dead,
and Nero occupied her villa.

Dicus: Did he really murder
his aunt for the villa?

It's difficult to say,
but it is easy to see

that he'd gained substantially
from this tragic event.

Nero
now owned two villas,

his aunt's and the imperial
villa inherited from Claudius.

Baiae became Nero's
favorite playground,

where he could rule
the empire

while living a lifestyle
of extreme decadence.

But a catastrophic event
hit the town

in the fourth century A.D.

Over half of Baiae gradually
sank beneath the waves.

It was destroyed
by its very location,

in one of the most seismically
active landscapes on Earth.

Baiae is surrounded
by 24 volcanoes,

including Vesuvius
and Solfatara.

The pressure from the lava
and the gases underground

caused the earth to move,
with devastating consequences.

Formed around 40,000 years ago,
Solfatara is still active today.

Jerram: You can see
all around,

the ground is literally...
It's almost like it's on fire.

It's breathing.

Just coming up here to just look
at one of these fumaroles.

Wow!

Come. Come a bit closer.
This is brilliant.

Look at that.

You can see that this is
almost like a window

down into the Earth.

You see, all of this rock
has been covered

in a yellow precipitation.

This is sulfur.
This is sulfur gases

coming off from deep
within the Earth.

Below us in this
volcanic system,

maybe about 3 or 4 kilometers,
there's a magma chamber,

and that magma chamber
is heating the ground,

but also gases are
coming off that magma,

giving us
this mineralization,

and that tells us
that the system

is still
pretty much active.

[Gas hissing]

This is almost like...

you can hear it.

It's like the volcano
breathing.

That is absolutely
awesome, isn't it?

Wow!

In the fourth century,

underground chambers
of hot molten rock

and gases emptied,
causing the ground above

to sink some 60 feet.

It's a process known
as bradyseism,

a gradual rise or fall
in the Earth's crust.

Half of the seaside town
sank beneath the waves.

In the millennia since,

the underground chambers
have slowly refilled

with lava and gases,
raising the land

and bringing
Baiae's ruins

closer to the surface
of the water.

In the local fishing port,
there is clear evidence

of this phenomenon.

Jerram: Now,
the first thing...

is this first part
of the ladder

is clearly very old.

It's probably been here
for several...

maybe hundreds
of years, even.

But as you go down,

what you can see is they've
actually had to put a new ladder

in place of the old one,
and that's because,

if you look at this
natural line in the rocks,

this is where
the old shoreline used to be.

And in fact, they've actually
put bricks in place

to try and stabilize
that shoreline

from erosion
of the waves.

The bricks
mark the level

of the shoreline
30 years ago.

One can see the land
has since risen by 6 feet.

Jerram: Excuse.
There we go.

My foot is now
on the present-day shoreline.

The sinking
that took place

in the fourth century
is now reversing,

again driven
by volcanic forces.

[Gas hissing]

These same forces
are what made Baiae

so attractive
in the first place.

Well, whenever you've got
areas like this

that are sort of rich
in hydrothermal activity,

you get natural hot springs,

you get the groundwater
heated up to the point

where it can actually flow
as rivers of hot water.

If you can tap into that,
you can make hot baths.

These volcanic springs
were harnessed

by Roman engineers
to create thermal baths.

Dr. Candace Rice is an expert
on Roman engineering.

Rice: What we have here
is a channel

that's been quarried
down through

to access the steam vents
from the natural landscape.

And the steam would have
come into the room

into what is known
as a hypocaust.

These are a standard feature
of Roman baths.

The floor is raised
so that the steam can circulate

and provide heating
throughout the entire room.

Outside of Baiae,
rooms like this are heated

through the use
of artificial furnaces.

But the beauty of Baiae

is that they're tapping into
a natural resource.

Ancient Rome
was famous

for its many heated baths.

Most are now just ruins.

Only one, the Stufe di Nerone,
or Nero's Boiler,

is still functioning
2,000 years later.

Rice: And they've
maintained the plan

of a standard
Roman bath.

So you progress
from a cold room

into the room
I'm standing in now,

which is the tepidarium,
so moderate temperature,

and we can go through here
into the caldarium,

or the hot room.

In many Roman baths,
the caldarium

was the final stage
of the bathing process,

but a few had
an additional room,

a wet or a dry sauna,

and here we have
an example

of a still-functioning
Roman sauna.

Wow. You can really feel
the heat coming off this.

Whoo. Wow.
It is truly hot in here.

A very effective sauna.
You start sweating immediately.

So, over here,
you can actually see

the original Roman passageway,

which allows the steam from
the hot springs under my feet

to heat the room.

This water comes in
at 85 degrees Celsius,

and the heat
is all natural,

so there's a limited amount
that you can control.

It's actually unbearably hot
in here.

Of course, you wouldn't
come in fully clothed,

but I think it's time
for me to leave.

Baiae is home
to the ruins

of what for centuries was known
as the Temple of Mercury.

A splendid dome
stands above

what was once
the frigidarium,

the room where bathers
cooled off after a hot sauna.

Rice: Wow.

In antiquity, this room would
have looked very different.

The walls would have been
faced perhaps with marble.

Uh, it would have been
very bright

and teeming, of course,
with naked men and women.

The Romans' ideas
of nudity

were not the same
as ours tend to be today.

And it would have been
a very busy and loud atmosphere.

The echoing, even.

You can imagine if there were
many people in here

all talking at the same time,
it must have been quite noisy.

The bath's
revolutionary architecture

demonstrates
Baiae's importance.

The temple was covered
by what was

the largest concrete dome

prior to the construction
of Rome's famous Pantheon.

Rice: Here in the playground
of Rome's elites,

they wanted to experiment
and see what they could do

with spaces
and with concrete,

and this is a beautiful
example of that.

And if we think
of modern resorts,

say Las Vegas or Dubai,
and think about

the kinds of buildings
that appear there,

people are trying
to outdo each other,

people are trying
to produce crazy buildings,

and this is a design
which then sticks

and makes it into
standard Roman architecture.

Like the Pantheon,

there's an opening
at the top of the dome,

known as the oculus.

Rice: Its main purpose is,
of course, to let in light,

and here in the space, the light
would reflect off the water

and create a very visually
stimulating environment.

It would have been
quite spectacular.

It mimics a bit
a grotto or a natural cave,

but it's, of course,
completely artificial,

which is
a very Roman thing.

Despite
the endless supply

of hot sulfurous water
in Baiae,

potable water was scarce.

Clean water was essential
for daily life,

but it was also needed
for the grand fountains

that symbolized
Baiae's wealth.

Rice: Isn't this fantastic?
Wow.

To guarantee
a constant supply of freshwater,

the Romans built
an incredible structure,

the Piscina Mirabilis.

In the first century A.D.,
it was the largest cistern

in the entire empire.

Rice: The cistern
would have held

approximately 12,600
cubic meters of water,

which is really
quite a lot.

The freshwater
was channeled in

from the Apennine Mountains,
90 miles away,

and stored here
before being piped to Baiae.

Rice: The Piscina Mirabilis
is fed by the Aqua Augusta,

which is one of
the longest-running aqueducts

that we know
from the Roman period,

and it then fills the cistern,
this massive space.

We've got 4 pillars across,
12 pillars down.

The floor and the walls are
lined with a waterproof lining

that's made out of
crushed ceramics

so that the water doesn't soak
through the building materials.

That's particularly nice
and visible here in the wet.

Ah, yeah. So you can see
the brick and tile

that would have been crushed up
to form the waterproof lining.

The fact that we have
such a massive cistern here

is very indicative
of the importance

of Baiae
and the Bay of Baiae.

The water kept in the cistern
would have supplied

the villas of Rome's
rich and famous

and, of course,
all of the emperor's.

The Piscina Mirabilis
and the Aqua Augusta

were vitally important
structures for the area.

Nero's appointee to manage
these waterworks

offers an insight into
how he operated politically.

Dicus: The inscription
is dedicated

to Lucius Cassius Cerealis.

He was eventually
the Curator Aquai Augusti,

the curator, the caretaker
of the Augustan Aqueduct.

Now, this office was
incredibly important.

It held great power.
Why?

Essentially, you controlled
the supply of water

for all of the cities
around the Bay of Naples,

including Baiae.

The emperor
would normally appoint

a high-ranking senator
as curator,

but the inscription reveals
Nero gave the job

to someone
of a much lower status.

He is the son of Lucius
from the Palatine tribe.

Immediately we know
that Cerealis is not Roman,

he's not from this old
noble Roman stock.

This is a foreign name.

He is the son, actually,
of a freed slave.

Why would Nero give

such an important
and powerful job

to someone outside
Rome's inner circle?

Dicus: Nero was increasingly
becoming opposed by his Senate,

both his policies
and his person.

Why not surround yourself
with people you can trust,

whether they be freeborn
or freed slaves?

It doesn't matter.

And if you trust them,
you reward them

with high offices,
great power,

and this is what he seems
to have done with Cerealis.

Here in Baiae,
Nero was promoting

people he could control
to positions of power.

But was Nero really able to
govern the entire Roman Empire

from 150 miles
outside the capital?

Underwater, archaeologists
discover ruins

that show Baiae
wasn't as isolated

as it first appeared.

The remains
of a cobbled Roman road,

the Via Herculanea,
have been identified.

Reconstructing the route,

the road leads out of Baiae,
over a dam across the bay,

to the town of Puteoli.

Today, Puteoli is
a tranquil fishing village,

but 2,000 years ago,

it was the main
commercial port of Rome.

Rome's harbor couldn't dock
large transport ships,

so Puteoli's natural harbor
was essential

for importing goods
into the capital.

Toner: Rome is heavily
dependent on grain.

It imports about 250,000 tons
a year of grain

to feed
its huge population.

About a third of it
comes in from Egypt,

across the Mediterranean,

and about the other two-thirds
come in from North Africa,

all of it flowing
into this great port.

But it's not just grain
and boring stuff that comes in.

All kinds of exotic spices
come in,

in particular pepper,
which they come from--

they import from India,
and it comes up the Red Sea

into Egypt
and then again on to Italy.

But also in from China
in the Silk Route,

so it comes in
all the way into Syria

and then again across
the Mediterranean into here.

So this is a port where all
kinds of luxury items come in,

as well as the fundamentals
of wheat and grain

that keep people alive.

This was a hub
of international trade,

with enormous amounts of wealth
and people passing through.

And the Flavian
Amphitheatre

shows how strategically
important the area was.

Seating more
than 30,000 people,

it was the third-largest theater
in the entire Roman Empire.

Toner: What you really
get a sense of here

is just the sheer size
of this amphitheater.

If you went to a games

in perhaps a...a backwater
province like Britain,

then you would expect to see
some fairly low-budget animals.

You might get a couple of bears
or some wolves

or perhaps a bit
of deer hunting.

An amphitheater
of this size

would stage the very best
the Roman entertainment industry

had to offer.

Spectacular gladiator shows
were free to the public,

staged by wealthy senators

hoping to buy
public opinion and votes.

Toner: You got
spectacular lions,

perhaps even giraffes
or antelopes,

the most exotic animals
you could think of,

even hippopotamuses.

The floor itself would have
had sand all over it

to soak up the blood,

and there were gallons
and gallons of blood.

Down below,
the scale of the operation

is impressive.

Toner: Up above,
the crowd only saw

the end product of all
this lavish entertainment,

but down here,
you get a real idea

of the huge logistical effort
that went into providing

all of this fun.

These caves would have been
full of cages with animals,

wild animals that were being
lifted up into the arena,

and the cages
would go up

by an elaborate system
of ropes and pulleys and levers

that took them up
into the arena.

And as you walked
through here in the gloom,

you would have seen
nervous gladiators

praying to the gods
before they went up

for what could have been
their final fight.

And every so often,
the air would be filled

with the cheering
of the crowd above

as they applauded
another victim

of their love
of gruesome entertainment.

The success
of the Roman Empire

depended on Puteoli.

Nero's ambition
was to connect

the port of Puteoli
and Baiae to Rome

with a 155-mile canal.

Known as the Fossa Neronis,

it was one of the grandest
engineering projects

of the ancient world.

It would have provided

a much-needed transport link

and given Nero
a direct route

between Rome
and his Baiaen villas.

Toner: It required
so much labor

that Nero says that all
criminals in the whole of Italy

have to be sent here to work
on the plan to dig the ditch.

The ancient authors
all condemned Nero's plan

as being absolutely
ridiculous.

They say it's
against nature,

it is impossible to build
such a long canal.

And in the end,
it's perhaps just another sign

of his increasing megalomania.

Although
Nero's canal was started,

it was never finished.

Nero's megalomania caused alarm
in Rome's ruling class.

To escape
their watchful eyes,

Nero is spending more time
here in Baiae.

He often chose
to stay with a friend,

who reputedly owned
the finest villa in the area.

Dicus: Gaius Calpurnius Piso
was a wealthy nobleman

and, like Nero, a passionate
supporter of the arts.

With this in common, the two men
were on friendly terms.

Nero was often a guest
at Piso's villa.

It was perhaps more for
the venue than for the company.

This was
a magnificent villa.

Nero bathed here.
He ate. He drank.

This was another home
away from home.

He felt so at ease here
and so comfortable

that he often walked around
without his guard,

leaving himself
open to attack.

But Nero didn't know

about his friend's
treacherous plot.

Piso wanted
to kill the emperor

right here in his own villa
and claim the throne.

While Roman texts
describe the murder plot,

they do not reveal
the location of Piso's villa.

The underwater archaeologists
were determined to find it.

Dicus: With so many villas
submerged

and so many others
lost to history,

this seemed like
a fruitless task.

But they uncovered
a decisive clue.

Dicus: Found in the courtyard
of a massive villa

was this lead water pipe.

Now, it's just
not any water pipe.

It has an inscription on it--

"el Pisonis,"
"of Piso."

This is the mark
of the Piso family.

With this, we can
actually identify

the very villa
of Piso.

This was where Nero
was a guest,

and this was
where the conspirators

planned to kill him.

Barbara is now
mapping the villa

to get a sense
of its scale and grandeur.

Davide: The garden
of the Villa de Pisoni

is very big,

and this is only
the garden of the villa.

We are swimming
in the structure near the wall.

We had found
the thermal complex

and a private jetty
of the villa.

And this is
important for us

because, thanks
to this information,

these remains,
we now know

that the villa was
in front of the sea,

just on the coast.

The mapping
of the ruins

reveals a spectacular villa
with opulent buildings

decorated by the finest
mosaics and frescoes.

Set on vast grounds,

it had two bath complexes...

fish ponds...

and a private jetty
to the sea.

Within the walls
of this splendid villa,

Piso plotted
the assassination and coup.

But at the last minute,
he had a change of heart.

Dicus: After
some reflection,

Calpurnius Piso
rejected this plan.

Shedding Nero's blood
in such a manner in his home

would defile
this magnificent space.

The assassination would have to
take place somewhere else.

The delay
cost Piso dearly.

When Nero learned
about the conspiracy,

he ordered Piso
to commit suicide.

This wasn't the first time
Nero got blood on his hands.

6 years earlier,
he took care of another rival,

his own mother.

Agrippina was a ruthless
and ambitious woman

who schemed and murdered
to get her son on the throne.

When it finally paid off,
she had no intention

of fading
into the background.

Dicus: This coin
was struck

in the first months
of Nero's reign.

It is remarkable in that
it expresses brilliantly

the relationship
that Nero had with his mother.

Now, Nero,
at the beginning,

referred to her as Optima Mater,
the best of mothers.

They here are represented
as equals.

They're of the same size.

They're looking at each other,
eye to eye.

There's a communication
between them.

Of course,
in Agrippina's mind,

she didn't see
this relationship as equal.

She thought she was
the one in charge.

And if it had been
up to her,

it would have been
Nero in the background

while she was alone
sitting on the throne.

5 years
into his reign,

Nero had had enough
of his mother's interference...

[Thunder rumbling]

And they became locked
in a brutal power struggle.

Dicus: Relations
between Nero and his mother

had become so bad that Nero
had to do something drastic.

She had to be out
of the picture permanently.

But how do you get rid
of your own mother?

Do you poison her?

This was, obviously,
the family way,

but it had to look
like an accident.

[Thunder rumbling]

He invited her
as the guest of honor

to a sumptuous banquet
at his villa.

Dicus: At the end
of the banquet,

Nero embraced her

and escorted her down
to the port of Baiae.

She boarded this boat
that Nero had rigged

to fall apart
as it sailed away.

Once at sea,

Agrippina's boat
began to break apart,

and she struggled
to stay above the water.

But her luck
hadn't run out...yet.

Dicus: Agrippina was picked up
by a passing boat,

dropped off on shore,
and she made it to her villa.

Meanwhile,
Nero waited

for news
of his mother's death.

Dicus: When he found out
that she had lived,

he was in a panic.

What would happen
if the Roman Empire

found out that he had tried
to assassinate his own mother?

Nero acted quickly.

He sent soldiers to her villa
to finish her off.

Dicus: They break
into her bedchamber,

strike her on the head,
and she falls to the ground.

As they approached her,
she opened up her shirt

and said, "If you're going to
strike me, strike me here,"

pointing to the womb
from which Nero came.

A soldier
stabbed her in the womb.

The deed was done.

Dicus: When Nero
found out

that the assassination
was successful,

he rushed to the body
of his mother,

stripped it naked,
and sort of pawed at the limbs,

analyzing some,
complimenting, criticizing

this dead body
in front of him,

eventually coming
to the conclusion,

so the historians say,

"I never knew I had
such a beautiful mother."

Ultimately,
Nero's murderous

and debauched lifestyle
in Baiae caught up with him.

In 68 A.D., after
a turbulent 13-year reign,

the Roman Senate
ran out of patience

and declared him
a public enemy.

Nero fled,
and on June 9, 68 A.D.,

at the age of 30,
he committed suicide.

Piecing together the clues,
it's clear to see

how grand
Baiae really was.

For the first time,
we can imagine the sunken villas

and rebuild the resort

as it would have been
2,000 years ago.

It was a place dedicated
to Hedonistic pleasures,

with thermal
bath complexes,

ponds for breeding fish...

And sprawling villas
set in beautiful gardens.

Inside, the villas
were decorated

with magnificent water features,
Greek statues,

and brilliantly
colored frescoes.

This was Nero's sunken city.

Dicus: To Nero,
Baiae represented everything

that he wished Rome was.

This was much more
than a second home.

Now, he could bring
the pleasures

that he experienced here and try
to replicate them in Rome,

but really,
there was no comparison.

At Baiae, Nero could engage
in his hedonistic lifestyle,

he could take to the baths,
enjoy the hot springs,

eat fresh oysters,
have boat parties,

get drunk, have sex,

all of this away
from the drudgery

of daily politics
of Rome.