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Misenum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Misenum is the site of an ancient port in Campania, in southern Italy. It is located on a cape on the northwest end of the Bay of Naples, at modern Miseno.
According to mythology, Misenum was named after Misenus, a companion of Hector and trumpeter to Aeneas. Misenus is supposed to have drowned near here after a trumpet competition with the sea-god Triton, as recounted in Virgil's Aeneid.
In 38 BC, Misenum was the site where a short-lived pact was made between Octavian (heir of Julius Caesar, who later became the emperor Augustus), and his rival Sextus Pompeius.
In ancient times, Misenum was the largest base, Portus Julius, of the Roman navy, since it was the base of the Classis Misenensis, the most important Roman fleet. It was first established as a naval base in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, the right-hand man of the emperor Augustus.
With its gorgeous natural setting close to the naval base and the nearby important Roman cities of Puteoli and Neapolis, Misenum became the site of Roman luxury villas.
Pliny the Elder was the praefect in charge of the naval fleet at Misenum in AD 79, at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, visible to the south across the Bay of Naples. Seeing the beginnings of the eruption, Pliny left for a closer view and to effect a possible rescue, and was killed by the eruption. The account of his death is given by his nephew Pliny the Younger, who was also resident in Misenum at the time.
Misenum is portrayed in Robert Harris' novel, Pompeii as the location of the Piscina Mirabilis (the terminal reservoir into which the Aqua Augusta aqueduct emptied) where the protagonist, Attillius, worked as an Aquarius.