A remarkable marble floor in the submerged city of Baiae—dubbed the "Las Vegas" of ancient Rome—has been revealed. The Archaeological Park of the Phlegraean Fields posted underwater images of the multicolored floor to its , noting that experts were in the process of restoring the find. The floor is an example of "opus sectile"—a type of mosaic work consisting of materials (such as marble, pearl and glass) that were cut and inlaid to form images or patterns.
The pieces used to create opus sectile works are much larger than the ones found in tessellated mosaics and often were shaped to define large parts of the design. By contrast, the designs of tessellated mosaics consist of numerous, smaller pieces that are generally uniform in size. The opus sectile work in Baia once served as the floor of the reception room of a Roman villa—a type of high-status dwelling—in the city, according to the archaeological park.
located on the shore of the Gulf of Pozzuoli, in what is now southern Italy, that served as a playground for the elite in its heyday. A fashionable coastal resort, Rome's rich and powerful built luxurious villas at the site—including the rulers Julius Caesar, Nero, and Hadrian—attracted by its beautiful setting and healing natural hot springs, not to mention its reputation for hedonism. Seneca, the famous Roman stoic philosopher, wrote in a letter after visiting Baiae that the city had become a resort of "vice" while bemoaning that it was a "place to be avoid.