Lucrinus Lacus

Lucrinus Lacus, or Lucrine Lake, a lake of Campania, Italy, about three kilometers (two miles) to the south of Lake Avernus, and only separated from the sea (Gulf of Pozzuoli) by a narrow strip of land, traversed by the coast road— Via Herculanea, which runs on an embankment, the construction of which was traditionally attributed to Heracles in Strabo's time— and by the modern railway. This strip was severed by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, in order to make a harbour of Lake Lucrinus, which he joined to Avernus by a canal.

The size of present-day Lago Lucrino, the "maricello" ("little sea") was much reduced by the rise of the cratered volcanic cone of the Monte Nuovo in 1538. The length of the former dike that separated it from the sea, a length of about one-and-a-half kilometers, can be traced by skin divers. Its greatest depth is about 5 m (15 ft). In Roman days its fisheries were important and its oyster-beds were, as at the present day, renowned; their foundation is attributed to one Sergius Orata, about 100 BC. It was also in favour as a resort for pleasure excursions from Baiae (cf. Martial i. 62), and its banks were covered with villas, of which the best known was Cicero's villa Cumanum, the seat of his "Academia", on the east bank. The remnants of this villa, with the village of Tripergola, disappeared beneath the sea in 1538. In 59 Agrippina the Younger proceeded to her villa on this lake's shore after the shipwreck arranged by Nero was bungled, and she had managed to swim ashore.

References

* Karl Julius Beloch, "Campanien", ed. 2 (Breslau, 1890), 172.
* [http://www.icampiflegrei.it/Azienda%20Turismo/pozzuoli/articoli2003/giugno_eng.htm Mario Sirpettino "At the bottom of the sea: the remains of Portus Julius"]
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