Back to Roman Navy.
- Home Port of the Classis Misenensis, the Roman Navy Fleet.
- Located in an inland lake, with an entrance into the Bay of Naples.
- The town of Misenum developed next to the Base, along with the Spa Resort of Baiae
History
- In 44 BCE Sextus Pompey occupied Sicily and created a Navy that blockaded the Italian ports and stopped Grain from reaching Rome.
- In 38 BCE Octavian assembled a naval force and attempted to invade Sicily, but storms forced him to abandon the project.
- Sextus Pompey‘s blockading Fleet was able to prevent any attempt to assemble ships against Sicily.
- Agrippa was given the task of secretly creating a Naval force.
- Between 37-36 BCE Agrippa Behind Cape Miseno were two inland lakes. Lake averno was surrounded by hills and invisible from the sea. Agrippa built a Fleet on it and then trained 20,000 freed Roman Slaves to become sailors, without this being seen from Sextus Pompey‘s Fleet patrolling the coast. Agrippa built a connecting Canal between Lake Averno and Lake Lucrino. He then cut another canal from Lake Lucrino into the sea, but he hid the entry point.
- Battle of Naulochus
- This Fleet left its Harbour and united with a Fleet of 120 ships that Mark Anthony had sent, and the Fleet of Lepidus from Africa Together the combined Fleet of 300 ships defeated Sextus Pompey and his Fleet of 300 ships at the Battle of Naulochus on September 3rd, 36 BCE.
Naval Base of the Classis Misenensis
- Misenum then became the Major Naval Base in Western Italy, with 10,000 sailors based there. In the East, Ravenna became the secondary Base.
Aqueduct and Cistern
- The Aqua Augusta was an Aqueduct that brought water from a distance of 87 miles (140km), supplying eight cities and three villas, as well as the naval base.
- The terminus of the aqueduct was the Piscina Mirabilis, a huge freshwater Cistern which supplied the Naval base.
Piscina Mirabilis, in Porta Julia