Lucullo’s pool
An ancient fish farm
Lucullo’s pool was a fishpond consisting of two concentric rings, divided in uneven wedge-shaped sections by asymmetric partitions meeting in the centre. It owes its name to an incorrect interpretation of a passage by Varro.
All the structures that can be seen today are embedded in the ground, and connected with one another by rectangular openings at varying height. The western section, instead, was isolated from the pool, and only connected with the water supply channel, possibly built during the Domitian age, and with an underground sulphur spring from which water flowed at a temperature of around 25°C.
In its initial stage, the pool was supplied through a pipe system built in the same period of Torre Paola thermal baths, between the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Augustan age. This dating would support the hypothesis of an early expansion of the town of Circeii.
Research is at an advanced planning stage.
Lucullo’s pool
(photo by Archivio Parco Nazionale del Circeo)
Lucullo’s pool
(photo by Archivio Parco Nazionale del Circeo)
