“Titus suddenly filled the sand with water and introduced into it horses and oxen that had learned to behave in liquid in the same way as they did on dry land,” wrote the historian Cassius Dion at the end of the second century, about the surprising inauguration. of the Colosseum in Rome in the year 80 AD. C. An act that lasted for a hundred days and that, according to the testimonies that have survived to this day, caused many more deaths than any other festive event celebrated in subsequent centuries. There was everything: combats to the death between gladiators, sacrifice of criminals, hunts on the sand for all types of exotic animals and, what concerns us in this report, the representation of gigantic naval battles with the moat completely flooded and thousands of extras.
That entire celebration was an unprecedented orgy of blood, which lasted more than three months, to welcome the most famous monument in Italy. The magnitude of that massacre is difficult to calculate and has always been surrounded by mystery. In reality there are no figures on how many gladiators or actors died in these performances. Suetonius, the biographer of the emperor who organized the events, Titus, only gave the figure of five thousand animals sacrificed during the celebrations of the end of works that had begun in the year 70 by order of his father, the emperor Vespasian.
However, these spectacular naval battles recreated in the Colosseum, the naumaquias, are one of the issues that have baffled archaeologists and historians, who still wonder if Titus could really flood the arena and, if so, how he did it. . The truth is that Casio gave some details. This almost contemporary historian, who died in Turkey in the year 265, described in his work what the ships that the emperor took out into the flooded arena were like until it was navigable – as if it were an artificial lake – and their objective: to represent one of the combats fought in Ancient Greece between Corinth and Corcyra.
Such is the curiosity aroused by these naval battles, that they have recently been brought to the world of cinema and television. Firstly, to the Prime Video series ‘Those about to die’, starring Anthony Hopkins and Iwan Rheon. Secondly, to the sequel to ‘Gladiator’ that premieres this Friday, directed again by Ridley Scott and starring stars like Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington. In the trailer for the latter, in fact, one of these naval combats from Ancient Rome stands out, in which it even takes the license to include something similar to sharks attacking the gladiators.
Permeable or waterproof
Evidently, this extraordinary spectacle would not have been possible in the Colosseum as it stands today, because there is no way that the foundations of the arena, with its intricate elevators and the other contraptions used to lift the animals, could be waterproof. . Some researchers have suggested that, when the amphitheater was built, before all that machinery was installed, it is possible that there was a possibility of flooding it, judging by the continuous references made by some ancient historians.
Suetonius, for his part, strongly suggests that there were water games in a different space built for this purpose. This statement is in line with another statement by Casio, in which he comments that these shows spread throughout the city and included water sports. Among them, indeed, a naval battle in which no less than three thousand extras participated. Unfortunately, no archaeological remains have been found to confirm this.
Still, the fascination never waned. At the National Exhibition held in 1887, on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, which became a true social event and marked the summit of the historical genre, the jury announced its verdict. Who received one of the most important medals? Ricardo de Villodas with his work ‘La Naumaquia’. The subject chosen by the Madrid painter to attend the exhibition had not been widely represented in the history of art, although we did find some examples such as those of Giovanni Lanfranco, who painted another scene of these strange naumachia at the beginning of the 17th century, preserved today. at the Prado Museum.
The origin
If we follow its trace among the historians of Antiquity, such as the aforementioned Dion Cassius and Suetonius and others such as Tacitus, the oldest reference dates from 46 BC. C., more than a century before the inauguration of the Colosseum in Rome. It was organized by Julius Caesar on the occasion of the games with which he celebrated the victory over his enemies. The dictator had a large artificial lake built on the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower. There he had a Tyrian fleet and another Egyptian fleet confront each other to the delight of those in attendance. One thousand soldiers and two thousand rowers participated in each fleet, with boats with two, three and four oars, according to the academic of the Royal Academy of History (RAH), José María Blázquez, in his article ‘Circus and wild beasts in ancient Rome. Pantomimes and naumaquias (UCM).
In year 2, Emperor Augustus, to celebrate the consecration of the temple of Mars Ultor, organized another great naumachy, for which he ordered the creation of a gigantic artificial lake. To give you an idea of the dimensions, it measured 533 meters long and 357 meters wide. On that occasion thirty large ships representing the Athenians and Persians fought, plus a larger number of small ships. The number of combatants was 3,000, to which the rowers should be added.
Half a century later it was the turn of Emperor Claudius, who organized a great naval combat drill to celebrate the end of the works that linked Lake Fucino, through a canal, with the River Liris. That battle was even more spectacular, since, according to Blázquez, 19,000 combatants participated, divided into two fleets, one representing Sicily and the other from Rhodes. The battles were so successful with the public that, according to Tacitus, the organizers surrounded the lake with rafts to prevent the attendees, crowded on the shore, from falling into the water. And these, just in case, were occupied by detachments of the praetorian cohorts, the emperor’s personal guard.
Entertain the people
In the year 57 or 58, it is not very clear, Nero converted the sand of the amphitheater that he himself had built in the Campus Martius into another gigantic lake that filled with fish of all kinds and reproduced a new naval encounter between Persians and Greeks. , with the aim of remembering the famous Medical Wars. Then, as if it were a concert stage, he emptied the lake and had the gladiators fight on the sand, simulating a land combat, this time. He repeated the show six years later, following the same order, but ending with a lavish feast in the same place where hours before there was nothing but water. There is no information on how he managed to do it, in what today would undoubtedly be a great work of engineering.
There is no record of more naval battles until those celebrated by Titus at the inauguration of the Colosseum in Rome, but they did not die with him either. The ‘Historia Augusta’ – a collection of biographies of Roman emperors and usurpers of the throne of Rome written in Latin by various classical authors in the late 19th century. IV – reports another naumachy celebrated by the emperor Philip the Arab. With it he wanted to celebrate the founding of Rome, although no further details are known.
There is no doubt that the Roman emperors were very prodigal in organizing all these kinds of spectacles to distract the people of Rome and prevent them from thinking politically and rising up against power. Proof of this is the reign of the young Titus with whom we begin this report, as it began with several catastrophes, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a fire in Rome and an outbreak of plague. There are no better fireworks to try to appease the spirits of the citizens… and the gods. Just in case.
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