2 BC for
Augustus (27 BC/14) near the Horti of Caesar (Gardens of Julius Caesar)
The area
covered was 552 x 355 m (1,800 x 1,200 feet), about three times larger than the
Colosseum
It was used
for performances of naval battles that are commonly believed to have taken
place in the Colosseum
If naval
battles really took place in the Colosseum as reported by Martial and Cassius
Dio, and suggested by some archaeological evidence, they must have lasted only
for the few years before the construction of the large underground level under
the floor of the arena
The main
building where these shows would regularly take place was this one and, about
100 years later, the Vatican Naumachia, which maybe took the
place of Augustus' Naumachia
No trace
remains but the exact location is shown by the Forma Urbis (monumental
map of Rome of the beginning of the third century AD) and by the discovery of a
section of the aqueduct that used to fed the Naumachia, the Alsietino
Aqueduct coming with underground conduits from the lakes of
Bracciano and Martignano at a distance of 33 km (20.5 miles)
It was
probably built just to fill up the Naumachia with water because water was not
drinkable
In the
Naumachia there was room for thirty ships among triremes and biremes (in
the Colosseum three at the most) plus other smaller ships with 3,000
soldiers, not to mention thousands of rowers
At the
center of the lake there was an artificial island
Here it was
celebrated with naval battles the inauguration of the Temple of Mars Ultor in
the Forum of Augustus
It is
mind-blowing for our mentality today to think that 2,000 years ago the Romans
had built a giant stadium and a 33 km aqueduct to fill it with water just
because they loved to see men killing each other on boats
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