John Paul Casares
History of Theatre 1-4316
Professor B.Warren
UTRGV
Naumachia in the Colosseum
John Paul Casares
History of Theatre 1-4316
Professor B.Warren
UTRGV
Naumachia in the Colosseum
How did people manage to fill up an arena with so much water? Where did the water go when the water battle was finished? What did they do with all of the dead bodies? What kind of people were involved in the mock sea battles, how was the Colosseum flooded, and what type of ships and material were used in this process? Many forms of entertainment have been demonstrated to people in ancient times but Naumachia in the Colosseum was and is rarely spoken of.
Julius Caesar celebrated his victory over Egypt by having the first naumachia in 46 BCE. Many wonder how naval battles in the Colosseum would start and end. Mock sea battles called Naumachia were organized for the masses to see. When one thinks of the Roman Empire one thinks of the brutality ancient Romans were accustom to. The Colosseum held many brutal battles and also held battles involving many ships that carried slaves, gladiators, and criminals that would fight to the death. These battles were staged events of real battles Romans had fought in at some point in their history. The Emperor Vespasian of the Roman Empire who ruled over the land from July 1, 69 to June 23, 79 is the one who ordered the Colosseum to be built. Never did he see the Colosseum complete; therefore he never witnessed the crowd’s cheer for a glorious victory or death. The largest amphitheatre in rome would have been a marvel and a recognizable symbol of power to many. At the time in this construction gladiators would generate many cheers and a huge number of deaths. Many great battles were demonstrated in the Amphitheatre but this doesn’t mean that they were the first mock sea battles to take place. Many Roman civilians witnessed the reenactments of naval battles before they were shown in the Roman Amphitheatre when Julius Caesar held mock sea battles near the Tiber River to celebrate the victory over Egypt in 46 BC. It is said that 16 ships manned by over 6,000 humans battled for their life in this enormous event. I could imagine that all of those people were packed in like sardines to reenact deadly battles. Packed in boats gladiators would fight to the death and not all would die at the event. Adopted son of Julius Caesar , the Emperor Augustus celebrated the inauguration of a temple to the God of War, Mars in 2 BC with the second Naumachia. He states in The Deeds of the Devine Augustus 23: how he excavated the ground in length,“1,800 feet, in width, 1,200, in which in which 30 beaked ships, biremes, or triremes, but many smaller, fought among themselves; in these ships 3,000 men fought in addition to the rowers.”
What kind of people were involved in the mock sea battles? Slaves and prisoners were the ones would build great ships, and made costumes for the gladiators participating in the event. This means that they had to be educated to know what they were doing in a large scaled event. Since Rome was a slave society, slave labor was often used to complete this sophisticated engineered structure. Thousands of hours worked by slaves and criminals were used to complete a spectacle for audiences to witness. Those who were involved in mock sea battles were captives, slaves and violators of the law who fought to the death or drowned because they did not know how to swim. Over 60,000 event goers, citizens of Rome would witness so much death and mutilation in the Amphitheatre. Events would be funded by the state and would encourage people to go spectate. Just like modern days people went to events because they wanted to be entertained, and events like this would give away free bread to the attendees as they witnessed a spectacular display. With so many people attending this event it is hard to imagine how many would receive bread or how they would stand the heat, odor, and behavior of many people. Many people at one place at the same time must have had a hard time leaving a packed Colosseum where over 50,000 were in attendance. A Vomitorium was used to move people out of the Colosseum quickly. People often called them voms.
Major architectural plumbing was in use to prepare the mock sea battles in the Colosseum. Dr. Martin Crapper a profound Hydraulic Engineer conducted an investigation and concluded that the mock sea battles must have taken up to 6 hours to fill up. He estimates that aqueducts must have been connected to the Colosseum in order to fill up the hypogeum with water from the hills and aqueduct. A hypogeum is an underground chamber that was flooded after it was sealed. The control of water was very important to the Romans because it demonstrated power over water. Five circular channels supplied water to the Colosseum for the miraculous events that would take place. The Colosseum sits on a valley surrounded by seven hills; three hills were to be used in the process of filling up the arena, the Esquiline, Palatine, and Caelian. Over 4,000,000 liters of water were used to fill up the hypogeum. Sluice gates could have been used to seal the water and keep water pressure in order to reach the right level for the arena to be flooded to a depth of six to seven feet in less than six hours. A sluice is an artificial passage that regulates the flow of water. Experts assembled by the ABC Discover Channel have tested these theories. The hills provided water for the Colosseum through a stream called the San Gregorio Stream that is still under the Colosseum today. Others say that the Colosseum was connected to the Aqueduct so the arena could be filled faster. Today one can see the hypogeum in a new way; it’s not what it once was. Today we see a two-story maze that makes one wonder how it was ever possible to hold full-scaled sea battles. It is hard to wonder because the hypogeum has been altered and looks as if it would be impossible to showcase miraculous events like Mock sea battles. This was the two-story substructure beneath the arena. Within it there was a system of elevators, pulleys and trap doors that allowed wild beasts and gladiators to pop up from beneath the arena floor and kill their unsuspected pray or victim. This was the support system of the arena. There is no proof or records showing how an event like this would take place other than the writings and myths many share about the Naumachiae. After hearing about great battles in the arena I wonderd if these naval battles that were re-enactments actually happened. When X-ray imaging was used to prove that waterproof materials were used in the construction of the hypogeum I was convinced that mock sea battles took place in the Colosseum. It is said that eighteen sunken blocks were used to hold up wooden beams for the placement of the arena’s floor, which could be removed by stagehands to allow the area to be flooded for Naumachiae in the Colosseum. Since the Colosseum was filled up with water over seven feet, boats had to be flat-bottomed and built in a smaller scale than Roman boats. There was usually a man made island during the mock sea battles that would enable combatants to fight hand to hand battling for their survival. After brutal battles the water would be drained so other events could take place. How were many wooden ships placed in the arena? Were the men and ships already there when the arena was getting filled with water and how were they removed after they were sunk? How long did it take to fill in the Colosseum and how fast was the water gushing in? Evidence suggests that many channels were used to fill up sub structures of the Colosseum but there is no evidence or written reports of how the ships were built and put in the Colosseum. These questions remained unanswered till this day.
Cristiano Renere is the first modern archeologist to explore the labyrinth of water channels beneath the Colosseum. He has found evidence in the plumbing system that shows it was used to flood the arena for naval battles. The original water channels built for Emperor Nero’s artificial lake are still in tact and Cristiano Renere believs that these water channels could have been used and reconfigured for the Colosseum during the build to fill before and empty after the mock sea battles. Cristiano’s teams of divers discovered a holding tank connected to an aqueduct believed to feed water to the water channels connected to the arena. Drainpipes also were connected to the city sewer system; therefore it could have been used to drain the floodwaters of the arena sending it to the Tiber River.
Combatants would dress like the soldiers of the battles that took place in the past. In one of many mock battles gladiators would dress like Corcyreans and Corinthians to emulate what happened in the Corinth-Corcyra War that took place in 435-431 BCE. Researcher, historian, and writer Sandra Sweeny Silver claims that the animal hunt was first, the naval battle was second and the amphitheater was drained and dry because next, “there was a gladiatorial exhibition and wild beast hunt.” In order for this to take place many must have been prepared and trained to change platforms and manage elevators and pulley’s in the Colosseum. This makes me think of how many similarities the Colosseum had resembling shows demonstrated in Super bowl Championships. When the Super bowl’s half time show comes, there are people who trained for three months in advance to perfect and demonstrate how fast and perfect they arrange a large stage for a singing performance. Just as fast as stagehands put it up they put it down and that is a total of five minutes. Magnificent teamwork used in situations like this can achieve moving a platform and cleaning up after many corpses for displays like mock battles or other gladiatorial events.
There are questions many would have asked themselves in the past involving the mock sea battles reffered to as Naumachiae. We don’t have the answers to everything that happened in the mock sea battles nor will we ever. Lucky are those who witnessed such gore and brutality in the Colosseum and that did have the answers we seek. Today we are lucky if we see some blood shed in a boxing match or UFC event. In great events held in the Colosseum people would cheer for the death and misfortune of many. With so many dead bodies left after the mock war makes me wonder if they would feed them to the wild beasts held there. I would assume that wild beasts had an appetite for the dead bodies produced by these brutal battles, how else could one feed thousands of carnivorous beasts being held captive in cages below the arena. Many think of beasts battles and gladiators when they hear about the Colosseum, still it is rare that Naumachiae comes to ones mind when they hear about the Roman Colosseum.
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