Naumachia

The naumachias were mock sea battles used in Roman times for entertainment. The Romans were not satisfied by the ancient Greek ways of theater. They found, particularly Greek tragedies, dull and uneventful. This may have been because Romans had the attention span of two year olds, but what ever the reason they wanted something new and innovative. The naumachia appealed to the Romans because they were real. People were really fighting for their lives, and freedom. The participants used real weapons and were forced to kill each other. The naumachias posed many problems to the Romans such as; where would they be held, how would they get the water there, and who would they get to fight these battles? The Romans achieved the answers to these questions and performed there sea battles.

It was easy for the Romans to figure out where the naumachias would be held, on water. All the Romans needed in the beginning was a lake and they did not have a problem building one. This was an amazing feat. In 46 B.C.E Julius Caesar organized the first naumachia. Caesar had a lake dug up and made specifically for the sea battle. This first battle involved 2000 marines and 6000 oarsmen. The lake made by Caesar no longer exists because later Augustus Caesar had it filled in, because it was harvesting malaria. Of all the naumachias the most extravagant was held in 52 C.E. It was held on another man made lake called the Fucine Lake. The lake was east of Roma and the battle was to celebrate the completion of a water conduit in Roma. This naumachia had 19000 participants and many of them died.

Later naumachias were held in the Roman amphitheaters. The amphitheaters were flooded. This was possible because of the Romans extremely advanced water systems that stretched through out the entire Empire. The naumachias were even held in the Coliseum, which was supposedly flooded and drained in one day. Occasionally, the naumachias were held in the regular theaters by flooding the orchestra. This was not ideal because the space was small and not many boats could fit on the small water surface.

The people who participated in the naumachias were usually slaves or condemned criminals sentenced to death. All were fighting for there lives. The slaves that survived may have one there freedom and the criminals were showed the same respect. To make sure that the participants fought and did not just stand there or swim out of the water, there were