WEBVTT

00:00:06.998 --> 00:00:11.978
The cry of the crowd. The roar of a lion. 
The clash of metal.

00:00:11.978 --> 00:00:17.013
Starting in 80 CE these sounds rang 
through the stands of the Colosseum.

00:00:17.013 --> 00:00:18.406
On hundreds of days a year,

00:00:18.406 --> 00:00:23.076
over 50,000 residents of Rome and 
visitors from across the Roman Empire

00:00:23.076 --> 00:00:28.414
would fill the stadiums’ four stories to 
see gladiators duel, animals fight,

00:00:28.414 --> 00:00:31.203
and chariots race around the arena.

00:00:31.203 --> 00:00:35.582
And for the grand finale, 
water poured into the arena basin,

00:00:35.582 --> 00:00:39.300
submerging the stage for the 
greatest spectacle of all:

00:00:39.300 --> 00:00:41.940
staged naval battles.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:41.940 --> 00:00:46.202
The Romans’ epic, mock maritime 
encounters, called naumachiae,

00:00:46.202 --> 00:00:50.149
started during Julius Caesar’s reign 
in the first century BC,

00:00:50.149 --> 00:00:53.773
over a hundred years before the 
Colosseum was built.

00:00:53.773 --> 00:00:56.778
They were held alongside other 
aquatic spectacles

00:00:56.778 --> 00:01:00.338
on natural and artificial bodies 
of water around Rome

00:01:00.338 --> 00:01:02.979
up through Emperor Flavius Vespasian,

00:01:02.979 --> 00:01:07.869
who began building the Colosseum in 
70 CE on the site of a former lake.

00:01:07.869 --> 00:01:12.143
The Colosseum was intended to be a symbol 
of Rome’s power in the ancient world,

00:01:12.143 --> 00:01:14.852
and what better way to display that power

00:01:14.852 --> 00:01:20.103
than a body of water that could drain 
and refill at the Emperor’s command?

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:20.103 --> 00:01:25.733
Vespasian’s son Flavius Titus fulfilled 
his father’s dream in 80 CE

00:01:25.733 --> 00:01:29.078
when he used war spoils to 
finish the Colosseum–

00:01:29.078 --> 00:01:33.585
or as it was known at the time, 
the Flavian Amphitheater.

00:01:33.585 --> 00:01:39.101
The grand opening was celebrated with 100 
days of pageantry and gladiatorial games,

00:01:39.101 --> 00:01:42.482
setting the precedent for programming 
that included parades,

00:01:42.482 --> 00:01:48.916
musical performances, public executions, 
and of course, gladiatorial combat.

00:01:48.916 --> 00:01:52.689
Unlike the games in smaller amphitheaters 
funded by wealthy Romans,

00:01:52.689 --> 00:01:57.119
these lavish displays of Imperial power 
were financed by the Emperor.

00:01:57.119 --> 00:02:00.145
Parades of exotic animals, theatrical 
performances,

00:02:00.145 --> 00:02:03.272
and the awe-inspiring naumachiae 
were all designed

00:02:03.272 --> 00:02:06.174
to bolster faith in the god-like Emperor,

00:02:06.174 --> 00:02:09.544
who would be declared a god 
after his own death.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:09.544 --> 00:02:14.214
It’s still a mystery how engineers flooded
the arena to create this aquatic effect.

00:02:14.217 --> 00:02:18.827
Some historians believe a giant 
aqueduct was diverted into the arena.

00:02:18.827 --> 00:02:23.375
Others think the system of chambers 
and sluice gates used to drain the arena,

00:02:23.375 --> 00:02:25.594
were also used to fill it.

00:02:25.594 --> 00:02:28.673
These chambers could’ve been filled 
with water prior to the event

00:02:28.673 --> 00:02:30.861
and then opened to submerge the stage

00:02:30.861 --> 00:02:35.791
under more than a million gallons of 
water, to create a depth of five feet.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:35.793 --> 00:02:37.859
But even with all that water,

00:02:37.859 --> 00:02:41.920
the Romans had to construct miniature 
boats with special flat bottoms

00:02:41.920 --> 00:02:44.526
that wouldn’t scrape the Colosseum floor.

00:02:44.526 --> 00:02:47.641
These boats ranged from 7 to 15 
meters long,

00:02:47.641 --> 00:02:51.340
and were built to look like vessels 
from famous encounters.

00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:55.294
During a battle, dozens of these ships 
would float around the arena,

00:02:55.294 --> 00:03:00.264
crewed by gladiators dressed as the 
opposing sides of the recreated battle.

00:03:00.264 --> 00:03:02.532
These warriors would duel across ships;

00:03:02.532 --> 00:03:06.007
boarding them, fighting, drowning, 
and incapacitating their foes

00:03:06.007 --> 00:03:09.947
until only one faction was left standing.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:09.947 --> 00:03:14.405
Fortunately, not every watery display 
told such a gruesome story.

00:03:14.405 --> 00:03:15.704
In some of these floodings,

00:03:15.704 --> 00:03:19.690
a submerged stage allowed chariot 
drivers to glide across the water

00:03:19.690 --> 00:03:24.570
as though they were Triton, making waves 
as he piloted his chariot on the sea.

00:03:24.570 --> 00:03:29.199
Animals walked on water, myths were 
re-enacted by condemned prisoners,

00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:34.167
and at night, nude synchronized swimmers 
would perform by torchlight.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:34.167 --> 00:03:38.149
But the Colosseum’s aquatic 
age didn’t last forever.

00:03:38.149 --> 00:03:42.477
The naval battles proved so popular they 
were given their own nearby lake

00:03:42.477 --> 00:03:46.094
by Emperor Domitian in the early 90s CE.

00:03:46.094 --> 00:03:48.835
The larger lake proved even 
better for naumachiae,

00:03:48.835 --> 00:03:52.543
and the Colosseum soon gained a series 
of underground animal cages

00:03:52.543 --> 00:03:56.106
and trap doors that didn’t allow for 
further flooding.

00:03:56.106 --> 00:03:57.675
But for a brief time,

00:03:57.675 --> 00:04:01.074
the Flavian Emperors controlled the 
tides of war and water

00:04:01.074 --> 00:04:03.794
in a spectacular show of power.