The Romans flooded the Colosseum for sea battles - Janelle Peters

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Starting in 80 CE, residents of Rome and visitors from across the Roman Empire would fill the stands of the Colosseum to see gladiators duel, animals fight and chariots race around the arena. And for the grand finale, water poured into the arena basin, submerging the stage for the greatest spectacle of all: staged naval battles. Janelle Peters details the history of these mock maritime encounters.

Lesson by Janelle Peters, directed by Brett Underhill.

The cry of the crowd. The roar of a lion.
The clash of metal.

Starting in 80 CE these sounds rang
through the stands of the Colosseum.

On hundreds of days a year,

over 50,000 residents of Rome and
visitors from across the Roman Empire

would fill the stadiums’ four stories to
see gladiators duel, animals fight,

and chariots race around the arena.

And for the grand finale,
water poured into the arena basin,

submerging the stage for the
greatest spectacle of all:

staged naval battles.

The Romans’ epic, mock maritime
encounters, called naumachiae,

started during Julius Caesar’s reign
in the first century BC,

over a hundred years before the
Colosseum was built.

They were held alongside other
aquatic spectacles

on natural and artificial bodies
of water around Rome

up through Emperor Flavius Vespasian,

who began building the Colosseum in
70 CE on the site of a former lake.

The Colosseum was intended to be a symbol
of Rome’s power in the ancient world,

and what better way to display that power

than a body of water that could drain
and refill at the Emperor’s command?

Vespasian’s son Flavius Titus fulfilled
his father’s dream in 80 CE

when he used war spoils to
finish the Colosseum–

or as it was known at the time,
the Flavian Amphitheater.

The grand opening was celebrated with 100
days of pageantry and gladiatorial games,

setting the precedent for programming
that included parades,

musical performances, public executions,
and of course, gladiatorial combat.

Unlike the games in smaller amphitheaters
funded by wealthy Romans,

these lavish displays of Imperial power
were financed by the Emperor.

Parades of exotic animals, theatrical
performances,

and the awe-inspiring naumachiae
were all designed

to bolster faith in the god-like Emperor,

who would be declared a god
after his own death.

It’s still a mystery how engineers flooded
the arena to create this aquatic effect.

Some historians believe a giant
aqueduct was diverted into the arena.

Others think the system of chambers
and sluice gates used to drain the arena,

were also used to fill it.

These chambers could’ve been filled
with water prior to the event

and then opened to submerge the stage

under more than a million gallons of
water, to create a depth of five feet.

But even with all that water,

the Romans had to construct miniature
boats with special flat bottoms

that wouldn’t scrape the Colosseum floor.

These boats ranged from 7 to 15
meters long,

and were built to look like vessels
from famous encounters.

During a battle, dozens of these ships
would float around the arena,

crewed by gladiators dressed as the
opposing sides of the recreated battle.

These warriors would duel across ships;

boarding them, fighting, drowning,
and incapacitating their foes

until only one faction was left standing.

Fortunately, not every watery display
told such a gruesome story.

In some of these floodings,

a submerged stage allowed chariot
drivers to glide across the water

as though they were Triton, making waves
as he piloted his chariot on the sea.

Animals walked on water, myths were
re-enacted by condemned prisoners,

and at night, nude synchronized swimmers
would perform by torchlight.

But the Colosseum’s aquatic
age didn’t last forever.

The naval battles proved so popular they
were given their own nearby lake

by Emperor Domitian in the early 90s CE.

The larger lake proved even
better for naumachiae,

and the Colosseum soon gained a series
of underground animal cages

and trap doors that didn’t allow for
further flooding.

But for a brief time,

the Flavian Emperors controlled the
tides of war and water

in a spectacular show of power.