Naumachia Augusti

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The Naumachia Augusti was a facility that Augustus had built for the organization of naval battles .

The reason for the establishment were celebrations that began with the inauguration of the Mars Ultor Temple in 2 BC. Went hand in hand.

The facility was on the right bank of the Tiber near the river bank and measured 1200 × 1800 Roman feet , around 357 × 536 meters. Fed it was from the specially built for this purpose Aqua Alsietina , one also aqua Augusta called Aqueduct for water of inferior quality from the lacus Alsietinus . In the middle of the artificial lake was an island, to which a bridge, the pons naumachiarius mentioned by Pliny , led and which was restored after a fire under Tiberius . Tiberius had the largest tree trunk ever used in Rome, a 120 foot (around 35 meters) long larch , brought to Rome as a curiosity.

The naumachia of Augustus, the first permanent structure of this type, was still used under Nero , who had the huge larch trunk removed for his amphitheater , as it was under Titus , at that time already naumachia vetus , "old naumachia". For the year 95 Statius mentions a Naumachie of Domitian held there . At the time of Alexander Severus only a few remains were to be seen.

In the naval battles organized by Augustus, 30 bi- and triremes as well as smaller ships were involved, which together had about 3,000 men fighting crew, not counting rowers. They recreated the battle of the Persians against the Athenians. Attached to the Naumachie area was a park named after the adoptive sons of Augustus nemus Gai et Luci Caesaris , but also known as nemus Caesarum after the title of the adoptive sons .

The location of the naumachia Augusti is either near the church of San Cosimato in Trastevere , especially since large blocks of travertine cut to a curve were found in this area during construction work on Viale di Trastevere , between Viale del Trastevere and the ancient via Campana Portuensis or south of the Via Aurelia and the southeast corner of the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere. At the latter point, considerable quantities of black and white mosaics matching the time were found at a depth of eight meters.

literature

  • Filippo Coarelli : Aedes Fortis Fortunae, Naumachia Augusti, Castra Ravennatium: la Via Campana Portuensis e alcuni edifici nella Pianta Marmorea Severiana. In: Ostraka. Volume 1, 1992, pp. 39-54.
  • Kathleen M. Coleman: Launching into History: Aquatic Displays in the Early Empire. In: Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 83, 1993, pp. 48-74, here: pp. 52 f.
  • Ömür Harmanşah: Naumachia. In: Elisha Ann Dumser (Ed.): Mapping Augustan Rome (= Journal of Roman Archeology . Supplement 50). Portsmouth 2002, p. 179 ( online ).
  • Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 357 ( online ).
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: Naumachia Augusti. In: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, ISBN 0-8018-4300-6 , p. 265.
  • Rabun Taylor: Torrent or trickle? The Aqua Alsietina, the Naumachia Augusti, and the Transtiberim. In: American Journal of Archeology . Volume 101, 1997, pp. 465-492.

Web links

  • Ömür Harmanşah: Naumachia at Digital Augustan Rome.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Velleius Paterculus 2,100 ; Augustus, res gestae 23 ; Suetonius , Augustus 43.1 ; Tacitus , Annals 12.56 ; Cassius Dio 66.25.3 .
  2. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12.56; Suetonius, Augustus 43.1.
  3. ^ Augustus, res gestae 23.
  4. ^ Frontin , De aquis 11 ; see. also the inscription CIL 6, 31566 .
  5. ↑ Cassius Dio 66.25.
  6. ^ Pliny, Naturalis historia 16, 190 .
  7. ^ Pliny, Naturalis historia 16, 200 .
  8. ↑ Cassius Dio 62, 20, 5 .
  9. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 16,200.
  10. ↑ Suetonius, Titus 7.3 ; Cassius Dio 66.25.
  11. ↑ Statius, silvae 4,4,6–7 .
  12. ↑ Cassius Dio 55,10,7 .
  13. ^ Augustus, res gestae 23.
  14. ↑ Cassius Dio 55,10,7
  15. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.15 ; Suetonius, Tiberius 72.1 .
  16. ^ Augustus, res gestae 23; CIL 6, 31566; Suetonius, Augustus 43.1.
  17. ↑ Lawrence Richardson Jr .: Naumachia Augusti. In: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 265
  18. ^ Filippo Coarelli: Aedes Fortis Fortunae, Naumachia Augusti, Castra Ravennatium: la Via Campana Portuensis e alcuni edifici nella Pianta Marmorea Severiana. In: Ostraka. Volume 1, 1992, pp. 39-54; Kathleen M. Coleman: Launching into History: Aquatic Displays in the Early Empire. In: Journal of Roman Studies. Volume 83, 1993, p. 52 f.
  19. ^ Rabun Taylor: Torrent or trickle? The Aqua Alsietina, the Naumachia Augusti, and the Transtiberim. In: American Journal of Archeology. Volume 101, 1997, pp. 465-492.