Inaugural Games of The Flavian Amphitheatre - Combat, Hunting and Racing

Combat, Hunting and Racing

Dio, Suetonius and Martial all record naumachiae, the commonly used Greek term for what the Romans also called navalia proelia, re-creations of famous sea battles. While Dio claims that both the purpose-built naumachia of Augustus and the amphitheatre itself were flooded for two separate shows, Suetonius states only that the event took place on the old artificial lake (which would have been that of Augustus). Martial does not specify where the naumachiae took place, but he is clear that whatever location he is discussing could be flooded and drained at will:

If you are here from a distant land, a late spectator for whom this was the first day of the sacred show, let not the naval warfare deceive you with its ships, and the water like to a sea: here but lately was land. Don't you believe it? Watch while the waters weary Mars. But a short while hence you will be saying "But here lately was sea."

It appears it would have been difficult to flood the amphitheatre, but, because few records survive on the operation of the Colosseum, it is impossible to say for certain where the naval battles took place. Suetonius writes that Titus' brother and successor, Domitian, staged sea-fights in the amphitheatre, but he had made alterations to the structure, which probably included adding the hypogeum—a complex of underground passages that may have allowed the arena to be quickly flooded and emptied. While Suetonius only records that Titus' recreations of naval battles took place, Dio gives some details:

For Titus suddenly filled this same theatre with water and brought in horses and bulls and some other domesticated animals that had been taught to behave in the liquid element just as on land. He also brought in people on ships, who engaged in a sea-fight there, impersonating the Corcyreans and Corinthians; and others gave a similar exhibition outside the city in the grove of Gaius and Lucius, a place which Augustus had once excavated for this very purpose.

Both Dio and Suetonius agree that gladiatorial contests and a wild-beast hunt, the venatio, also took place at the lake area, but they again disagree on the details. Dio states this took place on the first day, with the lake covered over with planking and wooden stands erected around it, while Suetonius says the events occurred in the basin after the water had been let out. Suetonius writes that 5,000 animals were killed there in a single day. Although no record of the animals pursued in these hunts survives (Dio mentions hunts of cranes and elephants but does not give a location), larger exotic animals were popular, notably elephants, big cats and bears, though smaller game such as birds, rabbits and goats also featured.

Suetonius writes that when Domitian staged his games there were other entertainments aside from the "usual two-horse chariot races", which indicates these races probably formed part of Titus' games, and Dio tells us that there was a horse race on the second day though he gives no details of the type of race.

Only Dio's record extends to detail of the third day specifically, during which he says:

…there was a naval battle between three thousand men, followed by an infantry battle. The "Athenians" conquered the "Syracusans" (these were the names the combatants used), made a landing on the islet and assaulted and captured a wall that had been constructed around the monument.

This may again suggest the amphitheatre was flooded, as the monument referred to could be an altar of Diana, or Pluto, or of Jupiter Latiaris that may have been present in the centre of the arena, but Pliny the Elder mentions a bridge in connection with the lake of Augustus, suggesting there may have been an island there as well.