's Floating Palaces Author(s): Deborah N. Carlson Source: Archaeology, Vol. 55, No. 3 (May/June 2002), pp. 26-31 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41779576 Accessed: 14-07-2015 16:18 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions southeast of lie the , a fer- tile,densely wooded landscape of undulatingpeaks and cratersthat are the workof volcanoes dormant formore than two millennia.One of these craters holds a small body of water called Lake , reachableby car via a narrowdirt road. For the past Just year,visitors have been able to admirean enormous , 230 feet long and gracefullycurved at either end, restingon wooden supportsat the lakes northern shore. This keel is an earlyphase in the replicationof a massiveship, built by the Roman emperorCaligula, that once floatedmajestically atop the watersof . Caligula was a man of manypassions, and he indulged nearlyall ofthem, including his passionsfor chariot racing, theatricalperformances, gladiatorial games, and ships. Duringhis briefrule fromA.D. 37 to 41, he had two enor- mous ships- a sailingship and an oared galley- builtand A bronzewolf, the anchored on Lake Nemi as pleasure craft.Pillaged and symbolof Rome, deliberatelysunk later in the firstcentury, they were recov- is oneof several wildanimal heads ered in a feat of engineering sponsored by in the late and a ' thatdecorated the 1920s, destroyedduring of Germanretreat in 1944. gangway Caligula'smassive sailingship.

Caligula's

Palaces

Floating Archaeologists and shipwrights resurrect one of the emperor's sumptuous pleasure boats.

by Deborah N. Carlson photographycourtesy Association Dianae Lacusand Umberto Ucelli

The full-scalereconstruction of an ancientship has long The associationis seekingout sponsorsto financeone or been the dreamof RosarioD'Agata, former public relations moreof the 18 outlinedconstruction phases, at a totalcost directorof an Italianpetroleum company, and in 1999 he of nearly$10 million.The undertaking,which will last at established the Association Dianae Lacus to replicate least twoyears, promises to be as monumentalas the repli- Caligula'shuge sailingship. Rosariohad devised a similar ca itself:the oak needed to constructthe 's 230-foot- projectfor a fifth-centuryb.c. Greekmerchant vessel exca- longcentral keel, stem,and sterncame witha price tag of vateda decade ago offthe coast of Gela, Sicily,which was almost$50,000. When complete,the replica,like the orig- slated to ferryvisitors from the portto the city'sarchaeo- inal ship, will have five , 140 oak frames,and two logical ruins.He retiredbefore the projectcould be real- decks. Marco Bonino,an expertin ancientnaval architec- ized, but resurrectedthe idea, utilizingone of Caligula's ture who is overseeingthe construction,explains that, in ships, afterhe and his wife relocated to Nemi. Rosario orderto build a ship withfive keels, an ancientshipwright expectsthat the replica,one day mooredon the lake, will had to conceive of five separate ships. This is the task fosterinterest in this historicallyand culturallyrich area. beforeMattia Di Donato, the Italian shipwrightwho built

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions /';-=09 )(8*=-0/']

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions thecentral keel in his Naples Nestledin a voicaniccrater, tiny Lake Nemi was a popularsetting ley with ten banks of oars, shipyard.As he staresat the forthe worship of , the Roman goddess of hunting. jewels on the , and are theremains of her cult hundredsof oak tenons,each Archaeologists excavating complex brightlycolored sails. Guests onthe shores of the lake. Elaborate recovered from aboutthe size ofa creditcard, on board could enjoya bath, Nemis depthsonce decoratedCaligula's luxurious vessels. jutting out from the ships dine withthe emperorin one keel like wooden teeth, Di of several banquet halls, or Donato shakes his head in mingleamong flowering fruit disbelief.Is thisthe response trees. On one occasion, the of someone humbled and emperorfabricated a bridge perhaps a bit unnerved by out of shipsthat spanned the - the scope of the projectthat Bay of Baiae a distance of lies ahead? No, Di Donato is more than three miles. By marvellingat theachievement anchoringmerchant ships in ofhis ancientcolleagues: suc- pairsand coveringthem with cess on such a massivescale dirt,he was able to cross the required,in the shipwrights bayon horseback,reenacting own words, "organizzazione Xerxes'legendary bridging of perfetta." theHellespont, which allowed Lake Nemis uniquebeauty the Persianking s land forces is mostappreciable during the summer,when a fullmoon to invade Greece morethan 500 yearsearlier. reflectsboth in the lake and on the distantTyrrhenian Sea. Some scholarsdistrust historical accounts of Caligula's It is forthis reason that the Romansreferred to Lake Nemi luxuriouslifestyle, rejecting them as inflatedby-products as the speculumDianae , or mirrorof Diana. The Roman of the public's resentmentof imperialexcess. Even today, goddessof hunting,Diana was also associatedwith woods, archaeologistscan pointto relativelyfew monuments that childbirth,and the moon. The ancient inhabitantsof the substantiatethe ancientreports of Caligulanextravagance. Nemi area worshiped , or "woodsy Two such monumentsare the palatialhouseboats excavat- Diana," and the remainsof her cult complex,including a ed in the 1930s. temple,baths, and a small theater,are stillbeing excavat- In 1895, when antiquitiesdealer Eliseo Borghiestab- ed along the northernshore of the lake. The magical lishedthe presence of the Nemi shipsin the lake (see side- atmosphereof Lake Nemi appealed to Caligula, perhaps bar), an ItalianNavy colonel enlistedthe help of an expert because he was interestedin the cult of , anothermoon diver to ascertain their exact position and depth. They goddess.But the Diana cult also had a darkerside: its high determinedthat the ships lay more than 200 yardsapart, priestwas an escaped slave who won his post by killinghis at a depth of between 40 and 65 feet.With this informa- predecessor.Caligula, who is said to have enjoyedwatching tion came the realizationthat any recoveryattempt would torturesand executions,revived the customby dispatching be extremelychallenging. Because the hullswere buried in a strongerman to killthe priest. a slopingbed ofmud, burdened by tons of marble, mosaics, Caligula'sfondness for ships was onlypart of his greater bricks,and tile, it was ultimatelydecided that the only obsession with flamboyantand grandiose displays. The practicalway to recoverthem was to lowerthe lake'swater biographerSuetonius describeshow the emperorused to level. An archaeological project as audacious as this greetthe dayby cruising along the coast of Naples in a gal- required qualified engineers and substantial,long-term

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions resources,both of which were available to Mussolini. shore,was completelyexposed. Naval architectsflocked to The Italian dictatorwas eager to associate his facist Nemi to studyit. What was exceptionalwas its size- 230 regimewith the gloryof the ancient ,and feetlong and 65 feetin beam- the equivalentof two ten- archaeologyprovided a means to thatend. Duringhis rule nis courtsplaced end to end. he sponsoredexcavations in Rome and Ostia, in Sicily,and Though damaged by repeated attemptsat salvage,the at the Libyan sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratha. The remainsof the firstvessel were substantialenough to indi- mayhave interestedMussolini on a moreper- cate that it had been modeled aftera . This sonal level,for they promised a glimpseof a Romanemper- massivevessel had probablybeen towedby a pilotboat to ors privatelife. In October 1928, in the presence of II its anchorageon the lake. In and around the ship were Duce , fourelectric turbines began drawingwater out of smallobjects such as coins,keys, and fishhooks,as well as Lake Nemi at the rate of about an inch per day via an tantalizingindications of the ships formersplendor: wall ancientRoman conduit that stretches from the edge of the and floormosaics in opus tessellatum(cubes in mortar)and lake throughthe rimof the craterand intoa nearbyvalley. opus sedile (cut marbleinlay), a wooden door,and gilded By September1929, the firstship, the one closest to the copper rooftiles. Bronze faucets and hundredsof terra-

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This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ed throughthe sides of the to form an. cíytrigger, which would have supported a bank of rowingoars. The second vessel had been pat- terned after a Roman war- ship; an oared galley. Neither of Caligula's two ships could ever have been Mussolinisfascist government provided the resources thatenabled excavators to drainLake Nemi at the rate effectivelymaneuvered on Lake Nemi. No ofabout an inchper day. By June 1931, a littleless than matterwhat threeyears after the pumping began, an estimated1.4 theirappearance, these were billioncubic feet of water had been removed from the ancient houseboats of the lake.fi Duce visits pumping operations at Nemi,right mostdecadent sort. Excavation ofthe second ship revealed the remainsof an elegant super- structure,perhaps a temple: flutedcolumns; terra-cotta roof cottapipes and tilespointed to the existencenot merelyof ornaments;portions of a sculpted terra-cottafrieze with runningwater, but of heated water,in conjunctionwith a vestigesof blue, green,and yellowpaint; more gilded cop- Roman bath. Several lead pipes fromthe ship, stamped per rooftiles and manysmall marbleand ivoryfragments. CoCAESARIS AUG GERMANIC, werethe onlyevidence Excavatorsfound no trace of the deck on whichthis love- that the ship was the propertyof Caius Caesar Augustus ly littlebuilding stood, suggestingthat the ship was plun- Germanicus,or Caligula. dered before being partlydismantled and sunk. Exactly It tookmore than a yearto excavatethe firstship from when these events took place is difficultto say.While it Lake Nemis muddybottom. She leftthe lake cradled on mayseem logical to tie the destructionof the ships to the wooden supports,atop an iron platformthat traveledon assassinationof Caligula in A.D.41, the styleof the mosaics tracks.The pumpingeffort continued. It is estimatedthat 1.4 billioncubic feetof waterhad been removedfrom the lake by June 1931, when the second ship emergedfrom herwatery grave. This vesselwas and,because slightlylarger Visitorsline to viewthe remains of the mammoth it in water,had been less accessible and had up emperor's lay deeper five-keeled in1929. Fifteen later,the and sufferedless Its most distinctive sailingship years ships consequently damage. themuseum that housed them were burned to the ground, featurewas the way in which some of the beams protrud- allegedlyby German soldiers, during a Naziretreat.

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:18:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Anartist's reconstruction ofCaligula's magnificent oared galley featuresan onboardtemple, which is suggestedby architectural remainsfound with the vessel. The deck was neverfound; archaeologistsspeculate the ship was plunderedbefore beingpartially dismantled and sunk.

and variouscoin findsindicate that the ships were still in use and technical drawingsof the ships done by the Italian duringthe reignof Nero (a.D. 54-68). Nero, however,was Navy.These documentswere collected and publishedin equallydespised by the Romanpeople, so it is conceivable 1940 by Guido Ucelli, a hydraulicengineer involved with thatthe Nemi ships were sunk not long afterthe Senate the drainingof Lake Nemi. Ucellis interestin naval archi- declaredNero a public enemyand he committedsuicide. tectureand his commitmentto accurateand thoroughpub- In October 1932, the second ship was hauled ashore. licationdistinguish him as a pioneerof nauticalarchaeology. Scientistsat thetime knew relatively little about the conser- Workingfrom the drawingsin Ucellis book, Marco vation of waterloggedwood, but to the credit of those Bonino has draftednew lines forthe replicaship. Even on involved,the shipswere coveredwith damp canvas to pre- paper,the ship is awesome, and even more so when one vent rapid desiccationand, on the advice of Norwegian considersthat the ancientshipwright had no such blueprint researcherswho had successfullyconserved several Viking fromwhich to build. In the same sense, the replicaproject shipsexcavated at theturn of the century, coated with a resin has nothinglike the Imperialresources that were available solution.Though the Nemi shipswere given modest cover, it to Caligula's shipwrights.The AssociationDianae Lacus becameclear within a yearthat exposure to theelements and relieson thebenevolence of interested supporters, who have changes in temperaturewere causing rapid deterioration. seen the projectinto its nextphase, the planking.Recently, Local suppliersdonated tons of cement,bricks, iron, and the mayorof a nearbytown donated a largenumber of oak lumberto aid in the constructionof the Museo delle Navi treesto be used forplanking the ship on eitherside of the Romane,which opened in 1936 on the lakes northshore. centralkeel. As the replica Nemi ship comes to life,her Visitorswho were able to experiencethe Nemi shipsin their dimensionsastound even the draftsmanhimself: "When new settingwere truly fortunate, for on the nightof May 3 1, Boninocame down to the yard,he lookedstunned!" relates 1944, theships were set ablaze and destroyed. Di Donato, "He turnedto me and said 'I gave you those At thattime, Allied forceswere pursuingthe retreating dimensions,didn't I?!' And I said Yes, you did.'Its one thing Germanarmy northward through the Alban Hills toward workingoff drawings and plans but when you see the real Rome. On May 28, a Germanartillery post was established thingin frontof you, its a differentmatter altogether." ■ within400 feet of the museum. Accordingto museum guards,several marble columns withinit were moved or Deborah N. Carlson is a doctoralstudent in classical brokenin the daysleading up to the fire.An officialreport archaeologyat theUniversity of Texas at Austin.She servedas filed in Rome later that year described the tragedyas a theassistant director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology's willfulact on the partof the German soldiers.A German recentlycompleted classical Greekshipwreck excavation at editorialblamed the destructionon Americanartillery fire. TektasBurnu, Turkey. For further information on theAssoci- The truestory of what happened thatnight will probably ationDianae Lacus activities,visit its website at www.nemi- neverbe known. ship.org.Thanks to John Purtell and RosarioD Agata,whose The onlymaterial untouched by the flames at Nemi were guidancehas been instrumentalto thearticle and therecon- the bronzesstored in Rome, the archaeologicalsite plans, structionproject itself.

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