Caligula'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 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org 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 Rome lie the Alban Hills, 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 Nemi, reachableby car via a narrowdirt road. For the past Just year,visitors have been able to admirean enormous ships keel, 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 Lake Nemi. 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 Benito Mussolini 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 ship'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 keels, 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 Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting. jewels on the stern, and are theremains of her cult hundredsof oak tenons,each Archaeologists excavating complex brightlycolored sails. Guests onthe shores of the lake. Elaborate mosaics 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 Diana Nemorensis, 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 Isis, 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 Roman Empire,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- Nemi ships mayhave interestedMussolini on a moreper- cate that it had been modeled aftera sailing ship. 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- "•Y V t'" v;¿ .v ¿ C'V "-Tty v;¡ -7'?' 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