NAUMACHIA AUGUSTI
the artificial pond constructed by Augustus in
2 B.C. on the right bank of the Tiber, where he celebrated sham naval
combats on a great scale in connection with the dedication of the temple
of Mars Ultor (
Veil. ii. 100; Mon.
Anc. iv. 43-44; Suet. Aug. 43; Tac.
Ann. xii. 56; Cass.
Dio lxvi. 25; Euseb. ad a. Abr. 2014). It was 1800
Roman feet (536 metres) long and 1200 (357) wide (Mon. Anc. loc. cit.),
and was supplied with water by the aqua Alsietina, built by Augustus
for this purpose (Frontinus, de aq. i. I , 22). Around the naumachia was
a grove, nemus Caesarum, laid out by Augustus (Tac.
Ann. xiv. 15) in
honour of Gaius and Lucius Caesar (Mon. Anc. loc. cit.; Suet. Aug. 43;
Cass.
Dio lxvi. 25;
1 CIL vi. 31566), and perhaps gardens (cf. Suet. Tib. 72).
In the centre of the basin was an island (Cass.
Dio lxvi. 25), and Pliny
speaks twice (
NH xvi. 190, 200) of a pons naumachiarius, restored by
Tiberius after fire, which may have been built across the basin to serve
as a support for some of the apparatus of the games. This naumachia
was used by Nero (Cass.
Dio lxii. 20; Suet. Nero 12 ?) and Titus (Cass.
Dio lxvi. 25; Suet. Tit. 7), and is mentioned in 95 A.D. (Stat.
Silv. iv.
4. 5), but fell into disuse later, for in the time of Alexander Severus only
parts of it remained (Cass. Dio Iv. IO). For a possible restoration, see
NAUMACHIA PHILIPPI.
This naumachia was previously located nearly opposite the theatre
of Pompeius, between the villa Lante and the Lungara, just north of
the villa Corsini (HJ 640-642, 652-656; cf. LA 343; BC 1914 393);
but the recent discovery of the specus of the
AQUA ALSIETINA (q.v.)
has necessitated a change of view, and the earlier theory must probably
be accepted, according to which it lay near S. Cosimato (Mem. Am.
Acad.
vi. 141-148).
