Speaking of
megalomania, I believe the Roman emperors of the first century AD excel in that
domain with Caligula and Nero in prominent places.
The opulence
that was common good to them goes beyond our most daring imagination and one
such example is the two ceremonial ships which Caligula built for his eccentric pleasure on Lake Nemi, some 30 kilometers south of Rome. These ships were not meant for
sailing as they were simply too big to maneuver for the size of the lake. But
then, the lake was sacred to the Romans as confirmed by the presence of the goddess
Diana Nemorensis and the god Virbius which were venerated in the towns on the surrounding
shore.
Much speculation
is shrouding these ships in mystery but it is thought that the largest vessel (73 meters long and 24 meters wide) served
essentially as a floating palace with rooms whose floors and walls were covered
with colored marble and lively mosaics. This residence had its own baths and
pool equipped with the appropriate comforts of plumbing and heating. The other
vessel was not much smaller with its 70 x 20 meters and seems to
have been a floating temple for Diana. Both ships were built from cedar wood
and carried sails made of purple silk. History further tells us that they were
adorned with gold and precious stones as well as bronze reliefs. Somehow they
even “grew” a number of fruit trees and vines on board. The example set by the
Ptolemies in Egypt and the
Hellenistic rulers in Syracuse
certainly was not lost on Caligula!
It is known that
Romans could make ball bearings out of lead and the story goes that this
invention was used on the Nemi ships to move the windlasses and even to rotate
the statues of the gods! Top notch technology was implemented like several hand
operated bilge pumps that worked very much like modern bucket dredges. Piston
pumps, in turn, supplied the hot water for the baths and the cold water for
fountains and drinking water. It is hard to believe that this knowledge of
piston pumps was lost in time until it finally was “rediscovered” in the Middle
Ages.
Caligula’s pleasure
vessels were short lived as he was assassinated about a year after they were
launched and opposition parties soon stripped them of their precious content
and intentionally sunk them. They remained at the bottom of Lake Nemi
for almost 2,000 years during which time fishermen and treasure hunters regularly
retrieved small treasures from the wrecks.
This is probably
the origin of a square piece of inlaid marble which features a geometric
pattern using green and purple porphyry, serpentine and molded glass that
recently made headlines on the antique markets. The owners who acquired the
piece in the early 1970s framed it and turned it into a small coffee table. The
details of that story can be found in the New
York Times of 19 October 2017.
The life of the
two Nemi ships did, however, not end at the bottom of the lake. In 1927, Benito
Mussolini (another megalomaniac) ordered to drain the lake in order to expose
and retrieve the ships. The first ship was recovered in 1931 and the second one
in 1932, and in 1936 he built a museum to host both vessels. Unfortunately, in
1944 fire destroyed the museum and its precious contents after several bombings.
To this day, it is not clear whether the Germans started the fire or the allies
caused it by their intense bombing. Today, a new museum can be visited on the
site sheltering scale models of the ships and those rare artifacts that have
survived. Let us hope that this “coffee table” will soon be visible at that
museum also.
Lake Nemi, once hosting scenes of orgies, cruelty, music and sport is once
again a place where the people of Rome
can enjoy the clean air and cooler temperatures in the summer months. The lucky
visitor may still witness the magical reflection of the Moon in the center of
the lake during summer nights – a phenomenon the ancient Romans called Speculum Dianae, in other words, Diana’s
Mirror.
