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# The naumachia of Augustus in Rome, an artificial lake for staged naval battles
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/predstavliaete-v-tsentre-goroda-zapolnennyi-vodoi-stadion-razmerom-v-12-raz-bolshe-luzhnikov/
- Published: 2022-06-02T07:10:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:01:45.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Mores, Rome

Can you picture a stadium in the middle of a city, filled with water and twelve times the size of Luzhniki? The ancient Romans could, and they passed their time at such a stadium very agreeably indeed.

Naumachia, from the ancient Greek for "naval battle", was a specially staged combat imitating a sea fight, and also the place where such a spectacle was held. This is very much what the naumachia of the Emperor Augustus in Rome looked like. The specially constructed lake for these battles is mentioned in the *Res Gestae Divi Augusti* ("The Deeds of the Divine Augustus"); the basin measured 550 by 360 metres, which allowed it to hold more than 30 ships and 3,000 men, not counting the rowers.