Talk:Naumachia

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An entry from Naumachia appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 24 June 2006.

++Lar: t/c 14:05, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Pictures 2 Water in the Coliseum 3 Suetonius 4 Thyrreneans

[edit] Pictures

The French wiki (fr:Naumachie) has some good pics, but I am unsure whether the 'fair use' invoked can be used here on the english wiki. Also not sure about use of pictures off obviously ancient woodcuts/linedrawings etc. If someone can clue me in on these copyright issues, I'd be happy to add some pics (unless someone else has any (does Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. apply, for instance?)Bridesmill 01:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Water in the Coliseum

FWIW, I watched a program on the History channel a couple of months ago, the focus of which was a chemical study of the makeup of the plaster used in the Coliseum, and examination of the flooding and drainage facilities the Romans had built into the coliseum.

The program concluded that the plaster used contained small, but notable amounts of the substance that the Romans used in aqueducts for waterproofing, but not enough that it was designed to be a permanent feature of the arena. It also concluded that the coliseum could have been flooded overnight, and that it was probably built with it being flooded shortly after completion- but not again after that- in mind.

I can’t find (in the brief search I’ve just done) anything I can cite, so I’m not going to put it into the article yet… but I’d say that the section relating to the flooding of the coliseum is probably slightly out of date. Barnas 18:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I think that's what the article implies - naumachias in 80, but converted during Domitian's reign. Would be interesting to have results of latest studies in Rome - they were doing some work in that direction in the late 1990s but I don't recall ever seeing the results - perhaps this show came out of that.Bridesmill 02:05, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suetonius

"We know precisely, from Suetonius": most classicists agree that Suetonius was the tabloid historian of the ancient world. Perhaps using him as a definitieve source isn't so prudent. Maybe change this sentence to read, "Suetonius states in Lives of the Twelve Caesars (Claudius, XXI, 12­14), that the naumachiarii saluted the emperor before the combat with the famous phrase Morituri te salutant ("those who are about to die salute you")" or something similar. Suetonius is important in this entry because the only known occurrence of that very famous phrase is in his work, but at the same time, his accuracy shouldn't be overemphasized. --Livius 22:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Granted that was a bit hyperbolic for English language tastes; OTOH to characterize Suetonius as Most classicists agree would be, well, tabloid journalism. He was a bit of a hack, but not quite in the league of News of the World, and I don't recall hearing any classicist refer to him as such.Bridesmill 16:56, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thyrreneans

This is more likely to be an alternative spelling of Tyrrhenians than to mean "people of Tyre"... AnonMoos 23:38, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

It was the people of Tyre - not a good adjective, not sure what the adjective for them is, so just calling them people of Tyre for now.Bridesmill 02:12, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Most likely "Tyrians"... AnonMoos 04:24, 25 June 2006 (UTC)