History remembers Emperor Caligula, born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus in 12 AD, as being one of the most tyrannical and sadistic rulers Rome has ever had, even worse than his nephew, Nero, according to History.com.
Caligula only reigned for four short years, from AD 37 to 41, and while his rule began with many reforms welcomed by the citizens of Rome, an unexplained illness shortly after he came to power unhinged the 25-year-old Emperor, causing him to explore and act on perversions that to some are unimaginable.
Caligula’s excesses in just about everything from sex to fiscal spending led him to order three ships to be built on Lake Nemi, which is situated in an area of volcanic hills about 20 miles from Rome. At that time, the lake was sacred, and no ship could sail on it under Roman law.
The lake had its own microclimate and the region around the lake was used by wealthy Roman citizens for its clean air, uncontaminated water, and cooler temperatures during the hot summer months. Historians believe the pleasure ships were sunk deliberately after Caligula’s assassination.
First exploratory evidence of Caligula’s pleasure ships
And there the ships sat, on the muddy bottom of Lake Nemi for 2,000 years. But it seems that people living in the area have always known the ships were there. As a matter of fact, a 16th-century diver, Francesco de Marchi, using an early version of a diving bell, went in search of the ships.
“He reported bringing up relics on the far side of the lake from where the two other boats were found, and talked of a boat measuring up to 400 ft long,” the mayor of Nemi, Alberto Bertucci said.. “Since then we have oral testimony from fishermen bringing up items in the nets at that spot.”
Sadly, in 1535, there just wasn’t a whole lot of academic interest in De Marchi’s discovery and the items he took from the relics. The bricks, marble paving stones, bronze, copper, lead artifacts, along with a great number of timber beams he brought up from the ships have been lost to history.
Benito Mussolini orders the lake drained
In 1927, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, in his efforts to rebuild Rome to its former glory, ordered one Guido Ucelli to drain the lake and recover the ships. It took the combined resources of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), the Italian Army, industry, and private individuals to accomplish the task.
An ancient underground water tunnel was rediscovered. It had once been used to convert waters from the lake to farms outside the crater. The tunnel was reactivated and the water level started dropping. On March 28, 1929, the skeleton of the first ship (prima nave) broke the surface. And on June 10, 1931, the second ship (seconda nave) could be seen.
However, the recovery effort created one disastrous incident. By the time the lake had been drained enough to recover the ships, the water level had dropped more than 20 meters (66 feet) and over 40 million cubic meters of water had been removed. Because of the significant weight reduction on the floor of the lake, on August 21, 1931, 500,000 cubic meters of mud erupted from the lake bottom causing 30 hectares (74 acres) of the lake floor to subside.
Needless to say, the Ministry of Public Works demanded the project be halted immediately. And seeing as Mussolini had his ships, that was an agreeable solution. A museum was built for both ships and inaugurated in 1936. The ships were destroyed by fire in World War II on the night of May 31, 1944, after the museum was hit by artillery fire. The ships weren’t damaged, but a fire broke out inside the museum, destroying the ships.
What we do know about the pleasure ships
The recovery efforts going on now at lake Nemi are expected to take about 10 days. The divers are equipped with modern scanners to scour the muddy bottom. Using information from historical accounts as well as information from locals, they should be successful.
We do have some insight into what the luxury barges may have looked like. The Roman historian Suetonius described the boats as having, “ten banks of oars…the poops of which blazed with jewels…filled with ample baths, galleries, and salons, and supplied with a great variety of vines and fruit trees.”
The sails were said to be made of purple silk, while excesses of gold and marble were liberally used on the mosaic floors. The floating palaces also included luxurious facilities such as heating and plumbing. As for the onboard entertainment, well, we’ll just leave that to your imagination.
