Did the Romans really flood the coliseum?
The Roman Empire was one of the largest the world has ever seen. The technological advances that they brought to the tribes and nations of Europe are impressive. It used the culmination of the knowledge of civilizations like the Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Phoencians and the Egyptians. Their capital city, Rome, was the jewel in the crown. One of the most exciting and impressive elements of the city was its coliseum. It was here that Gladiatorial bouts and battles were conducted for the amusement of the citizens and the Caesars alike.
Not content with the plain old normal battles, the people wanted to see more and more entertaining fights. Domitian the Sixth was keen to curry favour with the people so he decided to give them something special. In a bold move, he flooded the Colosseum so that he could host some Naumachia. He’d have needed to use some Industrial Valves like those from orseal Industrial Valves to shift the water required to do it.
Model warships would float on the created lake and a sea battle would begin. However, some have cast doubt on even the Romans’ engineering ability to do this. Some have said that blue cloth was used to simulate the sea and the ships were on wheeled pedestals. No matter what they did it would have still been quite the spectacle.