Naval Gladiator Battles - What Were they Like? DOCUMENTARY

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What were Roman Naval Gladiator Battles like? Find out in our animated history documentary on these ancient Naumachia! Signup for your FREE trial to Wondrium here: ow.ly/cmOE30scebE
We continue our How They Did It series on the world of the Roman Gladiator. In a previous episode we set the stage for the Rise of the Gladiators and now we look to their naval evolution in this animated documentary.
The episode begins with a recap of the history of gladiators. These first began as private religious ceremonies meant to commemorate the passing of great leaders with a duel between slaves. However once the public got a look at them, it was not long before they became captivated by this new form of entertainment and the politicians discovered a new form of propaganda. By the end of the Republican Period, Gladiator battles had gone mainstream with hundreds of fighters and thousands of animals being featured in spectacles that lasted days.
Julius Caesar however would bring things to the next level by pioneering a new dimension of entertainment. This would be the Naumachia, or the Naval Gladiator Battles. The first one was reportedly held in a lake dug in the campus martius and featured dozens of ships manned by thousands of fighters. Such was the popularity of these first naval gladiator battles that many spectators and even several senators died in the stampeding crowd that flocked to see them. The Roman world had a new obsession. Over the next centuries the Julio-Claudian Emperors and the Flavian Emperors would go on to host ever more elaborate Naumachia. This would ultimately culminate in the construction of the Colosseum which was purpose built to be flooded and drained. We cover the engineering works behind flooding the colosseum and recount the many tales from this Golden Age of the Gladiators.
Stay tuned for more How They Did It episodes and let us know what other aspects of Gladiator history you would like to see us cover next!
Sources and Suggested Reading
“The Annals” by Tacitus
“Roman History” by Cassius Dio
“The Aqueducts of Rome” by Sextus Julius Frontinus
“Life of Titus” by Suetonius
“Naumachia Augusti” by F. Coarelli
“A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome” by Alberto Angela
“Daily Life in the Roman City” by Gregory S. Adrete
Credits
Research = Chris Das Neves
Script = Chris Das Neves
Narration = Invicta
Artwork = Beverly Johnson
Editing = Penta Limited

Опубликовано:

3 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 386

@InvictaHistory 2 года назад

Super excited to release this video as a follow up to the community poll! Keep on the lookout for more polls on RU-vid and our Patreon page or let us know here what you'd like to see next

@J837C 2 года назад

@Invicta I love the video!! But I would also love to see a video that goes into more detail about the gladiator fights that involve animals

@jus_sanguinis 2 года назад

Good work, guys. Btw speaking about Romans. Here I got some quotes about Slavs vs Roman Empire and some other peoples - watch?v=r0jLMDvsU4U

@julianshepherd2038 2 года назад

The Romans were horrible

@zaa.i.9893 2 года назад

I'm interested in government of Dominate period od Roman empire and i tried to find were there any appointed offices aka provincial governors but i couldn't.. For how long Praetorian Prefect would stay in office/how long was his term? And were there appointed vicars or they were somehow semi-inherited? And will u make video about Late Roman /Early Easten Roman government structure&bureaucracy?

@Marinealver 2 года назад

Is it just me or does 7:30 seem like a Bow Chicka Bow-Wow scene?

@hungrymusicwolf 2 года назад

So just let me get this straight, Rome basically had full blown naval battles with numbers that would equate to the actual wars of smaller countries and tribes (2000 or 3000 combatants and 4000 or more rowers) just for fun? Man Rome was hardcore. And apparently I hadn't even watched the point where numbers truly went insane.

@neutralfellow9736 2 года назад

after Caesars triumph, games were held where 6000 men died in the arena

@hungrymusicwolf 2 года назад

@@neutralfellow9736 Absolutely insane. Literal wars held for entertainment, all in their backyards. Phineas and Ferb would have been jealous.

@Cythil 2 года назад

The really big events did not happen too often. But yes. Put our quarter billion dollar movie projects in prospective.

@neutralfellow9736 2 года назад

@@Cythil this was more like liveshows though haha

@Cythil 2 года назад

@@neutralfellow9736 Yep. And only recorded in the tales of men that were there. So indeed the spectacle must have been pretty awe-inspiring.

@johnnysmall 2 года назад

Feel like everyone always just mentions the naval battles off hand when talking about gladiatorial stuff then moves on to other things. Love getting more detail on it so cool!

@InvictaHistory 2 года назад

Diving into the material I was shocked at how much crazy history no one seems to have bothered to cover for some reason

@codymills2393 2 года назад

So true

@ManiusCuriusDenatus 2 года назад

@@InvictaHistory Indeed. There is so much out there that is neglected to death.

@brianaguila6925 2 года назад

Knowin how big naval battle re-enactments or normal gladiatorial fights were, the logistics for the supplies and the cost of sponsoring one is also interesting. I hope Invicta could make a video explaining it...

@sirBrouwer 2 года назад

@@brianaguila6925 i smell a Wendover crossover. I mean that is logistics at the max. Did they have aircraft's?

@neutralfellow9736 2 года назад

the pipeline systems within the cities by default were impressive, the one for the collosseum was insane

@sirBrouwer 2 года назад

was? Better said still is. a large part of the water systems still work to this day. the fountains in Rome are still operated by the water that comes in to the city by the aqueducts

@cchavezjr7 2 года назад

@@jakobinobles3263 and wasn't built in a day lol

@002f4dsw4 2 года назад

The Aqueduc they built in Gard, France is still standing to this day, it's astounding. Look up "Pont du Gard"

@aniquinstark4347 2 года назад

@@sirBrouwer The Acqua Vergine

@ivareskesner2019 2 года назад

Using this type of a set in a movie would be so new that it would make that movie hard to forget. It'd be a selling point, at the very least.

@funfact8660 2 года назад

Woke Joke Folk can't handle such Thing's nowadays

@leggonarm9835 2 года назад

It's called Gladiator. Maximus the Merciful!

@kilpatrickkirksimmons5016 2 года назад

One day. I feel like people aren't caught up yet with how advanced or "cool" the past was. They think the ancients could cut rocks into nice shapes but anything else useful didn't show up til 1800 AD. It'd be hard to depict for a modern audience. It'd either be taken too far on some steampunk shit, or some sort of magical nonsense would be injected into it. Far easier to just crank out the 9th version of a superhero or action film franchise.

@mondaysinsanity8193 2 года назад

@@leggonarm9835 naumachia was not in gladiator

@ukeyaoitrash2618 2 года назад

@@funfact8660 What the hell do you mean? I'm sure it'd be popular!

@danielveldhuis5637 2 года назад

You know this shows that the Roman public where the ultimate pedentic historical critics. If they would reenact a historical battle they would not accept just a couple of extras. They would demand an entire fleet of extras

@Music1222 2 года назад

Pedentic??? What's that?

@funfact8660 2 года назад

Caveat Emptor

@luciferhuey6285 2 года назад

Its crazy how smart these mfs were but evil at the same time

@Kurzxclan 2 года назад

@@Music1222 Pedantic means overly concerned with accuracy, precision. basically someone who obsesses over minor details. Spelled with an A not an E

@Music1222 2 года назад

@@Kurzxclan I know.

@OceanHedgehog 2 года назад

Invicta continuing to make videos addressing the questions that we often find ourselves wondering but never bother looking up an answer to.

@jacktribble5253 2 года назад

I used to think it was impressive when they filled our local local stadium with dirt and rocks for a monster truck show or a dirt bike race...

@DragoniteSpam 2 года назад

"these facilities were even shorter-lived than Nero" Ouch.

@Godzilla00X 2 года назад

Imagine being a tiger, kidnapped from your home to fight to the death only to hear some Roman yell "flood the arena!" Right after you defeat a gladiator

@kwwamalwa 2 года назад

Roars, "For the glory of Rome!" Gets drowned mid charge.

@funfact8660 2 года назад

Imagine that

@molybdaen11 2 года назад

Or a big fish or dolphin :)

@lastdomino Год назад

Although, tigers can swim. So that could have been interesting.

@George2647g 2 месяца назад

@@Godzilla00X i’m sure the romans spoke of tales like this for years after each battle/performance..

@mnk9073 2 года назад

I can just picture a dude named Michahel Bayus pitching to Caesar games with real war ships, 6'000 gladiators and a buttload of FIRE! And Megane Vulpes. Of course.

@rebjorn79 2 года назад

I had no idea about this and I've always had a certain interest for Roman history, thanks! Also, that's insane

@Anaris10 2 года назад

The closest I can picture this is when I went to the '83 US Festival on Metal Day in Glen Helen Regional park that had a HUGE natural amphitheater. I was among the first 2000 people allowed in. About 12 hours later it was announced that over 300,000 people were there...With room to spare!.

@YoutubeUser-hg4wf 2 года назад

Im curious if the warships used In games were equipped with artillery and ranged weapons since the crowd would be well within range even an accidental bolt from a scorpion could kill dozens of spectators

@InvictaHistory 2 года назад

I always wondered the same thing with any sort of projectile weapon at the games

@doubledouble4g379 2 года назад

@@InvictaHistory It's like Nascar - the possibility involuntary audience participation was just a part of the alcohol-fueled fun ;)

@overdose8329 2 года назад

Makes it a wonder how they didn't spontaneously start a spartacus-like rebellion at least once at these events considering how there were thousands of armed slaves/gladiators fighting

@kylepessell1350 2 года назад

@@jakobinobles3263 Said 'little rebellion' actually defeated legions of Roman veterans which is kinda nuts even if they didn't stand a chance against the full army. If you gave thousands of desperate war prisoners military-grade equipment then you've got to be prepared to have that turned against you if they decided to put aside their differences and actually work together to escape.

@allengilbert7463 2 года назад

That one game with the emp sitting on an island with all the high ranking aristocrats surrounded by thousands of criminals sentenced to death was really tempting fate.

@ike0072 2 года назад

So thankful for people who can consolidate knowledge and wisdom into videos like this.

@yungmalaria 2 года назад

I couldnt imagine what the colosseum after it was drained from a naval battle. All the corpses and ship parts left in the hole.

@funfact8660 2 года назад

The Crocodiles cleaned that mess up before draining

@billyyank2198 2 года назад

I like how the History Channel described it: “Roman gladiators had many problems. Old age wasn’t one of them.”

@qdaniele97 2 года назад

Well, the profesionals actually used to die of old age (mostly). "Cannon-fodder" gladiators like those of naumachiae though certainly had no problem with old age.

@psychokinrazalon 2 года назад

It’d be awe-inspiring to see something like this attempted in modern day stadiums.

@funfact8660 2 года назад

With Death Row Inmates

@sirBrouwer 2 года назад

that is not really hard to do now. If you want to see warfare you can actually watch real warfare going on right now.

@ukeyaoitrash2618 2 года назад

@@sirBrouwer But thats no fun, tanks and such are cool but fighting up close with swords is just more fun then shooting at someone from 300 meters away and being bored to death the rest of the time... It's much more fun and exciting to have a big sword fight, see everyone fight around you, fight up nice and close and personal, and either you die having fun or you chop chop everyone up... satisfying :3

@sirBrouwer 2 года назад

@@ukeyaoitrash2618 you have some very disturbing idea of fun. Bringing pain and suffering is not something i really enjoy.

@stefthorman8548 2 года назад

@@sirBrouwer clearly you're in the minority, with how popular, combat sports and football is.

@ryanharris1052 2 года назад

Great video and really interesting topic. Rome never ceases to amaze me in all they do: literally recreating massive sea battles just for the spectacle is astounding.

@firestorm1088 2 года назад

The effort that went into building these arenas sounds a lot like some of the arenas for the Olympics we get today. Both Caesar's that falls into disrepair and Augustus' that becomes an important public area for years.

@SetuwoKecik 2 года назад

I remember How To Train Your Dragon book series covered mock naval battle in the coliseum. Hiccup were forced to join after got kidnapped. Forgot which book though.

@AfaqueAhmed_ 2 года назад

9:13 When you realise the gladiators could have teamed up , to make a bigger force and fight the army surrounding it .

@nefelibatacomingthrough2707 2 года назад

This was interesting. I see at least one epic movie with these kind of fights from Hollywood! +1

@woodychelton5590 2 года назад

The fluid engineering is very interesting. I liked the discussion on how they set up the dual-purpose colosseum with reserve cisterns so as not to drain the fluid network when it was time to fill up the water basin.

@nonadeplume1145 2 года назад

I'm soo glad I voted for you to do this! It's just amazing to think about filling and draining the coliseum at that time! Excellent vid!

@davidhughes8357 2 года назад

The depiction of the naval battle in the movie Ben Hur was brief but very good. (41).

@earltaylor1893 2 года назад

Epic battles and Epic and educational video!

@bonbondurjdr6553 2 года назад

Yeeaah man! This is awesome! Thanks for covering this! Those battles must have been pretty impressive!! :D

@brokenbridge6316 2 года назад

I think some movie maker should try to put a naval gladiator battle into a movie about ancient Rome. It would be interesting to see how others would react to this.

@kaizokujimbei143 2 года назад

Just don't expect Hollyweird to make it.

@brokenbridge6316 2 года назад

@@kaizokujimbei143---Don't you mean Hollywood?

@whocares11222 2 года назад

No he meant hollywierd, just a bunch of pedos that don't rat each other out

@Modge17 23 дня назад

@@brokenbridge6316 gladiator 2 saw your comment

@zurtus 2 года назад

Why has no one else made any content regarding this before? Excellent work.

@colmcorbec7031 2 года назад

Exactly what we need in this times.

@monadsingleton9324 2 года назад

*Now this what I want to see on the silver screen. How do you top the scene in **_Gladiator_** with the chariot skirmish on the floor of the Colosseum? With a sea battle on the floor of the Colosseum.*

@epilef90 2 года назад

Under the Flavia dynasty they were able to "Build back better" sounds ominous

@-RONNIE 2 года назад

Good video 👍🏻 I enjoyed learning more information on ancient Rome

@POTUSJimmyCarter 2 года назад

I'd like to point out that the reason these never had fleets meant to represent Roman forces is that this would create the possibility of the Roman fleet LOSING. That would be very embarrassing for the Emperor, indeed.

@EvanJones-jn7nu 2 года назад

I had no idea naval gladiator battles even existed, these vids always teach me something new!

@awesomehpt8938 2 года назад

All the people watching naval battles at the colosseum were all a bunch of naval gazers

@cumunist2120 2 года назад

Well *sigh*

@ivareskesner2019 2 года назад

Travelling back in time for a day and attending one of these matches would easily be worth months of your life...say if you travelled back and then returned half a year older. I'd pay that price...in fact, I'd probably get hopelessly addicted to trading bits of my life for satisfying my utmost curiosities. So addicted that I'd probably end up dying in a few years at the age of 86, having visited every major historical event from the first time a human created fire to the destruction of The Library of Alexandria through to the inside of Hitler's bunker...There's no way you'd stop once you started.

@funfact8660 2 года назад

I'd also bring back some perfumes and colognes to trade for Roman coins, and small artifacts, and bring them home to 2022 in excellent condition

@h.huffen-puff4105 2 года назад

Don't forget the chlorine tablets.

@h.huffen-puff4105 2 года назад

Don't forget the chlorine tablets.

@ivareskesner2019 2 года назад

@@funfact8660 Oh yeah. There would be a million ways to become insanely rich if you could do this. Definitely 👍🏻

@ivareskesner2019 2 года назад

@@h.huffen-puff4105 I didn't. They're right next to my mammoth shotgun and shiny beads for the cave dwellers...

@joeywheelerii9136 2 года назад

How deadly were gladiator matches? I've heard from alot of people saying it was 10% mortality but was that the case for all of them? It's one thing if it's in Rome but what about in the provinces? We're some areas more famous for their love of blood or were they all mostly the same?

@funfact8660 2 года назад

Alot of People ? Did these People actually witness these Spectacles ? If so they're possibly Witches, Warlocks and Vampires

@joeywheelerii9136 2 года назад

@@funfact8660 Historians

@sirBrouwer 2 года назад

the video perceiving this one will give you a idea about it. But in short they often tried to avoid killing there gladiators if they could. If only because training someone in to a good gladiatorial warrior was expensive. However they did know how to fight in such a way that the actual damage was minimal but did show blood. If it did happen more often it would not be the actual trained man but other convicted criminals that where ordered to fight to the death.

@bestieswithtesties 2 года назад

Actual "gladiators" were essentially the rock stars of their time. They did not fight to the death very often at all and when they did it was usually a huge deal and a big event so it's much more likely to happen in Rome than somewhere else. But there's a huge difference between a "gladiator" and everyone else who gets thrown into a colosseum. Most people fought to the death. The rockstars barely did and any deviance from that was a big event.

@ltournay 2 года назад

so basically between professional gladiators it was pretty low, and the medical techniques used on them when they were wounded (which was most often the case) were top notch, but they just sent slaves/POWs those would die a LOT more

@DistantLights 2 месяца назад

They got a naval gladiator battle for the new Gladiator movie!

@Dadz..awa. 2 года назад

Writing a report for class about Staged Naval Battles. This definitely helped! (Especially since I have to present it)

@nervsouly 2 года назад

Imagine how much it must have sucked to be short sighted back then. Everyone talking about the spectacle of a lifetime unfolding on the water and you can't see a darn thing.

@AllNaturalPureOwnage 2 года назад

thanks for covering a fairly overlooked perspective on life in classical rome!

@GreenBlueWalkthrough 2 года назад

Thanks for giving this a full video most treat this as a foot note for some reason...

@felipefspb 2 года назад

This documentary has been truly fascinating! Just amazing!

@beufis6979 2 года назад

2:33 6 finger andy here is freaking me out lol (the guy pointing)

2 года назад

Brilliant Video. This realy is a crazy topic. Rome was sometimes even ahead of our time :)

@Steven-dt5nu Год назад

What I find fascinating is the way the Romans moved water. Granted lead is easier to work with than other metals at the time. But still great work! Really!

@Uzair_Of_Babylon465 2 года назад

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

@philly83 2 года назад

Thank you for this detailed video.

@nebsam715 2 года назад

If I may Invicta I really like the songs that play in your videos,mind sharing the link so we the fans can also enjoy them in our private time

@olivierleguen8688 2 года назад

Are there any archeological findings from these battles on the lac? Great videos BTW!!

@zlamanit 2 года назад

10:08 I wonder how could guards on rafts force people in boats to fight? I'd imagine boats to fight the guards instead if they had nothing to lose anyway.

@didmiller 2 года назад

Wonderful illustrations!

@harrietharlow9929 2 года назад

Thank you for uploading this. Rome is one of my interests and this fleshes out gladiators as well as the facilities which were used for gladiator naval battles.

@johnnysmall 2 года назад

So excited for this one

@ubermenschenpilled 2 года назад

This always fascinated the hell out of me as a kid. Thank you so much 👍

@LawnMowerProductions 2 года назад

Personally love the idea, if I was on death row I'd want my shot at naval gladiator glory.

@mylesgarcia4625 Год назад

Great video. I kept thinking of the Opening Ceremony of Athens 2004 in which they built an artificial lake. Your video showed the failed promises of that 2004 Olympic opening ceremony.

@crazywarriorscatfan9061 2 года назад

I've always wondered about this

@willrope5839 2 года назад

I can't believe that I've never heard of this, litrally the coolest shit ever

@richa7970 2 года назад

I agree enjoy to hear details about these naval battles very interesting!

@robbabcock_ 2 года назад

That would have been something to see! ⚔⚔⚔

@nickvinsable3798 2 года назад

Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing Olympic War-Games featuring Warship-on-Warship Paintball . . .

@JS-by8zy 2 года назад

Cool Thank you.

@screen2529 2 года назад

I played a text choose your own adventure game where you fight as a gladiator and one of the gladiators I met in the game was a sailor and there was an option to learn naval tactics from him. I didn't know why that was there but I learned all I could from about naval tactics, how many drum beats I needed to set for ramming speed or even to just keep up with other ships. Other gladiators thought I was being stupid for learning naval tactics when we were fighting in the coliseum. The next day the coliseum was suddenly filled with water and 3 boats for each team. I rammed 2 boats because I had learned that ramming speed was 16 drum beats

@dlewoh 2 года назад

, they need to make a movie about these battles!

@marcbernard1744 2 года назад

@invicta wait, medieval mock naval battles?!? Please tell me more! This is fascinating

@trevorvertt 2 года назад

I still cant get over the Romans discussing “gladiator metas” from ur last gladiator vid🤣

@historydocumentary 2 года назад

Oh man I want to watch one!

@nathanthompson6050 2 года назад

I'd first heard of this about 10 years ago and what I read made it seem like a rumor that may or not be actually true. I always thought it sounded absolutely crazy and here to see that it was way more crazy then I had been led to believe. Truly wild stuff!

@gloriaallmomd4686 2 года назад

Never knew they took the gladiators upon the waters. Thanks for the education.

@1998topornik 7 месяцев назад

Pulling this off was insane feat of engineering.

@HellenicWolf 2 года назад

Thank you for your work.

@PossumMedic 2 года назад

These battles are so unbelievable the production companies probably said no to the scripts because they sounds like fantasy! 😂

@morrbydick5957 2 года назад

ok, so i gotta say this but the guy pointing his finger and shaking at 2:40 is freaking funny to me, good job boys!

@suoquainen 2 года назад

That's interesting. We have heard often about that, but not seen a documentation.

@gwynedd4023 2 года назад

nice video

@respektetoutlavi714 Год назад

Up until a few years ago you could visit Treasure Island in Las Vegas & watch two full sized pirate ships battle it out on the water with cannons & all, probably about as close as we’ll ever get to seeing such a spectacle! Imagine being so powerful you can literally throw away thousands of war ships for entertainment, then you get conquered a short while later 🙄😬💪

@andrewdiaz3529 2 года назад

Saw a documentary about these once back before the History channel became the used to be about history channel. They said one of the largest ones opened up with a giant statue of posideon rising up from the waters and the statue rising blew a horn that started the battle.

@youngmasterzhi 2 года назад

When you feel like Battleship doesn't satisfy you enough, so you take the levels of the board game *TO THE EXTREEEEEEMMMMMMEEEE!!!!!*

@gabrielandradeferraz386 2 года назад

There was in the 15 hundreds a somewhat famous mock battle with Brazilian indigenous people, wich apparently shocked Europeans with their apparent brutality, since no one told the indigenous people they weren't actually supposed to kill people. Don't quote me though, my memory is a bit hazy on the subject.

@h.huffen-puff4105 2 года назад

6:40 I'm surprised the V.I.Ps didn't feel trapped in the center of the man made lake.

@onlyme219 2 года назад

If ever there was a reason to have another gladiator type movie this use of water battles is one of them

@coleparker 2 года назад

Now that is the way to teach History!!!!!!!

@wills.1978 2 года назад

Amazing, super informative video!

@achabotte 2 года назад

"Build Back Better than ever before" Beautiful

@markp44288 2 года назад

Thank You!!! This was so cool.

@themadkipaerys6713 Год назад

So I’m curious: when Dio mentions “Sea monsters” what did he mean? You showed dolphins but I’ve heard in a history class that they used crocodiles and hippos. Do you know any good source on what is meant by this?

@thomaschristopher8593 2 года назад

13:12 this is the kind of "build back better" i could support.

@jasonallen3462 2 года назад

Hey Invicta, you should do a video on the Slave Rebellions.

@evan777evan 2 года назад

such a great video awesome work

@flufflessMovies 2 года назад

Great insides, thank you.

@cruzaider5339 2 года назад

Them Romans were on some shit

@ivareskesner2019 2 года назад

On many different shit 👍🏻

@funfact8660 2 года назад

Good Times

@cruzaider5339 2 года назад

@@ivareskesner2019 Especially good shit

@chheinrich8486 2 года назад

When hollywood is actually underrating a historical aspect

@lennarthumpf8031 2 года назад

Constantly dude constantly

@kuronoch.1441 2 года назад

Desmond Doss comes into mind.

@kalilzaidan 2 года назад

sea creatures, horses trained to spend a lot of time in the water... I mean, POOR animals, that's just tragic and horrible. the video is amazing as usual!