Nemi ships

Ancient Roman ships, found in lake of Nemi in 1929

The Nemi ships were two ships, of different sizes, built under the reign of the Roman emperor Caligula in the 1st century AD on Lake Nemi. Although the purpose of the ships is speculated upon, the larger ship was an elaborate floating palace, which contained quantities of marble, mosaic floors, heating and plumbing, and amenities such as baths. Both ships featured technology thought to have been developed historically later. It has been stated that the emperor was influenced by the lavish lifestyles of the Hellenistic rulers of Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt. Recovered from the lake bed in 1929, the ships were destroyed by fire in 1944 during World War II.

Lake Nemi (, Nemorensis Lacus) is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy, south of Rome. It has a surface of and a maximum depth of
There is considerable speculation regarding why the emperor Caligula chose to build two large ships on such a small lake. From the size of the ships it was long held that they were pleasure barges, though, as the lake was sacred, no ship could sail on it under Roman law (Pliny the Younger, Litterae VIII 20) implying a religious exemption. Situated on opposite sides of the lake and atop the crater walls are the towns of Genzano and Nemi. Genzano was dedicated by the Romans to the goddess Cynthia, a cult associated with that of Diana Nemorensis. Nemi did not exist in Roman times. The name Nemi derives from the Latin nemus Aricinum (grove of Ariccia), Ariccia being an important nearby town associated with the worship of Diana and the god Virbius (the Latin name for Hyppolytus, a young man whom Diana loved). Located at Nemi are the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Diana, which was connected by the Via Virbia to the Via Appia (the Roman road between Rome and Brindisi). During the time of the Roman Empire, the area around Genzano was used by wealthy Roman citizens for its clean air, uncontaminated water and cooler temperatures during the hot summer months. The lake has its own microclimate and is protected from wind by the crater walls. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lord Byron, and Charles Gounod all lived in Nemi and noted the reflection of the Moon, seen in the centre of the lake during summer. This phenomenon is the source of the Roman name for the lake, Speculum Dianae (Diana's Mirror). In 1446, His Eminence Prospero Cardinal Colonna and Leon Battista Alberti followed up on the stories regarding the remains and discovered them lying at a depth of , which at that time was too deep for effective salvage. They damaged the ships by using ropes with hooks to tear planks from them. Alberti learned little more than the type of wood and that it was covered in lead sheathing. In 1535, Francesco De Marchi dived on the wreck using a diving helmet. His finds included bricks, marble paving stones, bronze, copper, lead artefacts, and a great number of timber beams. From material recovered he added the knowledge that mortise and tenon joints had been used in their construction. Despite the successful salvage of entire structures and parts, there was no academic interest in the ships, so no further research was performed. The objects recovered were lost and their fate remains unknown.]] By 1827, interest had revived and it had become a widespread belief that earlier material recovered either had been part of a temple to Diana or was from the villa of Julius Caesar cited by Suetonius. Annesio Fusconi built a floating platform from which to raise the wrecks. Several of his cables broke, and he called a halt until he could find stronger cables. When he returned, he found that the locals had dismantled his platform to make wine barrels. This led him to abandon the project. Step 1: construction of the profile. Step 2: construction of the keel and the flat bottom up to the second order of cincti, in two phases. Step 3: construction of the shell up to the third wale (topgallant bulwarks). Step 4: Insertion of the ribs, first those with trabes (crossbeam bracing) and then those without. The species selected were known to work well for Mediterranean shipbuilding. Shipwrights used oak for the keel and the end posts, the ship’s spine. They also used oak for the internal framing, the through beams, and the stanchions. Naturally curved timbers were employed for the posts and frames. Mediterranean shipbuilders prized softwoods like pine and fir for their flexibility and resistance to water. They provided the planking on the exterior hull and the thickened timbers on the exterior and interior, the wales and stringers, all of which had to be bent into place. The hull had been sheathed in three layers of lead sheathing to protect the timbers from shipworms; as there are none in freshwater lakes, this design feature was not only costly of effort and weight but useless. It is evidence that the ships' hulls were constructed following standardised Roman shipbuilding techniques rather than being purpose built. The topside timbers were protected by paint and tarred wool and many of their surfaces decorated with marble, mosaics, and gilded copper roof tiles. There was a lack of coordination between the structure of the hull and that of the superstructures, which suggests that naval architects designed the hulls, and civil architects then designed the superstructure to use the space available after the hulls were completed. The seconda nave was almost certainly powered by oars, as structural supports for the rowing positions protrude along the sides of the hull. The prima nave had no visible means of propulsion so was likely towed to the centre of the lake when in use. For centuries large numbers of lead bars had been found on the Mediterranean seabed, and there was debate over whether they were anchor stocks or not. It was argued by some that iron tipped wooden anchors secured by ropes were not heavy enough to be effective, so they had to have metal stocks, and there was considerable academic controversy over the issue. The Nemi ships, constructed during the transition period when iron anchors were replacing wooden ones, were the first Roman wrecks found to have intact anchors, and confirmed that the lead bars were indeed anchor stocks. Two types of anchor were found, one of oak with iron tipped flukes and a stock of lead and another of iron with a folding timber stock that closely matched the design of the Admiralty pattern anchor, re invented in 1841. In the 1960s, a similar anchor was found in Pompeii, and in 1974 another was found buried near Aberdarewllyn in Gwynedd, Wales. These further discoveries confirmed that these technologically advanced anchors were a standard Roman design. however, the reconstruction of the cranked pump from fragments, including a wooden disk and an eccentric peg, has been dismissed as "archaeological fantasy". Piston pumps (ctesibica machina: Vitruvius X.4?7) supplied the two ships with hot and cold running water via lead pipes. The hot water supplied baths while the cold operated fountains and supplied drinking water. This plumbing technology was later lost and only re discovered in the Middle Ages. Each ship contained a rotating platform. One was mounted on caged bronze balls and is the earliest example of the thrust ball bearing previously believed to have been first envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci but only developed much later. Previous Roman ball bearing finds (used for water wheel axles in thermal baths) had a lenticular shape. The second platform was almost identical in design but used cylindrical bearings. Although consensus is that the platforms were meant for displaying statues, it has also been suggested that they may have been meant for deck cranes used to load supplies.

The ships were destroyed by fire during World War II on the night of 31 May 1944. Several shells of the United States Army hit the museum around 8:00 p. m., causing little damage but forcing the German artillery to leave the area. Around two hours later, smoke was seen coming from the museum. There are conflicting views on which side was responsible for the destruction:

<blockquote>At that time, Allied forces were pursuing the retreating German army northward through the Alban Hills toward Rome. On 28 May a German artillery post was established within 400 feet (122 m) of the museum An official report filed in Rome later that year described the tragedy as a wilful act on the part of the German soldiers. A German editorial blamed the destruction on American artillery fire. The true story of what happened that night will probably never be known. However, Fr. John McManamon, S. J., offers two further points:At 10:00 p. m. a fire broke out. Flames erupted in both exhibition halls simultaneously, turning the entire edifice into a blazing inferno. The museum guards and Nemi residents provided unanimous eyewitness testimony on two points. First, the fire erupted fully an hour and forty five minutes after the Allies ended their artillery bombardment. Second, there was not a breath of wind on that late spring night. Whatever caused the fire to intensify so rapidly, it was not a strong breeze. Only the bronzes, a few charred timbers, and some material stored in Rome survived the fire. Because of the destruction, research effectively stopped until the 1980s. The museum was restored and reopened in 1953. One fifth scale models of the ships were built in the Naples naval dockyard, and these, along with the remaining artefacts, are housed there. In September 2017 a panel made of inlaid marble and mosaic then in the collection of a private owner in New York City was rediscovered by the antiquities restorer and author Dario del Bufalo. Subsequently the New York County District Attorney's Office seized the artefact, which was confirmed to have come from the Nemi Museum, and to have once decorated the floor of Caligula's ship. It had been bought by two American antique dealers, Helen and Nereo Fioratti, from an aristocratic family in the late 1960s, and used since then as the surface of a coffee table in their home. In October it was officially repatriated to Italian authorities.

Photographs, as well as drawings made for the Italian Navy survey and those made by the archaeologist G. Gatti, survived, allowing reconstructions to be made of the two ships. In 1995, the Association Dianae Lacus (Lake of Diana Association) was founded to preserve the culture and history of the Nemi Lake area. The Association initiated Project Diana, which involved constructing a full size replica of the Roman prima nave (first ship) of Lake Nemi. Since no record is known to exist of the shape and size of the buildings and temples built on the deck, the replica was to be constructed to deck level only and when completed would be moored on the lake in front of the museum. On 18 July 1998, the town council of Nemi voted to fund the construction of the forward section, and work commenced in the Torre del Greco shipyards. This section was completed in 2001 and transported to the Nemi museum, where the rest of the vessel was to be constructed. The estimated final cost of the reconstruction was 7.2 million Euros (US$10.7 million). However, no press releases have been made since 2004, and the association's web site was deleted on 1 October 2011.

Original individual pieces from the Nemi ships that were recovered from Lake Nemi between 1895 and 1932.