Naumachie

Situated near the ancient Forum, nowadays Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, in the Giardinazzo district, the so-called “Naumachia” is a monumental brick retaining wall, 122 meters long and 5 meters high.

The structure, built in Roman times during the second century B.C, was built near a pre-existing wall made up of squared blocks typical of the Greek architecture, called “stoà”. The space between the Greek and the Roman walls was occupied by a large water cistern, which was used to supply water to the central part of the city, as well as the fountains, located inside the 18 large niches, (3 meters wide, 1.70 meters deep, and matching the height of the wall) decorating the exposed portion of the wall for its entire length. These bigger niches are separated by other smaller niches, which used to contain statues of deities and heroes.

Some documents refer to the Torso of Apollo made of Parian marble being found in one of the niches. The literal translation of "Naumachia" is naval battle. The name was improperly given to the structure by the Dutch author and philologist, Jacques-Philippe D'Orville. In his work "Sicula", published posthumously in 1764, he incorrectly denominates the area as the remains of a roman amphitheatre, used to stage naval battles.

The author was then corrected by Gallo, who interpreted the monument as a large gymnasium adjacent to the Forum, a place dedicated to the psycho-physical education of young people. The Naumachias were unearthed in 1943.