Nemi ships
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nemi Ships were huge and exceedingly luxurious ships built by the Roman emperor Caligula in the first century CE at Lake Nemi. One of the ships was designed as a temple that was dedicated to Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis), the larger ship however was essentially an elaborate floating palace, which counted marble floors and plumbing among its amenities, the sole role of which was to satisfy Caligula's increasingly self-indulgent behavior. It has been stated that the emperor was influenced by the lavish lifestyles of the Hellenistic rulers of Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt.
Between 1927 and 1932 they had been pulled out of the temporarily drained lake. After 19 centuries the hulls were found to still be mostly intact, though sadly, the ships were destroyed by fire on May 31 1944. It is widely disputed whether this was done by defeated German forces retreating from Italy at the end of World War II or accidentally by squatters taking refuge in the museum building.
