Built Over A Huge Manmade Lake

The Roman arena was built over a huge manmade lake. Before Vespasian was the emperor of Rome, the empire was ruled by Nero, a violent murderer, who built himself Domus Aurea, a golden mansion with a large artificial lake, taking away the public land. After emperor Nero committed suicide, emperor Vespasian built his Colosseum on the lake as a direct stab against his predecessor. He did this in a great effort to erase Nero's memory and to have loyalty and fame in building something for the people and re-establishing the glory of Rome. Cleaning the vast artificial lake of Domus Aurea two thousand years ago is not an easy task. Ancient engineers had to build canals to drain water from space. When doing this, they cleverly turned them into a sewage system, which is very useful for the days of the match when more than 50,000 spectators come to watch battles. These wastewater systems are connected to terracotta and lead pipes to the Tiber River. There is evidence of a really advanced water and wastewater system inside the Colosseum, including more than 100 fountains.

Before Domitian ordered the underground layer of the Colosseum, its floor and wooden racks could be removed, allowing the arena to be flooded. Ancient canals provided evidence that water was added to the arena for fake naval battles inside Colosseum, complete with fake warships. So if you can see the built over a huge manmade lake as one of the interesting facts you might not know about the Colosseum.