naumachia : now-MAH-kih-ah

(Latin: literally “navel combat,” staged sea-battles performed on water for mass entertainment purposes). Staged “group combat” that could involve thousands of combatants and full-sized ships of war ; due to scale of the spectacle, naumachiae were usually staged in lakes but smaller scaled-down, battles could fit into a Roman amphitheatre; earliest was staged by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE. The term, “naumachia,” could refer to the spectacle or to the basin or building where it was staged.