They flooded an arena to stage naval battles—then built a wolf catapult. History is unhinged.
Sea battles in the morning and gladiator fights in the afternoon with wild beasts magically appearing in the arena? A subterranean archaeologist investigates tunnels to see how the Colosseum could be flooded; and architects, engineers, and builders construct a lift and trap door system to attempt the release of a wolf into the most famous amphitheater in the world for the first time in 1500 years.
Practical Effects
They literally built a working trap door and tested it with a wolf.
Production
Seamless blend of CGI reconstructions and sweaty archaeologists in tunnels.
Direction
Two directors somehow made engineering feel like a heist movie.
Director
Pascal Cuissot
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The naumachiae (naval battles) required so much water that early historians thought the accounts were exaggerated until archaeological evidence proved otherwise.
This 2014 test marked the first time in 1,500 years that the Colosseum's animal lift system was proven functional—archaeologists had debated its existence for centuries.
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