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+ " 1'n..e' ' 1 / " " 'i1 M" " + ' 1R/ " + r +
. TREASURES OF LAKE NEMI
Bronzes from the Sunken ] Galleys Now Nearly Two Thousand
Years Old to Be Brought to America to Enrich the New
1
York Metropolitan Museum of Art. . ,
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" " " , . VI1A.'s"/y'd " 'M " " "dN NIb'A/t/1 " " 'rb" t
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' 1'hl' acquisition : : hy the , 1\ll.tl'olloll. I
Inn Museum of Art of the socnlled
'I'l'castlre of Lake Neml" will bring
tll New Yet k CRY It collection of arch-
eological monuments of great artistic
value that cannot III duplicated ) , till'
less It he hy further finds In the same
placc. consists \ of 'ornamf'ntH and
fragments IIf Roman vessels that arc' '
surely lHOO years old und very 110H' ,
, ably two 01' more centuries oilier
Ht Ill. .
'rhe ! relics Were ! III'OCIII''d front the
hot toni of the lake mite years ago hy
Signor lIseo 1 llorghl nn Itnllnn arch
'ologll ! , who Was working on his own
account with no assistance frolll the
.JO\'el'lIltlelll. tits ] IIHCOVOI'loH ] mado'a
gl'cnt. Hemmlloll and ] Homo accollllt of
them t 1IIIIIoal'oli III the newspapers nt
the lIlIIc. The immediate effect of
IHlhllcntlon was to make the italian
gO\'Pl'lIl1tent step In allli IlItel'of'l"e
with nil further hn'eHtlgallon
\1111.18 a pll'tlll'l'lilllle little town 111
the Alhnn lulls , twenty miles out of
Roms familiar to all travelers In
Italy , It has been painted time and
again by al'tlHtH. alld Is known l pa rtic-
ulllrir through I 1'III'ner' ! channing en-
graving. 'f he lake of Neml Is the
most beautiful spot that Is seen In the
Alhnn : trip ) from HOllie. It Is the crater /
of nn extinct volcano sloping : dowu
abruptly . to that the water becomes
very deep a few yards from ! the
. .c-
( 'k.
weT : BLue UP:4D.
ahore. Close to the lake are flue vestiges .
tlges of an old temple of Dlalla
From t line memoria ] the tracil- !
Ion t has existed among the peasants
flf the district that somewhere In the
lake a Homull galley was Hunl" The
legend ascribed It to 1'lhcl'lu8 , whose
name Is attached 10 many classical
antlquitlcs hr the fancy of the people } .
and the mythical galley wa ! called l
the nave (11 Tiberio , J\ name that may
stilt It a3 well 1t8 any othcr. Classical ]
scholars who tollowod UI the myth
canto upon } 11 story of the Emperor
Callgula's building an Immense vessel
on the Illlo ! lake , wherein he held his
orlles I t was 11 structure of extraordinary -
IlInar magnificence : some holt that
It was built of stone In the lalte In ,
the form of a ship hut. modern archer ! .
ologlsts agreed that whatever truth
hero t might be In the story , the ship
or tile bllllding had disappeared long
ago and that It was folly to lull of
recovering miry part of It , This In
Hilito of well authenticated records of
beams and utile debris } drawn from
Lake Nom ! by fishermen and othel'f
Signor l3orght who was engage ] In
excavating the remains of the t'm'le
If Diana , In the district called the
Campo del ] Giardino , near the shores
of the lake , was fo ; much impressed
by the persistence of the tradition !
that he hunted up the records and ,
after rending what hUll been done ,
decided to search : the lake ; for he I
fabled gllllL' lie gave credit \ lo his
predecessors of trying lo tell the
truth t ! , and his t Is what he foulld.
In the middle of the fifteenth cell'
tury Cardinal Pro'pero Colonna . who
"
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then owned the laud ( around hake Ne '
ml , WitH fill much impressed } by NO'1
tradition t that he employed Leon Bat
tlsta Alhcl'ti , the great architect awl !
engineer ! . to raise thc two galleys ,
which , II was said , lay at the hot tom
of ( lie lalw. Albert I mad use of Ge-
noPse sailors skilled ] In diving : they
were able to report 011 the sire : or
the ships said / to attach to them grappling -
Ill1ng hooks , one or which was SlIhH '
arri f r
W 4 i. ) . ,
. . . . hw
J.llmuSRr..n FROU Tin 6TXJ > : i.
intently ' funnel hy Signor BorghI's
( II \'cr. Then with stout ropes and a
system : of ermines erected ( ] 011 empty
eagles ; ; they tried to raise the galleys ,
hilt only part of the prow of one ship )
WIIS torn out. "It was made of larch
hoards ' - cl1o01' crimson .
: , covered with yellow 01'
ROil om\losltlOIl \ In which were set
leaden plates fastened with nails not
of Iron lint of hron.c : " They found I
hl'Hldes leaden pipes } ! two cubits long
mll marked ] with Inscl'llIolIl ! }
A century / inter a military architect ,
Frallccsco lIe : \1archl of Bologna explored .
\1101'011 \ the lake himself slaking use
of Il sort of diving hell , the constrtte-
lout ( of whll'h he does not explain ,
IJIII'IIIg' promised the inventor to keep I
It seCl'l't 1Ie hauled up part oC the
Hlth' : "Inongli \ wood to load two very I
good ( ( mules , which wooll was of \arl.1
OilS kinds / there was larch and } pine .
H/1I1 / 'nn css " Also pegs of oak , . .
veined so that they looked IIko eb .
Ollr. Besides ] , he found Iron - nails I
h - rust ' t . of brass
worn by , a great quantity
uall , lead plates with the covering .
material / , beams of metal , lead pipe
three fingers In thickness and wide
enollgh for the fist to enter , and n
staircase , down which hI' fell And
he tool out a piece \ of red en Intel :
from 1\ flooring. This ! probably was
the first boat Signor Borhf fOIll I.
Then nothing ; ; more was done ] (01'
.
l
"
A
i
rJ
1Y
LION DRA.M : JTBAD
nearly three centIes when In 182j
Cavallerc Aneslo Fusconi tackled the
galley ttitli a diving bell , Ills attempt
came to un IIIIUmely end after he had
spent $5,000 on it . owing to thieves
carrying ' ocr all his apparatus during
the winter months Among the thlllgs
FlIsconl brought 1111 were U bronze
capital , forty terra ! cotta tablets Iron
I and bronze nails . pieces ) of enamel and
I } marble from mosaics a fragment of r.
; ; rating Inscribed 'I'll Ca. . beams ,
I boards and woods ot all kinds Hi ,
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divers also saw at the bottom star
lies colllmns and : metlll beams , which
they could not get out. Home or these
things were dlstJ'lhuled among the
vatican tnllseUnH ! . hut nearly cvey
trace of them has 11Isflppea-red ,
Signor Borght while hIlMCII ; with his
excavation of the temple of Dlann ,
kept bearing the peasants \ tell or the
sunken ship ) of Tlherlua : he heard the
fishel'men' stories of tnelr nets catch-
Ing In the ships ) and one day he saw
1\ long beRIII the t\hermn \ bud
dragged front ! the lake In the palace
of Prince Orsini at NemlL lIe made
np his mind to try the venture and
rnadt' It contract with the Orsini fans-
lIy , which owns Lake Nem\ \ Then he
engaged I\n experienced diver , bough
boats and machinery and had built
the necessary constructions , derricks
and cranes on the laleside He selected -
lected 1spot 75 fathoms from the
shore , amid 3 : fathoms south of the
building l\IIown as the "fishermen's
hilt" for his nUp"'llll , and on Oct. 3 ,
1895. : ; began tll draw tll the objects
which form hlH colcctlon
'fhe first bronze : brought to the stir-
face was the top of n mor.rln post ,
a splendid work of art , 1\ great and
hi the cavity or which was still the
end of the Leann to which It had been
attached More than 1\ third of the
surface hears In relief a beautiful
1Ion's head , holding In its teeth a ring
held out horl7.0ntallr. The worlcmaii .
. ship ) points ) clearly to the first century
I
ot the empire
LIOK IIEAD or xOOJi1Na-roar.
In the days following many other
Important objects were drawn up.
Chief among them were four bronze
heads or animals with square bases ,
being the ornamental ends of beams :
,
one of these represents a wols head ,
( ant : er than life , with a ring hanging
from the jaws : another the head ( or n
hyena : two others 1I0ns'- heads , all
"llll mooring rims attached to them
Another extremely beautiful bronze
IS a head of Medusa . which was probably .
ably attached to flue stern , and to
which time has given a magnificent
lltlna. : .
As the fisherman reported that
there was another ship In the lake
close to the point called the "Rocl oC
Germancus ( " about seventy-five faUt-
ours from the shore and 1,300 feet to
the south of the first ship Signor
Borghi determined to examine the
111a. c , Soon the diver reported that :
there was a ship there , at a depth of
fllxt.two : feet ' and brought tll two
beams fastened together by Iron rails
and hands , held apart at a distance oC
nine feet. Then a lot of wood oCa. .
rlous sorts and beams held together
with Iron or copper nails , were raised
to the sU1'face.
Besides these things the second
ship ) yielded bits of marble and other
parts of a mosaic pavement , part ) of
a little 'bronze ' column and some cop-
per l'ates I ! like \ those from the first
ship Further a plaque with a female
figure on It in archaic style a bar of
bronze very well preserved and three
and three.qual'tel' feet long and most
Important or all H. heamhead of
bronze , similar to but somewhat
larger than those found on the first
ship Part ot the beam to which It
way fastened curiously waterworn
.
was found with It The bronze beam- { I
head has on one face the figure of an
outset ! } end hand , which Is also archaic
In strle
At Bonn as Signor Borghi' disco
cries ( became known the Italian got
cr.nment ftepleIn. } \ . It prevented the
r'nwvRI of the objects found for a
long tlntl' , during which they were subjected .
.
,1ectfJd to cxpoluro to the weather and ' )
other lJel'lIs. Much of the wood re- /
covered-Signor Borghi says It
amounted to 1,200 feet-decnyed 01
wits plundered hr the neighborlll
peasants : , who used it for flrowood .
Exploration of the ships Is now at
a 8tnndstill. The Italian government
sent a marine : engineer to Investigate _
and he recommended the draining ot
the lake to below the level where the
ships : are Atl'anded This will require
much money and will involve a great
deal of litigatIon with the riparian
owners , and as the Italian government
r
L
.v ,
I
. . t :
3
*
se _
' L i
ii i i , lIn\ BEAM HEAD.
I Is very poor the ship ! In Lake r.eml :
are likely to remain tutdisturbetl for a
long tIme '
It Is Interesting to note ! the conclusion .
sian to which Signor Borghi has come
with regard to the character or these
ships In the course of his researchee
According to him there Is no question
or pleasure yachts of Tiherlns or or v. .
CaUgula : In fact , the art oC the second . .It
end ship points back to the time ot
the repuhllc He believes that the
vessels ! were connected with the tern.
pie ot Diana.
Diana's temple at r\eml was long 1\
place of pllgl'lmago. It was the tern-
plo in the grove that gave the names
to both the villages near the lake
Neml is from Nemus , the lake Is Ne-
morensis while Genzano , near by , Is
from 'nthlana"one of Diana's names
There Is proof of the great magnificence -
'e"nce or the temple on shore and .
he hold that for Rome sacred reason
these vessels were built and decorated
splendld- ! as part of the ' sacrificial
worship of the goddess The theory
Iii more plausible than that Which attributes -
tributes the bllllding of the ships to. ,
Imperial caprice and would accoullt " -
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r I
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. J
i ; 7J
f
w
3IAND ON BUY HEAD 01"
SICO\D SHIP.
for the remembrance of the ships In
the popular tradltlon.-New York Suu.
-
Distinction for Choate.
Ambassador Choate is regarded as
the wittiest and most brilliant con
'cl'satlonallst among the diplomats /
In I.onctoll.
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Blan1eall and pralse.all an two
blockheads : ,
,
