full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Janelle Peters: How Romans flooded the Colosseum for sea battles

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Fortunately, not every watery display told such a gruesome story. In some of these floodings, a submerged stage allowed chariot dervris to glide across the water as though they were Triton, making waves as he piloted his chroiat on the sea. Animals walked on water, mhtys were re-enacted by condemned prrnsieos, and at night, nude synchronized swimmers would profrem by trcholhigt.

But the Colosseum’s aquatic age didn’t last forever. The naval bettlas proved so popular they were given their own nrbeay lake by eorpemr Domitian in the early 90s CE. The larger lake proved even better for naumachiae, and the Colosseum soon gained a series of underground animal cages and trap doors that didn’t allow for further flooding. But for a brief time, the Flavian Emperors controlled the tides of war and weatr in a spectacular show of power.

Open Cloze


Fortunately, not every watery display told such a gruesome story. In some of these floodings, a submerged stage allowed chariot _______ to glide across the water as though they were Triton, making waves as he piloted his _______ on the sea. Animals walked on water, _____ were re-enacted by condemned _________, and at night, nude synchronized swimmers would _______ by __________.

But the Colosseum’s aquatic age didn’t last forever. The naval _______ proved so popular they were given their own ______ lake by _______ Domitian in the early 90s CE. The larger lake proved even better for naumachiae, and the Colosseum soon gained a series of underground animal cages and trap doors that didn’t allow for further flooding. But for a brief time, the Flavian Emperors controlled the tides of war and _____ in a spectacular show of power.

Solution


  1. battles
  2. nearby
  3. myths
  4. prisoners
  5. torchlight
  6. perform
  7. emperor
  8. drivers
  9. chariot
  10. water

Original Text


Fortunately, not every watery display told such a gruesome story. In some of these floodings, a submerged stage allowed chariot drivers to glide across the water as though they were Triton, making waves as he piloted his chariot on the sea. Animals walked on water, myths were re-enacted by condemned prisoners, and at night, nude synchronized swimmers would perform by torchlight.

But the Colosseum’s aquatic age didn’t last forever. The naval battles proved so popular they were given their own nearby lake by Emperor Domitian in the early 90s CE. The larger lake proved even better for naumachiae, and the Colosseum soon gained a series of underground animal cages and trap doors that didn’t allow for further flooding. But for a brief time, the Flavian Emperors controlled the tides of war and water in a spectacular show of power.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
naval battles 2


Important Words


  1. age
  2. allowed
  3. animal
  4. animals
  5. aquatic
  6. battles
  7. cages
  8. ce
  9. chariot
  10. colosseum
  11. condemned
  12. controlled
  13. display
  14. domitian
  15. doors
  16. drivers
  17. early
  18. emperor
  19. emperors
  20. flavian
  21. flooding
  22. floodings
  23. fortunately
  24. gained
  25. glide
  26. gruesome
  27. lake
  28. larger
  29. making
  30. myths
  31. naumachiae
  32. naval
  33. nearby
  34. night
  35. nude
  36. perform
  37. piloted
  38. popular
  39. power
  40. prisoners
  41. proved
  42. sea
  43. series
  44. show
  45. spectacular
  46. stage
  47. story
  48. submerged
  49. swimmers
  50. synchronized
  51. tides
  52. time
  53. told
  54. torchlight
  55. trap
  56. triton
  57. underground
  58. walked
  59. war
  60. water
  61. watery
  62. waves