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"The saga of Caligula's sunken barges in Lake Nemi in Italy -- how the huge vessels came to be there in the first place; why they became a cause célèbre for Mussolini's Fascist regime; how they were raised from the lake bed; and why they were destroyed, along with the museum constructed to house them -- is, in the words of author John McManamon, a good story that is worth telling: 'It has memorable characters, twists and turns in the plot, no lack of conflict and tension, and a dramatic ending where something clearly went wrong.' In From Caligula to the Nazis: The Nemi Ships in Diana's Sanctuary, McManamon takes readers on an excursion through history: a journey enhanced by the fruits of deep scholarship, yet possessing ample narrative energy to propel the reader along the path to the fiery ending of the tale. Side trips include Roman mythology and state religion, the emperor cult of the infamous Caligula, archaeology as practiced during the Renaissance, the politics of Il Duce and his minions, and a historical whodunit surrounding the facts of the conflagration that consumed the barges. In the end, McManamon provides for both academic specialists and informed general readers the careful unwinding of a centuries-long mystery, replete with heroes, villains, gods, kings, and all the ordinary folk caught in the middle"--

Ships, Ancient --- Underwater archaeology --- Nemi, Lake. --- Caligula, --- Mussolini, Benito, --- Museo delle navi romane (Nemi, Italy) --- Sanctuary of Diana (Nemi, Italy) --- Nemi, Lake (Italy) --- Rome --- Antiquities, Roman. --- Social life and customs