Naumachia were the greatest, most elaborate, most spectacular spectacles in ancient Rome. And the deadliest. Convicted criminals or prisoners of war who had to fight in these staged sea battles had little chance of survival, the fighters were "doomed" in the truest sense of the word. Emperor Claudius armed 19,000 people in AD 52, who initially attacked each other with their ships, only to finally hack themselves to pieces with spears and swords. Tacitus concludes his description of the slaughter succinctly: "The fights were brave, even though they were criminals."