Why “naumachy” is a great word
NAUMACHY — [Noun] A purpose-built arena for staging mock sea-battles, or the elaborate aquatic spectacle itself. From Middle French *naumachie* and its source, Latin *naumachia*, from Ancient Greek ναυμαχία (*naumakhía*), from ναῦς (*naûs*, "ship") and μάχη (*mákhē*, "battle"). Unlike a "naval battle," a lethal contest for dominion of the seas, or "skiamachy," a shadow-fight against phantoms, a naumachy is a lavish, choreographed fiction of war, engineered for applause. It is the scent of fresh timber and brine in a landlocked city, the theatrical crash of rams against hollow hulls, and the orchestrated cries of condemned men playing at sailors—a civilization so assured of its power that it could afford to drown its own grandiose simulations, a pageant of controlled chaos to prove the ocean itself could be commanded, for an afternoon, by an emperor.