Sport and Spectacle in the Late Republican Period

1
Sport and Spectacle in the Late Republican Period
2
Lecture Summary

• Evolution of Games in the later Republic
• The Evolution of the Venue
• Other activity in the amphitheater
• A day at the games

3
Political Context

• Roman magistrates elected/laws passed by the
  Centuriate Assembly
• Voting population divided into 193 centuries
  based on property ratings 100 centuries
  allocated to the top two property classes
• Plebeian Assembly Popular assembly (Plebeians
  only, not Patricians) could pass plebiscite
  (only binding on Plebeians)
• 287 BCE Lex Hortensia gave plebiscita the
  effect of laws (i.e. binding all Romans)
• Created alternate route to legislation
  increased democratization
• Democratization further enhanced by private
  ballot legislation in 131 BCE
• 133-49 BCE politics become increasingly
  populist
• Roman games affected by these political changes

4
Transformation of Roman Games

• From funerary honors to entertainment
• Games came to be expected/demanded
• Increasing variety, scale, and cruelty
• Attempts to gain control of Games

5
From an Obligation to the Dead to an
Obligation to the People

• There were two things which Murena, in his
  campaign for the praetorship, suffered seriously
  from the lack of, but which were both of
  considerable benefit to him when he came to stand
  for the consulship. One was games, the
  expectation of which had been brought about by
  certain rumors and by the deliberate suggestion
  of his rivals for officeBoth of these advantages
  fortune held back for him until he stood for the
  consulshipas for his not having put on games, a
  factor which had hampered Murena in his campaign
  for the praetorship, this deficiency had been
  made up for by the extremely lavish games he had
  put on in the course of his year as praetorIt
  may be that youattach more weight to the urban
  vote than to that of the soldiers. But if so, you
  can hardly show the same contempt for the high
  quality of Murenas games and the magnificence of
  the spectacle, since this was unquestionably of
  enormous help to him. Do I need to point out that
  the people and the ignorant masses adore games?
  It is hardly surprising that they do. (Cicero,
  Pro Murena, A. Futrell, 2006)

6
Boredom and Variety

• Increasing demand for games resulted
  1.Increasing frequency, 2. Increasing scale,
  3.Increasing variety
• Games become all about spectacle
• Events are combined and merged (Theater, Munera,
  Venatio, Executions, Athletics, Triumphs)
• Games celebrated outside of the regular calendar
  of games or outside of the funerary context

7
Pompeys Games of 55 BCE

• To be sure, the show (if you are interested) was
  on the most lavish scale but it would have been
  little to your taste, to judge by my own. To
  begin with, certain performers honored the
  occasion by returning to the boards, from which I
  thought they had honored their reputation by
  retiringI need not give you further details
  you know the other shows. They did not even have
  the sprightliness which one mostly finds in
  ordinary shows one lost all sense of gaiety
  watching the elaborate productionsWhat pleasure
  is there in getting a Clytemnestra with six
  hundred mules or a Trojan horse with three
  thousand mixing bowls or a variegated display of
  cavalry and infantry equipment in some battle or
  other? The public gaped at all this it would not
  have amused you at allOr perhaps, having scorned
  the gladiators, you are sorry not to have seen
  the athletes! Pompey himself admits that they
  were a waste of time.That leaves the venationes,
  two every day for five days, magnificent nobody
  says otherwise. But what pleasure can a
  cultivated man get out of seeing a weak human
  being torn to pieces by a powerful animal or a
  splendid animal transfixed by a hunting spear?
  Any how, if these sights are worth seeing, you
  have seen them often and we spectators saw
  nothing new. (Cicero, Letters to his Friends, A.
  Futrell, 2006)

8
Caesars Naumachia(46 BCE)

• in Caesars quadruple triumphal celebration
  There wasa naval engagement of 4,000 oarsmen,
  where 1,000 fighting men contended on each side.
  (Appian, Civil Wars, 2.102, A. Futrell, 2006)
• The naval battle was fought on an artificial
  lake dug in the lesser Codeta, between Tyrian and
  Egyptian ships, with two, three, or four banks of
  oars, and heavily manned. Such huge numbers of
  visitors flocked to these shows from all
  directions that many of them had to sleep in
  tents pitched along the streets or roads, or on
  roof tops and often the pressure of the crowds
  crushed people to death. The victims included two
  senators. (Suetonius, Julius Caesar, 39, A.
  Futrell, 2006)

9
A Bewildering Variety of GamesFlavian Games of
80 CE

• Illustrious Fame used to sing of the lion laid
  low in Nemeas spacious vale, Hercules work. Let
  ancient testimony be silent, for after your
  shows, Caesar, we have now seen such things done
  by womens valor. (Martial, De Spectaculis, 8.
  Shackelton Bailey, 1993)
• A tigress, wont to lick the hand of the fearless
  trainer, rare glory from Hyrcanian mountains,
  fiercely tore a wild lion with rabid tooth a
  novelty, unknown in any times. She dared do no
  such thing when she lived in high forests, but
  since she has been among us, she has gained
  ferocity. (Martial, De Spectaculis, 21.
  Shackelton Bailey, 1993)
• Believe that Pasiphae was mated to the Dictaean
  bull we have seen it, the old legend has won
  credence. (Martial 6, De Spectaculis, 21.
  Shackelton Bailey, 1993)

10
The Cruelty of GamesSeneca, Epistulae Morales,
7. R. Campbell, 1969

• I happened to go to one of those shows at the
  time of the lunch-hour interlude, expecting there
  to be some light and witty entertainment then,
  some respite for the purpose of affording
  peoples eyes a rest from human blood. Far from
  it. All the earlier contests were charity in
  comparison. The nonsense is dispensed with now
  what we have now is murder pure and simple. The
  combatants have nothing to protect them their
  whole bodies are exposed to the blows every
  thrust they launch gets home. A great many
  spectators prefer this to the ordinary matches
  and even to the special, popular demand ones. And
  quite naturally. There are no helmets and no
  shields repelling the weapons. What is the point
  of armour? Or of skill? All that sort of thing
  just makes the death slower in coming. In the
  morning men are thrown to lions and bears but it
  is the spectators they are thrown to in the lunch
  hour. The spectators insist that each on killing
  his man shall be thrown against another to be
  killed in his turn and the eventual victor is
  reserved by them for some other form of butchery
  the only exit for the contestants is death. Fire
  and steel keep the slaughter going. And all this
  happens while the arena is virtually empty.

11
Facilities

• Pressure to create specialized facilities to
  accommodate the scale and variety of events
• First gladiatorial events held in the Forum
  Boarium, Forum Romanum, or the Campus Martius
• The Amphitheater would become the highest
  expression of Roman identity and Roman imperialism

12
The Earliest Venues - Gravesites

• The sons of Junius sent the three first combats
  of Thracians in three sets to underworld at the
  tomb of their father. (Ausonius 36-7, A.
  Futrell, 2006)
• When they had trained them in the weapons which
  they then used and they were as well disciplined
  as they could make them, inasmuch as they were
  taught to die, then on the day set aside for the
  dead, they killed them at the tombs.
  (Tertullian, De Spectaculis, 12, A. Futrell,
  2006)
• Indeed, it was the custom to kill captives at
  the graves of powerful men because this, in
  later days, seemed cruel, it was decided to have
  gladiators fight before the grave, gladiators who
  were called Bustuarii for the tombs (Busti).
  (Sevius, On the Aeneid, 10.519. A. Futrell, 2006)

13
Forum Boarium
http//www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/boarium
.jpg
14
Forum Romanum
http//www.tu-bs.de8080/y0013372/italien/11420F
orum20Romanum_full.html
15
Munera and Civic Infrastructure

• Accommodating munera helped shape the topography
  of the Roman city
• But in the cities of Italy, the construction
  plan is not the same (as in Greek-style fora), in
  that the custom of holding gladiatorial munera in
  the forum has been handed down from our
  ancestors. Therefore around the spectacles, the
  colonnades should be given wider
  intercolumnationshave balconies on the upper
  floor arranged so as to be convenientThe
  magnitude of the forum should be appropriate for
  a large gathering of people, lest the space be
  too small for use or, because of a lack of
  people, the forum seem huge. But the dimensions
  should be such that when the length is divided
  into three parts, two are assigned to the width.
  For thus the plan will be oblong and the
  arrangement suitable to the holding of
  spectacles. (Vitruvius, 5.1.1-2, A. Futrell,
  2006)

16
Seating Accommodations(Gaius Gracchus 123 BCE)

• It so happened that at this moment he had also
  given offense to one of his fellow tribunes for
  the following reason. A gladiatorial display had
  often been arranged for the people to watch in
  the Forum, and most of the magistrates had had
  seats built around the arena, which they intended
  to rent to the spectators. Gaius insisted that
  these should be taken down so that the poor could
  watch the show without payment. (Plutarch, Gaius
  Gracchus, 12.3-4, A. Futrell, 2006)

17
The Amphitheater Proper

• Fairly late development
• Came to Rome from Campania
• Earliest amphitheater built in Pompeii in ca. 70
  BCE
• First permanent amphitheater in Rome built by
  Statilius Taurus in 27 BCE

18
Amphitheater at Pompeii
http//www.vroma.org/images/scaife_images/071b.jpg
19
The First Roman AmphitheaterStatilius Taurus
27 BCE

• In the fourth consulship of (Augustus) Caesar,
  Statilius Taurus constructed a stone hunting
  theater in the Campus Martius at his own expense
  and celebrated its completion with gladiatorial
  combats. Because of this he was allowed to choose
  one of the praetors every year. (Dio Cassius,
  51.23, A. Futrell, 2006)

20
Poorly Constructed AmphitheatersThe Disaster at
Fidenae (27 CE)

• In the year of the consulship of Marcus Licinius
  and Lucius Calpurnius, the losses of a great war
  were matched by an unexpected disaster, no sooner
  begun than ended. One Atilius, of the freedman
  class, having undertaken to build an amphitheatre
  at Fidena for the exhibition of a show of
  gladiators, failed to lay a solid foundation and
  to frame the wooden superstructure with beams of
  sufficient strength for he had neither an
  abundance of wealth, nor zeal for public
  popularity, but he had simply sought the work for
  sordid gain. Thither flocked all who loved such
  sights and who during the reign of Tiberius had
  been wholly debarred from such amusements men
  and women of every age crowding to the place
  because it was near Rome. And so the calamity was
  all the more fatal. The building was densely
  crowded then came a violent shock, as it fell
  inwards or spread outwards, precipitating and
  burying an immense multitude which was intently
  gazing on the show or standing round. Those who
  were crushed to death in the first moment of the
  accident had at least under such dreadful
  circumstances the advantage of escaping torture.
  More to be pitied were they who with limbs torn
  from them still retained life, while they
  recognised their wives and children by seeing
  them during the day and by hearing in the night
  their screams and groans. Soon all the neighbours
  in their excitement at the report were bewailing
  brothers, kinsmen or parents. Even those whose
  friends or relatives were away from home for
  quite a different reason, still trembled for
  them, and as it was not yet known who had been
  destroyed by the crash, suspense made the alarm
  more widespread. As soon as they began to remove
  the débris, there was a rush to see the lifeless
  forms and much embracing and kissing. Often a
  dispute would arise, when some distorted face,
  bearing however a general resemblance of form and
  age, had baffled their efforts at recognition.
  Fifty thousand persons were maimed or destroyed
  in this disaster. For the future it was provided
  by a decree of the Senate that no one was to
  exhibit a show of gladiators, whose fortune fell
  short of four hundred thousand sesterces, and
  that no amphitheatre was to be erected except on
  a foundation, the solidity of which had been
  examined. (Tacitus, Annals, 4.62-63, Church
  Broadribb, 1942)

21
Amphitheater as a Model of Roman Society
http//www.the-colosseum.net/around/MickutEB.htm
Seating
22
Amphitheater as a Model of the Roman Empire

• What race is so remote, so barbarous, Caesar,
  that no spectator from it is in your city? The
  farmer of Rhodope has come from Orphic Haemus,
  the Sarmatian fed on draughts of horses blood
  has come, and he who drinks discovered Niles
  first stream, and he on whom beats the wave of
  farthest Tethys. The Arab has sped hither, the
  Sabaeans too, and the Cilicians have here been
  sprayed with their own showers. Stgambrians have
  come with hair curled in a knot and Ethiopians
  with hair curled otherwise. Diverse sounds of the
  speech of the peoples, and yet it is one, when
  you are called true father of the fatherland.
  (Martial, De Spectaculis, 3. D. R. Shackelton
  Bailey, 1993)

23
Roman Amphitheater at Arles
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageAmfitheater.jpg
24
El Djem Amphitheater(Early 3rd Century CE)
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageEljem2.jpg
25
Basic Personnel

• Editor Person putting on the games
• Lanista Gladiator trainer/Owner of a troupe of
  gladiators
• Ludi Gladiator school
• Gladiators
• Physicians

26
Game Day

• Night before the game Public banquet for
  performers
• Game day begins with the Pompa Lictors,
  Libellus, Editor, Performers, Musicians,
  Religious Icons
• Venationes Wild Beast Hunts
• Meridiani Public Executions
• Munera Gladiators

27
The Banquet

• Even among the gladiators I see those who are
  not entirely bestial but Greeks, who, when
  preparing to enter the arena, even though costly
  food items are set before them, find greater
  pleasure at that moment in recommending their
  wives to the care of their friends and in
  setting free their slaves, than in gratifying
  their appetite. (Plutarch, Moral Essays, 1099B,
  A. Futrell, 2006)

28
The Pompa

• The pompa procession which comes first,
  proves in itself to whom it belongs, with the
  long line of idols, the unbroken train of images,
  the cars and chariots and conveyances for
  carrying them, the portable thrones and garlands
  and the attributes of the gods. Moreover, how
  many sacred rites are observed, how many
  sacrifices are offered at the beginning, in the
  course, and at the end of the procession, how
  many religious corporations, furthermore, how
  many priesthoods, how many bodies of magistrates
  are called upon to march in it each is known to
  the inhabitants of that city where all the demons
  have gathered and take up their abode.
  (Tertullian, De Spectaculis, 7.2-3, A. Futrell,
  2006)

29
The Zliten MosaicNorth Africa (2nd Century CE)
http//www.classics.und.ac.za/Gladiator_games.htm