Roman Spectacle

Games and entertainment in the Ancient world

Jessica Di BenedettoSession 5, 2010

“The consequences of Roman Imperialism, however, was not so much Romanization as the forging of distinctive Romano-Iberian, African, Gallic or British cultures through the fusion of local and Imperial elements.” – Garnsey and Saller

“To some extent, Roman presentation of lavish events was meant to demonstrate Roman capacity beyond the military, to show that, culturally, Rome was fully able to engage in leadership.” - Futrell

Munera – games organised by a private benefactor as a display of personal largesse, importance and power.Ludi – state organised games, usually in conjunction with a religious festival.

“People spent much of their free time at the public entertainment provided in the towns. Charters of towns like Urso show that by the end of the republic public games had become institutionalised and celebrated annually.” - Keay

Tarraco

Italica

Emerita

“The games in the amphitheatre lasted for four days, consisting on animal baiting and gladiatorial combats. In the latter gladiators fought either mock contests with blunted weapons or battles to the death. The bullfights of today are, in some ways, heirs to this tradition.” - Keay

“An even more extravagant form of entertainment was the staging of mock naval battles (naumachiae) in the larger amphitheatres. The arena was flooded, and specially trained gladiators fought each other on board ships.” - Keay

Pollice Verso – Jean-Léon Gérôme(1872)

“...the sponsorship of circus games is much better attested in Spanish euergistic inscriptions than are other forms of spectacle. Enjoyment of the circus, moreover, went unchallenged by the adoption of Christianity. Thus people kept going to the circus at Toledo not just throughout the fourth century, but well beyond it.” - Kulikowski

“...nam qui dabat olim imperium fasces legiones omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.” – Iuvenal

“A body that used to confer commands, legions, rods, and everything else, has now narrowed its scope, and is eager and anxious for only two things: bread and games.” - Rudd

Bibliography

Primary SourcesJuvenal, Satires x, trans Rudd, N., Oxford University Press, Oxford (1991)

Secondary SourcesFutrell, A., The Roman Games: A Source Book, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford (2006)Garnsey, P., & Saller, R. P., The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture, University of California Press, Berkeley (1987)Keay, S. J., Roman Spain, University of California Press, California (1988) Kulikowski, M., Late Roman Spain and its Cities, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (2004)