The
spectacles in ancient Rome
were numerous, open to all citizens and generally free of charge; some of them were distinguished by the grandeur of the stagings and cruelty.
Romans preferred to attend
gladiatorial
fights, those with ferocious beasts (
venationes
), reproductions of naval battles (
naumachia
),
chariot races
,
athletic contests
, theatrical performances by
mimes
, and
pantomimes
.
Forty years after the invective of
Juvenal
(n. between 55 and 60-m. after 127), who lamented the
republican
sobriety and severity of a people who now aspired only to
panem et circenses
, bread and
spectacles
,
Fronto
(100?166), in almost the same words, described disconsolately the sad reality:
Populum romanum duabus praecipue rebus, annona et spectacula, teneri.
[1]
The Roman people are concerned primarily with two things, food and spectacles.
Indeed, the Roman ruling class considered it its primary task to distribute food once a month to the people and to distract them and regulate their leisure time with the free entertainment offered on religious holidays or secular occasions.
Feasts in the Roman calendar
[
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]
Numerous were the occasions for Romans to attend spectacles during
Roman festivals
on the occasion of religious celebrations. From a rough calculation "[...] neglecting certain duplications whereby two festivals coincided [on the same day]...we arrive at this mathematical calculation: the obligatory feast days of imperial Rome occupied more than half the year...."
But in addition to those offered in Rome by the
Caesars
there were also those that were celebrated in the countryside in peasant hamlets, neighborhood festivals in honor of local shrines, those of the new cults, those of the guilds (
scholae
[2]
), those of the military, and finally those that surprisingly offered imperial munificence such as gladiatorial fights that in the second century CE could last for months at a time. Thus "it can be said that [...] there was no Roman year that did not bear two feast days to a working day."
[3]
and that the spectacles were thus almost daily.
Suetonius
records that since confusion and disorder reigned in the spectacles, the
Roman emperor
,
Augustus
, introduced order and discipline,
[note 1]
as well as:
Spectaculorum et assiduitate et varietate et magnificentia omnes antecessit. Fecisse se ludos ait suo nomine quater, pro aliis magistratibus, qui aut abessent aut non sufficerent, ter et vicies. Fecitque nonnumquam etiam vicatim ac pluribus scaenis per omnium linguarum histriones, munera non in Foro modo, nec in amphitheatro, sed et in Circo et in Saeptis, et aliquando nihil praeter venationem edidit; athletas quoque exstructis in campo Martio sedilibus ligneis; item navale proelium circa Tiberim cavato solo, in quo nunc Caesarum nemus est. Quibus diebus custodes in urbe disposuit, ne raritate remanentium grassatoribus obnoxia esset.
"In number, variety and magnificence of spectacles he surpassed all [his predecessors]. [Augustus] himself says that in his own name he celebrated public games four times and twenty-three times for other magistrates who were absent or had insufficient means. And he also celebrated in different districts, with numerous scenes, using actors speaking all languages; he held spectacles not only in the forum and the amphitheater, but also in the circus and the Saepta, and sometimes it was just hunting parties (venationes); he also organized fights between athletes in the Campus Martius, building wooden benches; and a naval battle, for which he had the ground dug near the Tiber (Naumachia Augusti), where the Caesars' forest is now. During those days he placed overseers to guard the city [of Rome], so that it would not be exposed to the danger of brigands, considering the small number of those who remained there."
—Suetonius,
Augustus
, 43.
Augustus had also made it a habit, in the days leading up to the spectacles, in case some animal never before seen and worthy of being known had been brought to
Rome
, to present it to the people in an extraordinary way, in any place: for example, a rhinoceros at the
Saepta Julia
, a tiger in a theatrical scene, a snake of fifty
cubits
(about 22 meters) in front of the
Tribal Assembly
.
[4]
Again Augustus
had the Senate decree
that, for the duration of public spectacles, wherever they were offered, the first row of benches belonged to the
senators
, and he forbade Rome to allow ambassadors from allied or free nations to take their seats in the
orchestra
, because he had been embarrassed [to learn] that there were free slaves in some delegations.
[5]
He separated the
soldiers
from the people; he assigned to the
married
plebeians
their own bleachers; to those who wore the pretesta a particular sector of the bleachers and the one beside their preceptors; he forbade those who were poorly dressed to stand in the middle bleachers. He did not allow women to sit during
gladiator
fights, which they once could observe alongside their men, except at the top and alone. Regarding fights between athletes, he strictly forbade women from entering the theater before the fifth hour.
[5]
The religious significance of the spectacles
[
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]
Originally each festival had a religious cult linked to it.
[6]
For example: the fishing contest that took place on June 8 in the presence of the
praetor
and ended with an eating of fried fish was originally, as
Festus
testifies, a substitute sacrifice in honor of the god
Vulcan
, who accepted the exchange of
pisciculi
(small fish)
pro animis humanis
(in place of human souls).
[7]
The religious sacrificial significance, which the Romans had now forgotten, was still present in the
horse race
held in the
Forum
on October 13. The winning horse was immolated, its blood spilled for
lustrations
, its head hotly contested between the inhabitants of the
Via Sacra
and those of the
Suburra
who competed for the honor of displaying the relic of the "October horse." This festival was a reminder of the horse race that the Latins of ancient Rome celebrated at the end of the annual war expedition that began in the spring and ended in the fall. In those bygone days the blood of the winning horse that was sacrificed served to purify the city.
The sacred character was also present in the
Republican
age when in 105 BC
gladiatorial
fights were instituted by the state, originally born as a cult rendered by private individuals at the tomb of their parents. The religious character was preserved in the term
munus
(public office) that designated these bloody fights that were meant to appease the gods. Even in the second century AD Festus calls them "oblations offered on official grounds,"
Tertullian
, "obligatory honors to the Mani," and
Ausonius
, "blood shed on earth to appease the god armed with a sickle."
By the
imperial
era, Roman audiences had completely forgotten these religious references even though a certain ritual
etiquette
had been established since the time of
Augustus
: spectators, for example, had to wear the gala
toga
:
[8]
[9]
"He strove to bring back the fashion and custom of former times: one day, seeing in a gathering of the people a crowd of ill-dressed people, he indignantly exclaimed, "Here are the Romans, masters of the world and the people wearing the toga," and instructed the Aediles, after that, not to tolerate anyone stopping in and around the Forum unless he or she first dropped the cloak that covered the toga."
?
Suetonius,
Augustus
, 40.
And, if they did not want to be turned away, they had to keep a polite attitude: they could, finally, neither eat nor drink during the performances.
[10]
Even if one had to stand up during the inaugural procession with the statues of the imperial stars along with those of the deities, it was done as a sign of respect and gratitude to the imperial dynasty that offered them such grandiose spectacles.
The ancient religious imprint of the games for the Romans of the imperial age had now been reduced to formalities that bore no relation to the rituals of a religion now forgotten and had been replaced by the
astrological
symbolism depicted in the arena, which represented the earth, and in the moat surrounding the track, the sea; the obelisk (
spina
) symbolized the sun at the top of the sky; the seven laps of the chariot race track reproduced the orbit of the seven planets and the succession of the seven days of the week; the twelve doors of the chariot sheds facing the circus depicted the places of the
zodiac
.
[11]
[12]
[13]
The relationship between the prince and the crowd
[
edit
]
Propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro precabantur.
[14]
They begged Caesar's favor as if they were at the public games.
When the emperor appeared in the
circus
,
amphitheater
, or
theater
, the crowd greeted him by standing up and waving white handkerchiefs, paying homage to him and manifesting their presence and their emotional, almost religious, co-participation in his witnessing the same spectacle taking place in common sight.
Of this crowd of spectators who had the good fortune "to see the prince in person in the midst of his people,"
[15]
the emperor also made it an instrument of political power by forging, through his direct relationship with the crowd in the spectacles, the
public opinion
that, in the absence of the ancient
Comitia
and the autonomy of the
Senate
, no longer had a way of expressing itself.
The spectacles thus strengthened the political power of the prince and at the same time safeguarded what remained of traditional religion. Spectacles, in a population where 150,000 people lived without working at the expense of the state and where those who had employment had half the day free of commitments, including, forcibly, political ones, served to occupy leisure time and to distract and channel passions, instincts, and violence.
A people that yawns is ripe for revolt. The Caesars did not let the Roman plebs yawn, either from hunger or boredom: the spectacles were the great diversion to the unemployment of their subjects, and, consequently, the certain tool for absolutism.
?
Carcopino 1971, p. 239
Suetonius reports that Augustus, when he attended the games, usually sat in the dining room of one of his friends or freedmen, sometimes sitting in his tribune, together with his wife and children. He would absent himself from the performances sometimes for several hours, sometimes for days, apologizing and recommending to the people the
magistrates
who were to take his place in his absence. When he attended, he was very attentive and participative to avoid discontent, since the people in the past had complained about his adoptive father,
Gaius Julius Caesar
, who used to devote himself during the games to reading letters and petitions. Augustus took supreme pleasure in attending them, something he never made a secret of.
[16]
It happened, then, that he frequently offered, even at his own expense, gladiatorial spectacles and games organized by others, with crowns and rich prizes. He did not attend any contest of performances of Greek origin and setting without honoring each of the participants on his own merit. He had particular interest in
boxing
matches, especially the Latin ones, which he often compared with the Greek ones, and not only among professionals, but also among commoners fighting on street corners, without special boxing technique. To the athletes he preserved their privileges, indeed increased them, and forbade gladiators to fight without adequate reward; as for the histrions, he limited to the period of the games and the theater the coercive power of the magistrates, which previously a law had extended to everywhere and to any period. He always demanded strict discipline in competitions among athletes or in gladiatorial combat. He repressed, finally, some behavior judged morally disordered by the histrions, and when he learned that a certain Stephanius, author of
fabulae togatae
, was being served at the table by a woman with her hair cut in a boyish fashion, he banished him and had him beaten with rods in three theaters.
[16]
The spectacles
[
edit
]
Agons
[
edit
]
The main sports in ancient Rome were:
pankration
,
wrestling
,
boxing
,
running
,
javelin throw
,
discus throw
, and
shot put
, which were modeled after
Ancient Greece
. The conception of sports in Ancient Rome, however, did not reflect the Greek culture's predilection for nonprofessional athletic activities, for
agons
(
?γ?νε?
), bloodless contests concerning not only sports but also different fields of human activities, where the winner received a prize for demonstrating, according to the Greek mentality, his or her superior physical and moral gifts. Forty years before the conquest of Greece, even before its civilization influenced the Roman civilization,
certamina graeca
, such as those instituted by
Marcus Fulvius Nobilior
in 186 BC, were considered by Roman society to be immoral exhibitions devoid of the practical purposes that gave meaning to military gymnastic training for the exercise of war. The intellectual
Tacitus
wrote that he feared, as did the part of Roman society most attached to traditions, that Greek refinements might invalidate ancient values:
What is left today [for young people] but to show themselves naked, take the boxing gloves and think about those fights instead of military service.
?
Tacitus,
Annals
, XIV, 20
In the same vein should be considered the aversion of the
senatorial
class to those emperors infatuated with Greek civilization such as
Caligula
or
Nero
, who aroused scandal by taking pleasure in attending the games in person.
Chariot racing
[
edit
]
Most likely the
Romans
borrowed the custom of organizing chariot races from the
Etruscans
, who in turn had borrowed it from the Greeks. However, Roman customs were influenced by the Greeks in a direct way, especially after they conquered mainland
Greece
in 146 BC. According to one Roman legend
Romulus
used the stratagem of organizing a chariot race shortly after the
founding of Rome
to distract the
Sabines
. While the Sabines were enjoying the spectacle Romulus and his men captured and kidnapped the Sabine women. This event is traditionally known as
the Rape of the Sabine Women
.
In ancient Rome, the main structure designated to host chariot races was the
Circus Maximus
, located in the valley between the
Palatine
and
Aventine
hills, which could accommodate up to 250,000 spectators. The construction of the Circus Maximus probably dates back to Etruscan times, but it was rebuilt around 50 BC by order of
Julius Caesar
, reaching a length of about 600 meters with a width of about 225 meters. One end of the track, the one where the chariots were lined up at the start, was wider than the other. To organize the starts, the Romans used a series of barriers called
carceres
, a term that has the same meaning as the Greek
hysplex
. They were placed in steps like the hysplexes, but there were some slight differences because the Roman tracks had a median separating barrier, the
spina
, in the center of the track itself. The
carceres
were set up at one of the vertices of the track, and the wagons were arranged behind these barriers that were secured by a snap system. When all the chariots were ready, the
emperor
(or the organizer of the races if they were not held in Rome) would drop a cloth known as a map thus starting the race. The barriers then opened all at once allowing an equal start for all participants.
Once the race began, chariots could move freely around the track to try to cause an accident to their opponents by pushing them against the
spinae
. On the
spinae
were "eggs," large signals similar to the "dolphins" of Greek races, which were dropped into a gutter of water that flowed through the center of the
spina
to signal the number of laps to go until the end. The
spina
ended up becoming a very elaborate construction-decorated with
statues
,
obelisks
and other works of art-to such an extent that spectators often could not follow the chariots when they were on the opposite side (but apparently they thought this fact made the experience more exciting by increasing suspense). At the two ends of the
spina
were the two curves of the course (called
metae
), and there, as in Greek races, spectacular collisions and accidents occurred. Accidents that resulted in the destruction of chariots and serious injuries to horses and charioteers were called
naufragia
, the same term for shipwrecks. The course of the race was also very similar to that of the Greek races, and the main difference was that dozens of races could be held in each day, and the events sometimes lasted for hundreds of days consecutively. A race, however, was held over the distance of only 7 laps (and in later times 5, so that more races could be held on the same day) instead of the 12 of which the Greek race-type was composed. The Roman organization was also much more interested in economic aspects: the runners were professionals and a huge betting round was widespread among the public. The chariots in the race could be drawn by four horses (
quadrigae
) or two horses (
bigae
), but races among those with four horses were more important. In some rare cases, when a charioteer wanted to demonstrate his skill, he could employ up to ten horses, but it was a practice that combined great difficulty with little actual utility. Roman charioteers, unlike Greek charioteers, wore a helmet and other body protectors and tied the
reins
around their waists, while the Greeks held them in their hands. Because of the latter custom, the Romans could not let go of the reins in case of an accident, so they often ended up being dragged by the horses around the track until they were either killed or managed to free themselves: this is why they carried a knife with them to be able to get out of such situations. The most famous and best reconstruction of a Roman chariot race, despite not actually being historically accurate in several respects, can be seen in the 1959 film
Ben-Hur
.
[17]
Gladiators
[
edit
]
The origin of gladiatorial combat is open to debate, although there is a tendency to interpret it as a practice from
Etruria
that, like many other aspects of
Etruscan culture
, was adopted by the Romans. There is systematic evidence of it beginning with Roman funeral rites during the
Punic Wars
(3rd century BC), and from then on it quickly became an essential element of the Roman world's politics and social life. The
munera gladiatoria
, in particular, were due to the custom of wealthier individuals to offer the people, at their own expense, public spectacles on special occasions, such as duels to the death between slaves on the occasion of the funeral of some relative. The
munera
could be
ordinaria
, that is, scheduled on certain holidays, or
extraordinaria
to celebrate particular occasions. The popularity of gladiators led to their use in increasingly lavish and expensive ludi. Gladiatorial games lasted for nearly a thousand years, reaching their peak between the first century BCE and the second century CE. The
Flavian dynasty
, which began with Emperor
Vespasian
, endowed Rome with special monumental infrastructures expressly dedicated to the
munera
: first and foremost, the Flavian Amphitheater, which has gone down in history as the "
Colosseum
," inaugurated by Emperor
Titus
, to which were added the imperial gladiatorial schools, the
ludi
(
Ludus Magnus
,
Ludus Gallicus
,
Ludus Matutinus
and
Ludus Dacicus
), built by Emperor
Domitian
. The Flavians and their successors thus had a privileged stage and a dedicated "assembly line" for their expensive and bloody spectacles. Between 108 and 109 CE,
Trajan
celebrated his
Dacian victories
using 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals in
ludi
lasting 123 days. The cost of gladiators and
munera
continued to rise out of all control.
Marcus Aurelius
' 177 AD legislation did little to solve the problem, and the subsequent reign of
Commodus
, Marcus Aurelius' son and heir, was marked by inordinate use of
munera
and
venationes
. Christians disapproved of the games because they involved idolatrous pagan rites, and the popularity of gladiatorial contests declined in the fifth century, leading to their demise.
The first
munera
took place at or near the tomb of the deceased and these were organized by a
munerator
, lit. "the one who made the offering." Later games were held by an editor, identical to the
munerator
or an official employed by him. Over time, these titles and meanings may have merged.
[18]
In Republican times, private citizens could own and train gladiators, or rent them from a lanista (owner of a gladiator training school -see below). From the
Principate
onward, private citizens could hold
munera
and own gladiators only with imperial permission, and the role of editor was increasingly tied to state officialdom.
Claudius
's legislation required
quaestors
, the
lowest rank of Roman magistrate
, to personally subsidize two-thirds of the cost of games for their communities in the case of small towns, thus formalizing a fixed cash outlay that was at once an advertisement of the politician's personal generosity and a partial buyout of their duty. More important games were organized by high-ranking magistrates who could better afford them. The largest and most lavish of all were paid for by the emperor himself.
[19]
[20]
The first types of gladiators were named after the enemies of the Republic of Rome: the
Samnites
,
Thracians
, and
Gauls
. The
Samnite
, heavily and elegantly armed and probably the most popular type, was renamed
Secutor
and the Gaul renamed
Murmillo
, as the lands inhabited by those peoples were absorbed into the empire. In the mid-Republican
munus
, each type of gladiator fought either with his own kind or with an equated type. In the late Republic and early Empire, various types of "fantasy" were introduced as well as opposing but contrasting types of gladiators who were different but complementaryː e.g., the agile
Retiarius
("net man"), bareheaded, armored only on his left arm and shoulder, used the net and trident and then charged with his dagger at the more heavily armored
Secutor
protected by a solid helmet.
[21]
Most depictions of gladiators show the most common and popular types, with respect to which there are reliable historical reconstructions available to us today. Other innovations introduced in this period included gladiators fighting on war
chariots
or in
cavalry
formations.
The gladiator trade was empire-wide and subject to official supervision. Rome's military success produced a supply of soldier-prisoners who were redistributed for use in mines or state-owned amphitheaters and for sale on the open market. For example, in the aftermath of the
First Jewish War
, gladiatorial schools received an influx of
Jews
: those rejected for training were sent directly to the arenas as
noxii
(lit. "the hurtful ones"), while the sturdier ones were sent to Rome.
[22]
[23]
In Rome's military ethos, enemy soldiers who had surrendered or allowed their own capture and enslavement were granted an undeserved gift of life. Their training as gladiators amounted to a redemption of honor through
munus
.
[24]
Naumachiae
[
edit
]
The
naumachia
(Latin
naumachia
, from ancient Greek
ναυμαχ?α
/
naumachia
, literally "naval combat") denotes in the
Roman world
both a spectacle representing a
naval battle
and the reservoir, or in a broader sense the building in which they were held.
The first known
naumachia
was the one organized by
Julius Caesar
in Rome in 46 BC for his fourfold
triumph
. After having a large reservoir dug near the
Tiber
in the
Campus Martius
, capable of containing real
biremes
,
triremes
, and
quadriremes
, he hired from among the prisoners of war 2,000 fighters and 4,000 oarsmen. In 2 BC, for the inauguration of the
temple of Mars Ultor
(Avenging Mars),
Augustus
organized a
naumachia
that faithfully reproduced the one of Caesar. As he himself recalls in the
Res gestæ
,
[25]
he had a reservoir dug on the right bank of the
Tiber
, in the place called the "forest of the Caesars" (
nemus Caesarum
), where 3,000 men, not counting the oarsmen, on 30 vessels with rostrums, and many smaller units faced each other.
Claudius
in 52 held a
naumachia
on a vast natural body of water,
Fucine Lake
, to inaugurate its drainage works through the opening of
Claudius' tunnels
.
[26]
The combatants were convicts sentenced to death. It is known in particular from
Suetonius
[27]
that the
naumachiarii
(fighters in the
naumachia
) before the battle greeted the emperor with a phrase that has become famous:
Morituri te salutant
. An erroneous tradition has appropriated it to make it a ritual phrase of the gladiators to the emperor, when in fact it is attested only on this occasion.
The
naumachia
was thus a more deadly spectacle than that of the gladiators: the latter engaged lesser personnel, and the battles did not systematically end with the death of the vanquished. The appearance of the
naumachiae
is closely related to that, somewhat earlier, of another spectacle, the "combat between troops," which did not engage combatants in pairs, but two small armies. Precisely in the latter the combatants were more often convicts without specific training than real gladiators. Caesar, creator of the
naumachia
, simply transposed the principle of land battle formations to a naval setting.
However, in relation to troop combats,
naumachia
had the peculiarity of developing historical or pseudo-historical themes: each fleet facing each other embodied a people famous for their maritime power in classical Greece or the Hellenistic East:
Egyptians
and
Phoenicians
for Caesar's
naumachia
,
Persians
and
Athenians
for Augustus',
Sicels
and
Rhodians
for Claudius'. Moreover, it required considerable means, greater than even the largest troop battles. This factor made naumachia a spectacle reserved for exceptional occasions, closely linked to celebrations of the emperor, his victories and his monuments. The irreducible specificity of the spectacle and its themes drawn from the history of the Greek world explains the origin of the term: a phonetic transcription of the Greek word for a naval battle (ναυμαχ?α / naumakhia), later also indicating the vast reservoirs dedicated to it.
Theater
[
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]
In ancient Rome, theater represented one of the highest expressions of
Latin culture
. By the middle of the third century BC. multiple forms of dramatic performance had already developed in the
Italian peninsula
, owing both to Greek influence and to local traditions,
[28]
including: (i) in
Etruria
and Rome the
fescennine
had developed, which was sometimes accompanied by music and dance performances or sports games;
[29]
(ii) in the south of
Campania
Atellan Farce
was widespread;
[30]
(iii) finally, in the
Dorian
colonies
of
southern Italy
and
Sicily
,
phlyax plays
were performed;
[29]
and in
Taranto
, the Italic cradle of the dramatic art that came to Rome thanks precisely to a Tarentine author,
[31]
in particular, the poet
Rhinthon
(323?285 BC) who had given literary form to mythological parody.
[32]
The theatrical genres that have remained with us and are best documented are both of Greek origin, the
palliata
(comedy) and the
cothurnata
(tragedy -from
cothurnus
, the typical footwear of tragic actors), and with a Roman setting, called
togata
or
trabeata
(comedy) and
praetexta
(tragedy) respectively. The togata is distinguished from more popular comic genres, such as the
Atellan Farce
, juxtaposed with
commedia dell'arte
, and
mime
. Roman subject tragedy (
praetexta
) was renewed in events, considering historical facts. The
tabernaria
, on the other hand, was a comic play with a Roman setting.
Roman theater reached its zenith with
Livius Andronicus
,
Gnaeus Naevius
,
Plautus
, and
Terence
for comedy and
Seneca
for tragedy:
- The theatrical production of
Livius Andronicus
(280?200 BC) shifted the attention of the Romans from pre-literary comic works to the tragic genre. Andronicus, with whom the Archaic Age of Latin literature is usually said to begin, was the first author, albeit of Greek origin, to compose a play in Latin, performed in 240 BC at the
ludi scaenici
organized for the Roman victory in the
First Punic War
. No fragments of that work are preserved, and it is not even possible to determine whether it was a comedy or a tragedy.
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
- The innovation that
Gnaeus Naevius
(275?201 BC) brought to
Latin literature
was the introduction of the
praetexta
, a tragedy set in Rome instead of Greece. Two titles are known:
Romulus
(or
Lupus
) and
Clastidium
. In
Romulus
the story of
Romulus and Remus
is told;
Clastidium
tells of the
battle of Clastidium
in 222 BC won by Marcellus against the
Gauls
, a victory that enabled the Romans to conquer
Cisalpine Gaul
.
[37]
Nevius also wrote six
cothurnate
tragedies, that is, tragedies with a Greek subject:
Aesiona
,
Danae
,
Equos Troianus
,
Iphigenia
,
Hector Proficiscens
and
Lycurgus
.
Danae
and
Equos Troianus
(the latter presented at the opening of
Pompey's theater
in Rome in 55 BCE.) repeat titles from Livius Andronicus, and the best known is
Lycurgus
, the story of the
Thracian king
Lycurgus (not to be confused with the mythical Spartan lawgiver) who drove the god
Bacchus
and the
Bacchae
out of his land, provoking the baleful wrath of the wine god, who retaliated by killing the king and setting fire to his palace (a theme relevant to Rome where the cult of
Dionysus
had been introduced in the last decades of the 3rd century BC. C. as a propitiatory-orgiastic rite forbidden by a ruling by the
senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus
), of which 24 fragments have remained to this day. As far as comic production is concerned, that of Nevius makes him the most important predecessor of Plautus in this field; from the fragments that have come down to us we note a colorful verbal inventiveness that seems to prepare the field for that of Plautus.
[38]
- Titus Maccius Plautus
(255?184 BC) was an author of enormous success, both immediate and posthumous, and of great prolificacy: it seems that during the second century as many as 130 comedies related to his name circulated, but it is unknown how many were authentic. Plautus' great strength lies in the comedy that arises from individual situations, taken one after another, and from the verbal creativity that each new situation can unleash. However, only a direct reading can restore an adequate impression of all this: and if Plautus' comic art by its very nature escapes overly closed formulas, greater systematicity arises precisely from the consideration of the plots, in their most basic constructive lines. In Plautus' comedy it is possible to distinguish, according to an already ancient subdivision, the
deverbia
and the
cantica
, that is, the dialogic parts, with several actors interlocuting with each other, and the sung parts, mostly monologues, but sometimes also dialogues between two or even three characters. The pattern of love intrigue often recurs, with a young man (
adulescens
) falling in love with a girl. His love dream always encounters problems in turning into reality depending on the woman he falls in love with: if she is a courtesan he has to find the money to marry her, if she is honest the obstacle is a family one. Helping him to overcome the various difficulties is the
servus callidus
(
tricky slave
) or the
parasite
(penniless man who helps him in exchange for food) who with various deceptions and pitfalls manages to overcome the various difficulties and get the two married. The pranks organized by the servus are some of the most significant elements of Plautian comedy. The
servus
is one of the figures most widely used by Plautus in his comedies and is central to Plautian
metatheater
: he is in fact the character who takes on the role of the poet's alter idem as the creator of deception.
- Publius Terentius Afer
(190?159 BC) wrote only six comedies, all of which have been preserved in their entirety to the present day.
[39]
Terence adapted himself to
Greek comedy
; in particular, he followed the models of the Attic New Comedy (ν?α κωμ?δ?α) and, above all,
Menander
.
[40]
Because of this strong artistic connection with the Greek playwright, he was called by Julius Caesar the "
Menander dimidiatus
".
[41]
Terence's work was not limited to a simple translation and re-proposition of the Greek originals but connotes itself as
contaminatio
, that is, the introduction into the comedy of characters and episodes belonging to different comedies, which were also of Greek origin. Part of Terence's fortune can be attributed to the abilities of his actor,
Lucius Ambivius Turpio
, one of the best at the time.
[42]
Compared to Plautus, Terence aimed at a more cultured audience so much so that in some comedies some socio-cultural topics of the
Scipionic Circle
, of which he was a member, can be found.
[41]
In addition, in contrast to the Plautian comedies, called
motoria
because of their excessive showmanship and characterized by the figure of the
servus currens
, estrangement, and the presence of
cantica
, Terence's work is called
stataria
, because they are relatively serious and do not include moments of metatheatery or
cantica
. Given the greater sophistication of his plays, it can be said that with Terence simple audiences move away from the theater, something that had never happened before. Another difference is the care taken with the plots, which are more coherent and less complex than those of the Plautian comedies, but also more engaging since Terence, unlike Plautus, does not use an expository prologue (containing the antecedents and an anticipation of the plot). Particularly important in Terence is also the moral message underlying his entire work, aimed at emphasizing his
humanitas
, that is, his respect for every other human being, while being aware of each person's limitations.
- The tragedies of
Lucius Anneus Seneca
(4?65 AD) are the only Latin tragic works that have come down to us in non-fragmentary form and thus constitute a valuable testimony both to an entire literary genre and to the revival of Latin tragic theater, after the vain attempts implemented by Augustan cultural policy to promote a revival of theatrical activity. In the Julio-Claudian age (27 BC ? 68 AD) and the early
Flavian age
(69?96) the senatorial intellectual elite resorted to tragic theater to express their opposition to the regime (Latin tragedy takes up and exalts a fundamental aspect in classical Greek tragedy, namely, its republican inspiration and execration of tyranny). Not surprisingly, the tragedians of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian ages were all prominent figures in Roman public life. There are nine tragedies believed to be authentic (plus a tenth, the
Octavia
, believed to be spurious), all of them with Greek mythological subjects. Works, perhaps, intended primarily for reading, which may not have excluded stage performance at times. The cumbersomeness or grim spectacularity of some scenes would seem to presuppose a stage performance, whereas a simple reading would have limited the effects sought by the dramatic text. The various tragic events take the form of clashes of opposing forces and conflict between reason and passion. Although themes and motifs from philosophical works are taken up in the tragedies, the Senecian theater is not merely an illustration, in the form of
exempla
provided by myth, of
Stoic doctrine
, both because the specifically literary matrix remains strong and because, in the tragic universe, the logos, the rational principle to which Stoic doctrine entrusts the government of the world, proves incapable of curbing the passions and stemming the spread of evil. The various tragic events are set against the background of a reality with dark and atrocious tones, giving the conflict between good and evil a cosmic dimension and universal scope. Of particular prominence is the figure of the bloodthirsty and power-hungry tyrant, closed to moderation and leniency, tormented by fear and anguish. The despot provides the cue for the ethical debate on power, which is most important in Seneca's reflection. Of almost all the Senecian tragedies, the Greek models remain, in relation to which Seneca has a great autonomy, which, however, presupposes an ongoing relationship with the model, on which the author makes interventions of contamination, restructuring, and rationalization in the dramatic structure.
Venationes
[
edit
]
Venationes
(sing.
venatio
) were a form of entertainment that involved hunting and killing wild animals. Wild and exotic beasts were brought to Rome from the far reaches of the empire, and venationes were held during the morning before the main afternoon event, the gladiatorial duels. These hunts were held in the
Roman Forum
, the
Saepta
, and the
Circus Maximus
, although none of these venues offered protection to the crowd from the wild animals in the arena. Special precautions, such as erecting barriers and digging ditches, were taken to prevent animals from escaping from these places. Very few animals escaped these hunts, although they sometimes defeated the
bestiarius
, or hunter of wild beasts. Thousands of wild animals were slaughtered in a day. For example, during the games held by
Trajan
when he became
emperor
, more than 9,000 animals were killed. Not all animals were ferocious, although most were. Animals that appeared in the
venationes
included
lions
,
tigers
,
leopards
,
elephants
,
bears
,
deer
,
wild goats
, and
camels
.
[43]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In
Augustus
44,
Suetonius
relates that
Augustus
put the entertainment business in order after learning that a senator, at some games in
Pozzuoli
, was not received by anyone, to the
princeps
' severe indignation.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Fronto,
Princip. hist.
, V, 11
- ^
"Schola at Enciclopedia | Sapere.it"
.
www.sapere.it
(in Italian). 2020-06-05.
Archived
from the original on 2023-07-24
. Retrieved
2023-07-24
.
- ^
Carcopino 1971, pp. 234-235.
- ^
Suetonius,
Augustus
, 43
- ^
a
b
Suetonius, ?
Augustus
, 44
- ^
A. Piganiol,
Recherches sur le jeux romains
, Paris Strasbourg, 1923
- ^
J. Carcopino,
Virgile et les origines de Ostie
, Paris 1919, pp. 119-120
- ^
Suetonius, ?
Augustus
, 40
- ^
Suetonius,
Claudii
, 6
- ^
Quintilianus, VI, 3, 63
- ^
Wuilleumier P (1927). "Le Cirque et l'Astrologie".
Melanges de l'Ecole de Rome
(in French): 184?209.
- ^
Cassiodorus
.
Varrone
(in Latin). p. III, 51.
- ^
Isidore of Seville
.
Origins
(in Latin). Vol. XVIII. p. 36.
- ^
Pliny the Younger,
Ep.
VI, 5
- ^
Pliny the Younger,
Pan.
, 51
- ^
a
b
Suetonius,
Augustus
, 45
- ^
"Corse dei Carri nel Circo a Roma Antica"
.
www.cultura-barocca.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2023-07-24
. Retrieved
2023-07-24
.
- ^
Kyle 1998, ?p. 80
- ^
Futrell 2006, ?p. 43
- ^
Wiedemann 1992, ?pp. 440?446
- ^
Kyle 2007, ?p. 313
- ^
Josephus
.
The Jewish War
(in Latin). p. 6.418, 7.37?40.
- ^
Kyle 1998, ?p. 93
- ^
Futrell 2006, ?pp. 120?125
- ^
Res gestae divi Augusti
, 23
- ^
"Naumachia"
.
sapere.it
.
Archived
from the original on 1 March 2021
. Retrieved
4 April
2021
.
- ^
Suetonius,
Claudii
, 21,6
- ^
Beare 2008, ?pp. 15-29
- ^
a
b
Beare 2008, ?p. 30
- ^
Beare 2008, ?pp. 155-162
- ^
Plutarch,
Pyrrhus
, 16.
- ^
Beare 2008, ?p. 32
- ^
Aulus Gellius,
Attic Nights,
?XVII, 21, 42
- ^
Beare 2008, ?p. 34
- ^
Cicero,
Brutus
, ?72
- ^
Cicero,
Tusculanae disputationes
, I, 3.
- ^
Pontiggia G; Grandi MC (March 1996).
Letteratura latina. Storia e testi
. Milano: Principato. p. 87.
- ^
Conte GB
(1987).
Letteratura latina
. Firenze: Le Monnier. p. 33.
- ^
Del Corno 2005
- ^
Del Corno 2005, ?p. 24
- ^
a
b
Del Corno 2005, ?p. 11
- ^
Del Corno 2005, ?p. 37
- ^
"Gli animali nell'antica Roma: l'amore degli antichi romani per gli animali esotici"
.
Kodami
(in Italian). 2022-01-26.
Archived
from the original on 2023-07-24
. Retrieved
2023-07-24
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Suetonius
.
De vita Caesarum, books I-II-III
.
- Terence
(2005). Del Corno, D. (ed.).
Adelphoe
(18ª ed.). Rizzoli.
ISBN
88-17-16616-2
.
- Beare, William (2008).
I Romani a teatro
. Translated by De Nonno, Mario. Bari-Roma: Laterza.
ISBN
978-88-420-2712-6
.
- Carcopino, Jerome
(1971).
La vita quotidiana a Roma
. Bari: Universale Laterza.
- Gregori, Gianluca (2011).
Ludi e munera. 25 Anni di Ricerche sugli Spettacoli d'Eta Romana
. LED Edizioni Universitarie.
ISBN
978-88-7916-479-5
.
- Futrell, A. (2006).
A Sourcebook on the Roman Games
. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.
ISBN
1-4051-1568-8
.
- Kyle, D. G. (1998).
Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome
. London: Routledge.
ISBN
0-415-09678-2
.
- Kyle, D. G. (2007).
Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World
. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-631-22970-4
.
- Wiedemann, T. (1992).
Emperors and Gladiators
. London: Routledge.
ISBN
0-415-12164-7
.