Thespectacles 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 attendgladiatorial fights, those with ferocious beasts (venationes), reproductions of naval battles (naumachia),chariot races,athletic contests, theatrical performances bymimes, andpantomimes.
Forty years after the invective ofJuvenal (n. between 55 and 60-m. after 127), who lamented therepublican sobriety and severity of a people who now aspired only topanem et circenses, bread andspectacles,Fronto (100–166), in almost the same words, described disconsolately the sad reality:
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.
Numerous were the occasions for Romans to attend spectacles duringRoman 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 theCaesars 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, theRoman emperor,Augustus, introduced order and discipline,[note 1] as well as:
—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 toRome, to present it to the people in an extraordinary way, in any place: for example, a rhinoceros at theSaepta Julia, a tiger in a theatrical scene, a snake of fiftycubits (about 22 meters) in front of theTribal Assembly.[4]
Again Augustushad the Senate decree that, for the duration of public spectacles, wherever they were offered, the first row of benches belonged to thesenators, and he forbade Rome to allow ambassadors from allied or free nations to take their seats in theorchestra, because he had been embarrassed [to learn] that there were free slaves in some delegations.[5] He separated thesoldiers from the people; he assigned to themarriedplebeians 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 duringgladiator 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]
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 thepraetor and ended with an eating of fried fish was originally, asFestus testifies, a substitute sacrifice in honor of the godVulcan, who accepted the exchange ofpisciculi (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 thehorse race held in theForum on October 13. The winning horse was immolated, its blood spilled forlustrations, its head hotly contested between the inhabitants of theVia Sacra and those of theSuburra 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 theRepublican age when in 105 BCgladiatorial 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 termmunus (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," andAusonius, "blood shed on earth to appease the god armed with a sickle."
By theimperial era, Roman audiences had completely forgotten these religious references even though a certain ritualetiquette had been established since the time ofAugustus: spectators, for example, had to wear the galatoga:[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 theastrological 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 thezodiac.[11][12][13]
When the emperor appeared in thecircus,amphitheater, ortheater, 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, thepublic opinion that, in the absence of the ancientComitia and the autonomy of theSenate, 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 themagistrates 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 inboxing 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 offabulae 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 main sports in ancient Rome were:pankration,wrestling,boxing,running,javelin throw,discus throw, andshot put, which were modeled afterAncient Greece. The conception of sports in Ancient Rome, however, did not reflect the Greek culture's predilection for nonprofessional athletic activities, foragons (ἀγῶνες), 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 byMarcus 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 intellectualTacitus 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 thesenatorial class to those emperors infatuated with Greek civilization such asCaligula orNero, who aroused scandal by taking pleasure in attending the games in person.
Most likely theRomans borrowed the custom of organizing chariot races from theEtruscans, 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 mainlandGreece in 146 BC. According to one Roman legendRomulus used the stratagem of organizing a chariot race shortly after thefounding of Rome to distract theSabines. While the Sabines were enjoying the spectacle Romulus and his men captured and kidnapped the Sabine women. This event is traditionally known asthe Rape of the Sabine Women.
In ancient Rome, the main structure designated to host chariot races was theCircus Maximus, located in the valley between thePalatine andAventine 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 ofJulius 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 calledcarceres, a term that has the same meaning as the Greekhysplex. They were placed in steps like the hysplexes, but there were some slight differences because the Roman tracks had a median separating barrier, thespina, in the center of the track itself. Thecarceres 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, theemperor (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 thespinae. On thespinae 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 thespina to signal the number of laps to go until the end. Thespina ended up becoming a very elaborate construction-decorated withstatues,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 thespina were the two curves of the course (calledmetae), 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 callednaufragia, 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 thereins 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 filmBen-Hur.[17]
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The origin of gladiatorial combat is open to debate, although there is a tendency to interpret it as a practice fromEtruria that, like many other aspects ofEtruscan culture, was adopted by the Romans. There is systematic evidence of it beginning with Roman funeral rites during thePunic Wars (3rd century BC), and from then on it quickly became an essential element of the Roman world's politics and social life. Themunera 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. Themunera could beordinaria, that is, scheduled on certain holidays, orextraordinaria 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. TheFlavian dynasty, which began with EmperorVespasian, endowed Rome with special monumental infrastructures expressly dedicated to themunera: first and foremost, the Flavian Amphitheater, which has gone down in history as the "Colosseum," inaugurated by EmperorTitus, to which were added the imperial gladiatorial schools, theludi (Ludus Magnus,Ludus Gallicus,Ludus Matutinus andLudus Dacicus), built by EmperorDomitian. 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 hisDacian victories using 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals inludi lasting 123 days. The cost of gladiators andmunera continued to rise out of all control.Marcus Aurelius' 177 AD legislation did little to solve the problem, and the subsequent reign ofCommodus, Marcus Aurelius' son and heir, was marked by inordinate use ofmunera andvenationes. 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 firstmunera took place at or near the tomb of the deceased and these were organized by amunerator, lit. "the one who made the offering." Later games were held by an editor, identical to themunerator 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 thePrincipate onward, private citizens could holdmunera and own gladiators only with imperial permission, and the role of editor was increasingly tied to state officialdom.Claudius's legislation requiredquaestors, thelowest 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: theSamnites,Thracians, andGauls. TheSamnite, heavily and elegantly armed and probably the most popular type, was renamedSecutor and the Gaul renamedMurmillo, as the lands inhabited by those peoples were absorbed into the empire. In the mid-Republicanmunus, 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 agileRetiarius ("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 armoredSecutor 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 warchariots or incavalry 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 theFirst Jewish War, gladiatorial schools received an influx ofJews: those rejected for training were sent directly to the arenas asnoxii (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 throughmunus.[24]
Thenaumachia (Latinnaumachia, from ancient Greekναυμαχία/naumachía, literally "naval combat") denotes in theRoman world both a spectacle representing anaval battle and the reservoir, or in a broader sense the building in which they were held.
The first knownnaumachia was the one organized byJulius Caesar in Rome in 46 BC for his fourfoldtriumph. After having a large reservoir dug near theTiber in theCampus Martius, capable of containing realbiremes,triremes, andquadriremes, he hired from among the prisoners of war 2,000 fighters and 4,000 oarsmen. In 2 BC, for the inauguration of thetemple of Mars Ultor (Avenging Mars),Augustus organized anaumachia that faithfully reproduced the one of Caesar. As he himself recalls in theRes gestæ,[25] he had a reservoir dug on the right bank of theTiber, 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 anaumachia on a vast natural body of water,Fucine Lake, to inaugurate its drainage works through the opening ofClaudius' tunnels.[26] The combatants were convicts sentenced to death. It is known in particular fromSuetonius[27] that thenaumachiarii (fighters in thenaumachia) 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.
Thenaumachia 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 thenaumachiae 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 thenaumachia, 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 andPhoenicians for Caesar'snaumachia,Persians andAthenians for Augustus',Sicels andRhodians 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 (ναυμαχία / naumakhía), later also indicating the vast reservoirs dedicated to it.
In ancient Rome, theater represented one of the highest expressions ofLatin culture. By the middle of the third century BC. multiple forms of dramatic performance had already developed in theItalian peninsula, owing both to Greek influence and to local traditions,[28] including: (i) inEtruria and Rome thefescennine had developed, which was sometimes accompanied by music and dance performances or sports games;[29] (ii) in the south ofCampaniaAtellan Farce was widespread;[30] (iii) finally, in theDoriancolonies ofsouthern Italy andSicily,phlyax plays were performed;[29] and inTaranto, the Italic cradle of the dramatic art that came to Rome thanks precisely to a Tarentine author,[31] in particular, the poetRhinthon (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, thepalliata (comedy) and thecothurnata (tragedy -fromcothurnus, the typical footwear of tragic actors), and with a Roman setting, calledtogata ortrabeata (comedy) andpraetexta (tragedy) respectively. The togata is distinguished from more popular comic genres, such as theAtellan Farce, juxtaposed withcommedia dell'arte, andmime. Roman subject tragedy (praetexta) was renewed in events, considering historical facts. Thetabernaria, on the other hand, was a comic play with a Roman setting.
Roman theater reached its zenith withLivius Andronicus,Gnaeus Naevius,Plautus, andTerence for comedy andSeneca for tragedy:
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 theRoman Forum, theSaepta, and theCircus 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 thebestiarius, or hunter of wild beasts. Thousands of wild animals were slaughtered in a day. For example, during the games held byTrajan when he becameemperor, more than 9,000 animals were killed. Not all animals were ferocious, although most were. Animals that appeared in thevenationes includedlions,tigers,leopards,elephants,bears,deer,wild goats, andcamels.[43]
