Final Study pt. 3

Question 1

Venationes

Answer 1

• The first event of the day that took place in the mornings of fights.
• It was always an animal or beast fight.
• Skilled hunters facing off with beasts in the arena.

Question 2

Ludi Meridiani

Answer 2

• “midday games”, criminal executions of those on the death penalty.
• They would be wheeled out into the arena, tied up so they couldn’t escape, and then fed to the beasts.
• This was called the damnatio ad bestias.

Question 3

From Bustuarii to Icon

Answer 3

• Gladiators started out as tomb fighters that only fought at funerary games and they started gaining popularity
• They became a ubiquitous presence in Roman society, much like Roman sexuality.
• Household names depicted on walls, paintings, oil lamps, and other household decors.
• They were no longer seen as lowly slaves (like actors were), but they were respected and looked up to by the Roman audiences.

Question 4

A ludus at Capua and Spartacus

Answer 4

• Run by and lanista, the person in control of buying and selling gladiators, named Lentulus Batiatus.
• He was known to be a very cruel and proud lanista and would force his gladiators to stay pent up in a cage and to fight.
• One of these gladiators was Spartacus. He and 70 other gladiators started a revolt and escaped the school he was training at. They were joined by slaves and shepherds from around the area, attracting 60000 to 120000 followers and defeating a Roman force of 3000.
• They stole the wagons that had all their weapons in them and roamed the countryside with the goal of catching a pirate ship to escape Italy.
• They were defeated by generals, including Crassus, after being split up in the mountains. Spartacus was never found.
• To make an example for future gladiators, 6000 of the captured gladiators were lined up along Appian way and crucified every 30 meters. The number of gladiators allowed in Rome was limited, and they became the focus of the city.

Question 5

Stage Transformed: The amphitheatre

Answer 5

• large, circular or oval open-air venues with raised seating
• built by the ancient Romans. They were used for events such as gladiator combats, venationes (animal slayings) and executions.
• Most notably the Flavian Amphitheatre aka the Colosseum

Question 6

Building Celebrity: Preparations and Procession

Answer 6

• Dinner often held for the performers the night before.
• On the day of, there would be a procession where the litors and tubicines take the lead, and then the editor and the gladiators at the end.
• There would be a probatio armorum, where they check the armor and weapons of the gladiators to ensure a fair fight for the audience.

Question 7

Gladiatorial venues at Rome

Answer 7

• Amphitheatre of Statilius Tarus in 29 BC, but was destroyed by fire in 64 AD
• Amphitheater of Caligula in 41 AD
• Amphitheater of Nero in 57 AD
• Flavian Amphitheater in 80 AD

Question 8

Flavian Amphitheater (dates and seating)

Answer 8

• Started by Vespasian and finished by his son Titus in 80 AD.
• Built to replace the Domus Aurea and give a public space to the people.
• It was the tallest building in Rome at the time and one of the largest amphitheaters.
• It when up about 4 stories and had rows of seatings at each level. These levels were hierarchical, with the front rows saved for the upper class and the seats all the way in the back were given to the lower class, so they’d have to walk through the “bathrooms” to get to their seats at the top.
• Each section had a name: podium, maenianum primum, maenianum scundum, maenianum secundum in legneis, etc.

Question 9

Hypogeum: Infrastructure

Answer 9

• Underground systems of tunnels under the stage.
• Where the gladiators and beasts were held before the games, and they allowed movement around the arena without having to walk on the actual stage.
• There would be slaves running everything here, and they would hoist gladiators up from underground onto the top of the stage.

Question 10

Verso pollice

Answer 10

• “with a turned thumb”, give the Roman audience a chance to participate.
• It also put Roman values on display.
• Before the winning gladiator gave the death blow, a referee of sorts would look to the audience for either a closed fist or a thumbs up.
• If they had a closed fist, this meant that they wanted the gladiator to show missio and let the dying gladiator live. If they had a thumb extended, this meant that the gladiator should show no mercy and deal the final death blow.

Question 11

Ubiquitous celebrity (Gladiators)

Answer 11

• They were celebrated members of society and were looked to as part of the culture, displayed in the households on oil lamps and paintings.
• They were considered celebrities in Roman society.

Question 12

Pride and Infamia

Answer 12

• Although they were seen as celebrities, they were still on the same status of infamia, like prostitutes and actors.
• They didn’t receive large salaries and were not kept in luxurious conditions. (still captured slaves of Rome)
• However, they had pride as gladiators, as mentioned on their epitaphs and graves.

Question 13

Princeps as Gladiator

Answer 13

• The gladiators were so popular in Roman society that magistrates and leaders wanted to take part in the action.
• An example of this was Commodus (180-192 AD), who strived to be like the gladiators.
• He would come to the events dressed as the gods and took part in everything. He strived to participate and put on a show for the audiences as a gladiator himself.

Question 14

Religio

Answer 14

• Religio in Latin means to bind or to go back over.
• It was cultivating the correct form of social relations with the gods.
• It also included the idea of right practice and was a community religion where every action of every person had a religious aspect and there was no individual salvation.
• Orthopraxy

Question 15

Numa Pompilius

Answer 15

• The 2nd king of Rome started ruling at around 700 BC.
• He was a smart and religious man who invented the Roman calendar and other things, chosen as king among the sabines.
• Gate of Janus, formulation of the religious calendar as well as Rome’s other early religious institutions. vestal virgins, cults of Mars and Jupiter.

Question 16

Priests (Flamin Dialis, Pontifex Maximus, Vestals)

Answer 16

• Flamines were the priests of major gods and the Flamin Dialis. They wore interesting-looking hats with an apex at the top. They were often selected by the Pontifex Maximus and had a lot of restrictions enforced on them, including not leaving the city, not riding horses, etc.
• The pontifex maximus was the highest priest (equivalent to our pope) that govered official governmentally sanctioned religious practices. He managed the calendar, oversaw the proper procedure of sacrificial rituals, stated the rules for sacrifice, when it happened, and where, he made sure rituals were observed, he approved the making of new temples and shrines, he approved introduced foreign cults, he consulted the gods through augury to determine prodigies and managed the performance of augury.
• The Vestal Virgins were a female class of priestesses. They tended to the Palladium, which was the Sacred Fire. They also prepared the Mola Salsa that was part of every sacrifice. They were selected at the ages of 6-10 and were only allowed to come from a patrician family that married into a special religious family. They would have 10 years of training, 10 years of active duty, and 10 years of training others. They had to be of good heath and they could stop punishments if they wanted to. They also had fasces carried in front of them in public.

Question 17

Orthopraxy versus Orthodoxy

Answer 17

• right practice vs. not right belief.
• Roman religio was all about the practice of worship and did not have any specifics on the beliefs behind religion.
• There was no initiation, no moral code, no one revelatory text, and no single authority that ruled over the religion.

Question 18

Divination: Augury/Auspication

Answer 18

• Getting signs from the gods in approval or disapproval for things.
• Birds of flight, chickens, thunder and lightning, and in wild beasts.
• Before every state or military act, the leaders would perform augury to make sure the gods approved of what they were going to do, and if they didn’t approve, the action could not be done.

Question 19

Sacrifice (Do ut des, sacrum facere)

Answer 19

• Idea of making things “sacred” or the property of the gods.
• Sacrum facere means to make something sacred. It was a simple legalistic transaction that was made between the mortals and gods.
• It was the idea of do ut des, which means “I give you that you give”. It was an exchange with the gods.
• Chose the victim, which is usually an animal, and this consisted of probatio victi, which is the testing of the victim to make sure they are whole.
• Dressed up in a dorsuale, which is a belt on their back.
• Professionals were hired for public sacrifices, and they included a popa, who killed the animal. The tripod was there to burn out parts of the animal. the next part of was immolatio, where the mola salsa was sprinkled in the victim’s back and wine was poured on their head. A knife would be passed over their back and then their necks lifted and then forced down. The popa clubs the animal and the cultarius slits its throat. Then they must examine the exta, to make sure the entrails of the animal looks good, otherwise they’d have to do the whole ritual over again. The meaty parts of the animal were then eaten and the less useful parts were burned up.

Question 20

Lares (Household)

Answer 20

• Lares were the deities of the place.
• They were spiritually everywhere in Rome and were represented by monuments and depicted in every aristocratic house. They were said to inhabit houses, streets, and even crossroads.
• The Compitalia is celebrated in January as a ludi in honor of the lars. They are usually depicted in pairs and there are altars that are dedicated to them in the back of the house. Their purpose was to protect the house, and are called the gods of the domus. Each family had a lar familias, which was specific to their family.