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Roman Games, Chariot Races & Spectacle

If there was one thing the Roman people loved it was spectacle and the opportunity of escapism offered by weird and wonderful public shows which assaulted the senses and ratcheted up the emotions. Roman rulers knew this well and so to increase their popularity and prestige with the people they put on lavish and spectacular shows in purpose-built venues across the empire. Such famous venues as the Colosseum and Circus Maximus of Rome would host events involving magnificent processions, exotic animals, gladiator battles, chariot races, executions and even mock naval battles.

Venues

It is significant that most of the best-preserved buildings from the Roman period are those which were dedicated to entertainment. Amphitheatres and circuses were built across the empire and even army camps had their own arena. The largest amphitheatre was the Colosseum with a capacity of at least 50,000 (likely more, if one factors in the smaller bodies and different sense of personal space compared to modern standards) whilst the Circus Maximus could hold a massive 250,000 spectators according to Pliny the Elder. With so many events on such a large scale, spectacles became a huge source of employment, from horse trainers to animal trappers, musicians to sand rakers.

From the end of the republic seats in the theatre, arena and circus were divided by class. Augustus established further rules so that slaves and free persons, children and adults, rich and poor, soldiers and civilians, single and married men were all seated separately, as were men from women. Naturally, the front row and more comfortable seats were reserved for the local senatorial class. Tickets were probably free to most forms of spectacle as organisers, whether city magistrates given the responsibility of providing public civic events, super-rich citizens or the emperors who would later monopolise control of spectacles, were all keen to display their generosity rather than use the events as a source of revenue.

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Mythological Re-Enactments in Ancient Roman Spectacle

To this day the ancient Romans remain infamous for their dramatic use of spectacle and other forms of entertainment. A lesser known variation of Roman spectacle is the mythological re-enactments that took place during the ludi meridiani (midday spectacle). These performances were not only re-enactments for entertainment's sake, but were also a very real form of execution. The unfortunate souls forced to re-enact the myths were primarily condemned criminals who had committed a capital offense, but they may also have been prisoners of war. Within the Roman world it was only the humiliores (people of lower status) and non-citizens who were condemned to die in such a way, as public executions were often performed in a manner that was considered degrading and humiliating. Kathleen M. Coleman suggests that non-citizens, along with lowly criminals, were entitled to the most degrading of penalties as a result of their lack of status within society. It was the intent of the individual responsible for condemning the criminals/prisoners to separate the condemned from society, both physically and emotionally, in order to prevent sympathy among the spectators. By humiliating the condemned, the spectators would experience a sort of shared moral superiority over the individual that had been sentenced to die.

Although it is difficult to determine the true motives behind the executions, it is probable that the emperor would hold such games as the ludi meridiani in order to control the population and allow the re-enactments to serve as an example of what may happen to the public if they, too, broke the law. Whether or not this was the case, and whether or not this was effective, remains unclear. It is clear, however, that such spectacles served a political purpose, and the inclusion of myth is no coincidence. As ancient Greek and Roman history was measured in terms of myths, myths were, in turn, incorporated into many aspects of daily life and spectacle within the ancient world, serving political, social, and religious purposes alike.

Primary sources of such events include Martial, a 1st century CE poet, and Clement of Alexandria, a 2nd-3rd century Christian theologian. Martial's work On the Spectacles describes the inaugural games of Titus in 80 CE and provides three accounts of mythological re-enactments. These include: Hercules, Orpheus, and Pasiphae.

HERCULES

It is likely that the Romans specifically chose the most popular myths and characters in order for the condemned to be readily identified, such as Hercules clad in a lion's skin clutching a club. The inevitable outcome of this re-enactment was crematio (cremation) as within the myth. The setting itself may differ from the myth, yet it is believed that the most common setting for the re-enactment of the Hercules myth would take place on the immolation pyre of Mount Ida. If not, then the re-enactment would simply include "Hercules" wearing the garment given to him by Deianira, which according to myth had been smeared with the centaur Nessus' blood. In reality, the tunic was doused in pitch in order to become more flammable. This tunic was given the name tunica molesta. In comparison to the original myth itself, this re-enactment is quite similar. The attributes of Hercules are generally the same, even the tunic given to him by Deianira. Most importantly, the outcome of the myth is still the same as well; "Hercules" dies by being burned alive one way or another.

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