roman sport: terms and origin games as entertainment ludus = game = play the latin word can refer to...
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Roman Sport: Terms and Origin
Games as Entertainment
ludus = game = play
The Latin word can refer to a religious celebration, especially one including an athletic event or a dramatic performance.
Ludi Capitolini (Capitoline Games)ludi scaenici (scenic or theatrical performance)
N.B.: The word can also refer to a school, especially one for gladiators (ludus gladiatorius). Also an elementary school.
Important Vocabularyaedile: public works magistrate in charge of gamesmunus: duty, especially responsibility to the dead; gladiatorial showvenatio: hunting; a wild beast show circus: chariot race trackamphitheatre: oval building for gladiatorial games, wild beast shows, etc.arena: the sand (harena) floor of the amphitheatre or the amphitheatre itself triumph: an official victory celebration for a generalgladiator: a sword (gladius) bearer; a fighter in the arena
The Site of Rome
Campus Martius
Sites Important for Sportsin Early Rome
ForumCapitoline Hill
Campus Martius (Field of Mars)Circus Maximus
Map of Rome
Roman Sport Vs. Greek Sport
•less systematic and regularized •no “Roman” Olympic games•less participatory•more spectator oriented•preference for chariot races and gladiatorial games
Occasions for Roman Games
Funerals: e.g., funeral games for Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, the conquerer of Greece (died 160 B.C.)
Military Victories: Games provided by M. Fulvius at Rome in 186 after the Aetolian war included first Greek style wrestling
Religious Festivals: Capitoline Games in honor of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva
Games for Political Advancement
Aediles (public works magistrates in charge of games) spent fortunes on games to get ahead politically in cursus honorum
e.g., Caesar’s games in Suetonius, 39
Etruscan Influence
• tradition of funeral games and gladiatorial contests
• palaestra scenes in tombs
Tomb of the Augurs530-480 B.C
An Etruscan Funeral Contest?
An Etruscan actor/pantomime/priest
English: persona
Phersu
Roman Military Triumphs
Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the conqueror of Greece
Games at Amphipolis after his victory in the Third Macedonian War
Livy 45.32.8-33.6
Roman Funeral Games
History: funeral games for Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the conqueror of Greece (died 160 B.C.)
Myth: Funeral Games for Anchises in Vergil’s Aeneid (19 B.C.)
Funeral Games for Anchises
Boat Race
Running
Boxing
Archery
Equestrian
Homer Iliad 23 Vergil Aeneid 5
1. two-horse chariot-race ship-race
2. boxing foot-race
3. wrestling boxing
4. foot-race archery
5. fight with weapons in armor
6. discus
7. archery
8. spear-throwing
Vergil and Homer
Boat Race
Cloanthus – ScyllaMnestheus – SharkGyas – ChimaeraSergestus – Centaur
Why does Gyas fail to win?
Why does Sergestus lose?
Why does Cloanthus defeat Mnestheus?
How is the death of an animal connected to this contest?
What are the prizes?
How does this contest prepare the Trojans for war?
Questions about the Boat Race
RunningEuryalusHelymusDioresSaliusNisus
Questions about the Foot RaceWhy does Nisus lose?
Why does Salius lose?
Why does NISUS love EURYALUS?
How is the death of an animal connected to this contest?
How does this contest prepare the Trojans for war?
Compare the controversy over prizes after this race to the controversy after the Homeric chariot race. Aeneas generously awards prizes to Salius, cheated by a foul (cf. Agamemnon), and to Nisus, defeated by fortune (cf. Eumelos).
Boxing
Dares vs. EntellusYouth vs. Age
Questions about the Boxing Match
Why is no one eager to fight the Trojan Dares?
Why does the old Sicilian ENTELLUS finally face Dares?
ERYX, the local hero/god, once a prodigious boxer, had been killed in a bout with Hercules, also known as Alcides (5.519ff.). Describe the "boxing gloves" of Eryx.
How is the death of an animal connected to this contest?
How does this contest prepare the Trojans for war?
FORWARD TO “A BOXING MATCH”
paraphrased by Garrett W. TheissenThis translation was made to supplement an adult-class Church
School study on Paul’s first Corinthian letter. Therein Paul speaks of himself under the figure of a fighter who does not "beat the air." Paul seems to have been a spectator at some of the Greek and Roman athletic and gladiatorial events of his day.The cestus, or weighted boxing glove, was already a thing of remote antiquity in Paul’s day. In contrast to the modern padded boxing glove, it increased the lethal tendency of the sport. This often made the referee’s decision simpler and fairer: the contestant who remained alive had won!The practice of celebrating funerals with games, often sanguinary, was also an ancient pre-Roman practice. The Dares-Entellus match was staged in Sicily by Aeneas to honor his father Anchises, buried there earlier. It was one event among many.
See http://department.monm.edu/history/faculty_forum/Theissen_a_boxing_match.htm
Archery
HippocoonMnestheusEurytionAcestes
Questions about the Archery MatchArchery is the seventh Homeric contest, with two contestants. After drawing the first lot, Teukros missed the pigeon but hit the string, releasing the bird (cf. Mnestheus, Vergil's second archer). Meriones then quickly shot an arrow and pierced the flying bird (cf. Eurytion, Vergil's third archer). Homer explicitly tells us that the archer god Apollo prevented Teukros from hitting the mark because he neglected to pray, while Meriones was rewarded for praying (cf. Eurytion,
who prays to his brother's shade before shooting). Up to this point, Vergil's contest in archery is similar to Homer's. What prodigious event in Vergil brings a startling end to the competition?
How is the death of an animal connected to this contest?
How does this contest prepare the Trojans for war?
Ludi Troiani (Trojan Games)
Roman Ludi
Ludi Troiani Ludi Romani (6th cent. B.C.)Ludi Capitolani (390’s B.C.)Ludi Apollinaris (212 B.C.)Ludi Megalenses (204 B.C.)Ludi Taurii (before 186 B.C.)Ludi Saecularis (17 B.C.)
Ludi Capitolani
Ludi Meglaensi
in honor of Cybele (April 4)
Lambert Lombard(1506 – 1566)
Claudia Quinta