Roman Sport Terms and Origin Games as Entertainment

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 Vocabulary aedile: public works magistrate in charge of games munus: duty, especially responsibility to the dead; gladiatorial show venatio: hunting; a wild beast show circus: chariot race track amphitheatre: 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 general gladiator: a sword (gladius) bearer; a fighter in the arena

The Site of Rome Campus Martius Sites Important for Sports in Early Rome Forum Capitoline 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 Augurs 530 -480 B. C

An Etruscan Funeral Contest?

Phersu An Etruscan actor/pantomime/priest English: persona

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

Vergil and 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

Boat Race Cloanthus – Scylla Mnestheus – Shark Gyas – Chimaera Sergestus – Centaur

Questions about the Boat Race 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?

Running Euryalus Helymus Diores Salius Nisus

Questions about the Foot Race Why 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. Entellus Youth 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. 519 ff. ). 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. Theissen This 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 Hippocoon Mnestheus Eurytion Acestes

Questions about the Archery Match Archery 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 Troiani th Ludi Romani (6 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)

Claudia Quinta Lambert Lombard (1506 – 1566)