The Colosseum (23 page)

The story of the Golden House and the end of Nero’s reign are covered in two good biographies of Nero: M. Griffin,
Nero: the end of a dynasty
(London, 1984), and E. Champlin,
Nero
(Cambridge, MA, & London, 2003). The
main Roman account of the rise of Vespasian is in Tacitus’
Histories
(covering a later period than his
Annals
); the Talmudic story of the flea is in Masechet Gittin (56b–57a). The triumphal procession of Vespasian and Titus is described in Book 7 of Josephus’
Jewish War
and is the subject of M. Beard, ‘The Triumph of Flavius Josephus’, in A. J. Boyle and W. J. Dominik (eds.),
Flavian Rome: culture, image, text
(Leiden & Boston, 2003). The Colossus is discussed in S. Carey,
Pliny’s Catalogue of Culture: art and empire in the Natural History
(Oxford, 2003). The squib about Veii is reported in Suetonius’
Life of Nero
. The full technical study of the dedicatory inscription is in German by G. Alföldy, in
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
, 109 (1995). The ‘Bede’ quotation is from a miscellany known as the
Collectanea
, edited and translated by M. Bayless, M. Lapidge et al. (Dublin, 1988); attributed to him in the sixteenth century, it is almost certainly nothing to do with Bede at all – though it is nevertheless probably of early medieval date.

The pre-Colosseum history of the amphitheatre is now expertly explored by K. Welch in
The Roman Amphitheatre
. Caligula’s disdain for the monument of the aristocrat (one Statilius Taurus) is reported in Book 59 of Dio’s
History
. The amazed rustics are a creation of the poet Calpurnius Siculus, whose Eclogues are translated in
Minor Latin Poets
(Loeb Classical Library); Eclogue 7 spotlights the amphitheatre. The political analysis presented in this chapter draws on the discussion in Hopkins,
Death and Renewal
(
Chapters 2
and
3
). Other, differently nuanced, accounts of the political shifts in Rome over this period include J. R. Patterson,
Political Life in the City of Rome
(London, 2000), a very useful review, primarily intended for students, and T. P. Wiseman,
Roman
Political Life 90 BC–AD 69
(Exeter, 1985). Those shifts are also the theme of R. Syme’s classic,
The Roman Revolution
(Oxford, 1939), written in the shadow of the European dictatorships of the 1930s. Ancient Chinese reactions to Rome are collected in F. Hirth,
China and the Roman Orient: researches into their ancient and medieval relations as represented in old Chinese records
(Leipzig, 1885).

CHAPTERS
3
AND
4

The varied displays in the arena (including several of the acts lauded by Martial) are the subject of influential essays by K. Coleman, ‘Fatal Charades: Roman executions staged as mythological enactments’,
Journal of Roman Studies
, 80 (1990) and ‘Launching into History: aquatic displays in the early empire’,
Journal of Roman Studies
, 83 (1993). The translation we have used of the Laureolus/Prometheus verse is by F. Ahl, from another collection of translations of Martial,
Epigrams of Martial, Englished by divers hands
(Berkeley & London, 1987) (eds. J. P. Sullivan and P. Whigham). Tertullian’s main attack on such displays is to be found in his
De Spectaculis (On the Shows
).

Most discussions of ‘what happened’ at gladiatorial shows rely on a few key texts in addition to Martial: notably, Seneca’s
Letter
7, describing the lunchtime executions; the
Passion of SS Perpetua and Felicity
(not available in either Loeb or Penguin translations, but there are several English versions – for example in H. Musurillo (ed.),
The Acts of the Christian Martyrs: introduction, texts and translations
(Oxford, 1972), and R. Valantasis (ed.),
Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice
(Princeton, 2000)); and Dio’s descriptions of the emperor
Commodus’ antics in the arena in Book 73 of his
History
(on which, see
Chapter 4
of O. Hekster,
Commodus: an emperor at the crossroads
(Amsterdam, 2002)). Less often used is the rhetorical exercise on the gladiatorial theme – one of the Declamations once (wrongly) believed to have been written by the Roman oratorical theorist Quintilian, now translated in L. A. Sussman (ed.),
The Major Declamations Ascribed to Quintilian: a translation
(Frankfurt etc., 1987). But much of the ancient evidence for the activities in the arena is scattered, fragmentary, untranslated and hard to track down outside a major research library. Other literary texts we have referred to are: the
Letters
of Symmachus, esp. nos. 2, 46 and 10, 8 & 9 (translated into French in the Budé series); Olympiodorus (41.2, on Symmachus’ expenditure), translated in R. C. Blockley (ed.),
Fragmentary Classicizing Historians of the later Roman Empire
, Volume 2 (Liverpool, 1983); Seneca,
Letter
70 (on the suicide of the Germans); Plutarch’s essay
A Pleasant Life is Impossible following the precepts of Epicurus
(for his aside, Chapter 17, on the gladiators’ last meal); and, on the same subject, an aside in another tract of Tertullian, the
Apologeticus
(Chapter 42). The late-Roman figures for seating capacity are taken from the so-called
Regionary Catalogues (Notitia Urbis Romae
– for which there is no easily available English translation). Galen’s career with gladiators is discussed by J. Scarborough, ‘Galen and the Gladiators’, in
Episteme
, 5 (1971).

Our calculations of gladiatorial numbers and death rates, as well as our reconstruction of other aspects of the world of the arena, depend heavily on the evidence of inscriptions. Text and translation of the decree regulating expenditure under Marcus Aurelius can be found in J. H. Oliver and R. E.
A. Palmer, ‘Minutes of an Act of the Roman Senate’,
Hesperia
, 24 (1955) with further discussion by M. Carter in
Phoenix
, 57 (2003). Gladiatorial graffiti from Pompeii is conveniently collected in L. Jacobelli,
Gladiators at Pompeii
(Rome, 2003). The calendar of Trajan’s celebrations is published (untranslated) in A. Degrassi,
Inscriptiones Italiae
13, 1 (Rome, 1947); Glauco can be found in the vast multi-volume collection of Roman inscriptions, the
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
, Volume 5, 3466; and the Thracian in Volume 6, 10194. The best text of the seating arrangements of the Arvals in the arena is in J. Scheid,
Commentarii Fratrum Arvalium quae supersunt
(Rome, 1998), Document 48 (with French translation). The death of eleven gladiators out of eleven pairs is recorded in the
Corpus
, volume 10, 6012.

The idea of the gladiatorial spectacles as ‘political theatre’ is a major theme of Hopkins’ ‘Murderous Games’, in
Death and Renewal
. The simplicity of that model is effectively challenged by J. Edmondson, ‘Dynamic Arenas’, in W. J. Slater (ed.),
Roman Theater and Society: E. Togo Salmon papers
1 (Ann Arbor, 1996) – a notably acute study whose approach we have generally followed here. The ‘
infamia
’ of gladiators is explored by C. Edwards in ‘Unspeakable Professions’, in J. P. Hallett and M. B. Skinner (eds.),
Roman Sexualities
(Princeton, 1997). On Spartacus, see, B. Strauss,
The Spartacus War
, (London, 2009), T. Urbainczyk,
Spartacus
, (London, 2004); and more lyrically, P. Stothard,
On the Spartacus Road
, (London, 2010). The insult ‘gladiator’ is used more than once by Cicero of his enemy Mark Antony in his remarkable series of political invectives known as the
Philippics
; the ghastly possibility that a dead son might have ended up as a gladiator is raised by Seneca in his
Letter
99;
prohibitions on the elite becoming gladiators are discussed by B. Levick in ‘The Senatus Consultum from Larinum’,
Journal of Roman Studies
, 73 (1983). The bizarre custom involving the bride’s hair is mentioned in the Roman dictionary of Festus,
De Significatione Verborum
(ed. W. Lindsay), 55.

The sexuality and glamour of the gladiator is discussed (with emphasis on the power of ‘visuality’) by E. Gunderson in ‘The Ideology of the Arena’,
Classical Antiquity
, 15 (1996), as well as in Edwards’ ‘Unspeakable Professions’ (whence the phrase ‘all sword’) and in Barton’s
Sorrows of the Ancient Romans
(the source of our quotation about the
tintinnabulum
from Herculaneum). One famous nineteenth-century version of the arena’s high charge is expertly dissected by E. Prettejohn in ‘“The Monstrous Diversion of a Show of Gladiators”: Simeon Solomon’s
Habet!
’ in Edwards (ed.),
Roman Presences
. The classic passage of Juvenal is from his sixth
Satire
(here translated by Peter Green); the lurid story of Faustina and the gladiator is told in the SHA biography of Marcus Antoninus (i.e. Aurelius); the pick-up of Sulla is described in Plutarch’s
Life of Sulla
. Appropriate cold water is poured on the story of the rich lady in the gladiators’ barracks by P. G. Guzzo (ed.),
Stories from an Eruption: Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis
(Milan, 2003).

All aspects of procuring animals for the Colosseum will be discussed by R. Wilson in
Animals for the Arena: the Roman wild beast trade
(Cambridge, forthcoming), the role of the military is discussed by C. Epplett, ‘The Capture of Animals by the Roman military’ in
Greece and Rome
, 48 (2001). The idea of the star rhinoceros is floated in Ville,
La gladiature
,
p. 149
. Pompey’s unfortunate experience with
his elephants is recounted in Book 7 of Pliny’s
Natural History
. The story of the London hippo Obaysch is told by N. J. Root, ‘Victorian England’s Hippomania’,
Natural History
, 102 (1993). The letter of Ignatius to the Romans is translated in Volume 1 of the Loeb translation of
The Apostolic Fathers
. The phenomenon of martyrdom and ‘Martyr Acts’ has been widely discussed recently: for different approaches, see G. W. Bowersock,
Martyrdom and Rome
(Cambridge, 1995); D. Boyarin, ‘Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism’,
Journal of Early Christian Studies
, 6 (1998); and K. Hopkins,
A World Full of Gods
(London, 1999),
Chapter 3
.

The Greek historian speculating on the Etruscan origin of gladiators is Nicolaus of Damascus, who is quoted in Athenaeus’ extraordinary compendium
Deipnosophistae (Philosophers at Dinner
), Book 4, 153f–154a.

CHAPTER
5

The effects of the fire in 217 are discussed by L. Lancaster, ‘Reconstructing the Colosseum’s Restorations after the Fire of 217’,
Journal of Roman Archaeology
, 11 (1998), with some salutary remarks on the general difficulties of dating individual parts of the structure. The drawings of the stucco are fully illustrated in N. Dacos, ‘Les stucs du Colisée’,
Latomus
, 21 (1962); the graffito that is supposed to show the balustrading around the arena is in Connolly,
Colosseum
,
p. 195
. The classic study of the safety arrangements is A. Scobie, ‘Spectator Security and Comfort at Gladiatorial Games’,
Nikephoros
, 1 (1988).

The nineteenth-century debates about the substructures of
the Colosseum and the question of naval battles are clearly explained by R. T. Ridley,
The Eagle and the Spade: archaeology in Rome during the Napoleonic era
(Cambridge, 1992), a full study of Roman archaeology during that period. There has been an enormous amount of recent work on the underground areas of the building, the drainage, foundations and the arrangements for the arena floor. The work of the German archaeologist H.-J. Beste has been crucial, though little of this is available in English. A flavour of his work can be found in his ‘The Construction and Phases of Development of the Wooden Arena Flooring of the Colosseum’,
Journal of Roman Archaeology
, 13 (2000); the same volume includes a review by R. Rea of recent archaeological work in and around the Colosseum (‘Studying the Valley of the Colosseum (1970–2000): achievements and prospects’). Other detailed studies include D. Mertens et al., ‘Il Colosseo. Lo studio degli “ipogei”’, and H.-J. Beste, ‘Neue Forschungsergebnisse zu einem Aufzugssystem im Untergeschoss des Kolosseums’,
Mitteilungen des deutschen archaelogischen Instituts (Römische Abteilung)
, 105 (1998) and 106 (1999).

The methods of amphitheatre design are analysed in minute detail by Wilson-Jones in ‘Designing Amphitheatres’ (and, more generally, in his
Principles of Roman Architecture
(New Haven & London, 2000)); building processes are discussed by R. Taylor in
Roman Builders: a study in architectural process
(Cambridge, 2003) –
chapter 4
is specifically concerned with the Colosseum. Other reflections are offered by L. Haselberger in ‘Architectural Likenesses: models and plans of architecture in classical antiquity’,
Journal of Roman Archaeology
, 10 (1997). The story of Hadrian and Apollodorus is told in Book 69 of Dio’s
History
.

CHAPTER
6

A dazzling variety of post-antique uses of, and responses to, the Colosseum are collected in M. di Macco,
Il Colosseo: funzione simbolica, storica, urbana
(Rome, 1971).
The Wonders of Rome
is translated by F. M. Nichols (second edn, New York, 1986) and Master Gregory’s
Wonders
by J. L. Osborne (Toronto, 1987).