The sociology of ancient spectacle

This publication is part of the ERC project Locus Ludi 741520 (locusludi.ch). In classical antiquity, acrobats were one of the vectors of the circulation of playful objects and skills, such as juggling, tightrope walking, hooping, equilibrism and animal shows. Various fragmentary documents enable to grasp the contours of their proteiform identity and of their different activities. Designated by various terms (thaumatopoioi, thaumatourgoi, planoi, circulatores) often associated with distant lands (Egypt, India), or with the physical difference, like dwarfism, these artists participate in the cultural “kaleidoscope” of the Hellenistic and Roman times. The literary discourse contributes to the construction of an otherness that is strongly reflected in iconography, such as the Pompeii tightrope satyrs or the graffito from Aphrodisias.
Dans l’Antiquité classique, les saltimbanques ont constitué l’un des vecteurs de la circulation d’objets et de techniques ludiques, comme le jonglage, le funambulisme, les jeux d’adresse et d’équilibrisme avec un cerceau, une échelle et des animaux. Des documents très variés, mais fragmentaires, permettent de saisir les contours de leur identité protéiforme et de leurs diverses activités. Désignés par différents
termes (thaumatopoioi, thaumatourgoi, planoi, circulatores),
souvent associés à des contrées lointaines (Égypte, Inde), ou à la différence physique, comme le nanisme, les acrobates participent au «kaléidoscope » culturel de l’époque hellénistique et romaine. Le discours littéraire contribue à la construction d’une altérité qui trouve une expression particulièrement forte dans l’iconographie, comme le montrent les satyres funambules de Pompéi et un graffito d’Aphrodisias.

In this study we aim to analyse the presence of mime actors in the
various branches of the Roman armed forces and the cohortes vigilum, using seven epigraphs that prove the presence of popular theatre in the military. These epigraphs provide us with evidence of significant worth about the staging of shows in this context and the organisation of mime companies within the Roman army as well as the cast list, the language of these performances and their purpose. At the same time, the epigraphs also raise some questions that deserve to be examined. We will look through these epigraphs in an attempt to cast new light on some topics that have been discussed previously. The result of
this analysis contrasts with the usually negative opinion of classical authors on the subject, who tend to deny or present the relationship between soldiers and theatre as something both exceptional and harmful.

"This paper argues for a pre-theoretical and pro-theatrical understanding of theory. To begin, it considers the Greek tradition of theōria as practiced around the fifth century BCE in the period just before Plato appropriated the cultural practice of theōria as a model for philosophical inquiry. As will be shown, this proto-philosophical practice of theōria was profoundly theatrical, which is to say, spectacular and dramatic in social, situational, and symbolic ways. Such events of theōria involved diverse citizens participating as active witnesses in recurring festivals that had both intimate and far-reaching political, religious, and aesthetic significance. Reflecting on some present-day settings and occasions for practicing theory, this paper concludes with a disciplinary provocation: the re-engagement of theōria’s fundamental theatricality can reanimate the social, situational, and symbolic dimensions of architectural theory, without sacrificing either its relative independence or its capacity for heuristic wonder.
      Before theory was a thing, it was a practice. In ancient Greece theōria was a spatiotemporal practice thoroughly intertwined with socio-political experiences and endeavors. The cultural practice of theōria involved traveling to a foreign place, primarily for the sake of witnessing a spectacular festival and/or consulting an oracle, then returning home to share with others an account of events seen and understandings gained. All three stages of theōria – traveling, spectating, and returning with a report – were vitally important. Individuals would temporarily leave behind the familiarity of their local conditions, assumptions, and problems to immerse themselves in intensely social, synesthetic, and metaphysical encounters at a Panhellenic festival. They would then return home with the obligatory challenge of communicating the truth of what was witnessed to those who stayed behind...." — Lisa Landrum

Ces deux journées d'études organisées à l'Université Paris Diderot et à l'INHA Il s’agira au cours de ces deux journées d'études de réfléchir à la place et au rôle spécifique attribué aux « spectateurs » dans un certain nombre de manifestations du monde antique.
Si le théâtre, les jeux et concours du monde grec et du monde romain seront évidemment abordés lors de ces journées, nous souhaitons également réfléchir au mode de présence, aux réactions et au type d’attention du public dans les rituels religieux, les « spectacles de paroles » que constitue l’éloquence publique, les funérailles et les commémorations, les divers rituels qui jalonnent la vie politique en Grèce et à Rome.
Comment le « public » participe-t-il à ces événements ? Comment les spectateurs investissent-ils l’espace et contribuent-ils à le (re/)configurer (corps social/lieux urbains) ? quels sens sont plus spécifiquement sollicités dans ces expériences ? Ses réactions sont-elles spontanées/créées, libres/normées, individuelles ou collectives ? et de quelle façon ces réactions interagissent-elles avec le rituel ou l’événement en cours et comment, alors, discerner acteurs et spectateurs ? Enfin, ces différents « régimes d’attention » ou ces différents « modes de présence » permettent-ils de repenser la typologie des spectacles dans le monde gréco-romain ?
Le but de ces deux journées est de confronter le regard de spécialistes de différents domaines, des hellénistes et des romanistes, travaillant sur différents types de « spectacles », sur les textes et sur les images, pour produire une synthèse sur l’expérience propre aux spectateurs dans les mondes anciens.

Woher Sport und Wettbewerb stammen, wurde und wird nicht bloß innerhalb der Sportwissenschaften oft heftig diskutiert. Zu diesem Thema haben sich vor allem auch Vertreter der Ethologie publikumswirksam geäußert. 1 Es gehört zu den Verdiensten von Ingomar Weiler die Zuständigkeit auch der Alten Geschichte für dieses Thema nicht nur betont, sondern durch eigene Arbeit nachgewiesen zu haben. Dieser Anspruch lässt sich nicht einfach in die in den letzten Jahrzehnten selbstverständlich gewordenen Ausweitung der Geschichtswissenschaften im Sinn einer Alltagsgeschichte einreihen. Er wurde von Ingomar Weiler vielmehr deswegen erhoben, weil der Gegenstand der Frage ohne einen interdisziplinären Ansatz nicht befriedigend behandelt werden kann. Und er hat selbst ausgeführt, dass für einen solchen Ansatz kaum ein anderer Bereich der Geschichtswissenschaften bessere Voraussetzungen bietet als die weite Räume umfassende und lange Zeiten umspannende Alte Geschichte. Das wurde von Ingomar Weiler 1989 in der Studie " Langzeitperspektive zur Genese des Sports " präzise dargelegt. 2 Hier kommen Prähistorie, Ethnologie, Ethologie, die Sportwissenschaften, aber auch die Soziologie und selbstverständlich die Alte Geschichte zu Wort, und es wird die Notwendigkeit herausgearbeitet, dass die einzelnen Disziplinen die Ergebnisse der jeweils anderen in ihre eigene Argumentation einbauen müssten. Von dieser gut begründeten Forderung ausgehend, wird im vorliegenden Beitrag auf eine weitere wissenschaftliche Disziplin und Perspektive hingewiesen, die es erlauben könnte, die Relation der durch die verschiedenen Disziplinen eröffneten Erkenntnismöglichkeiten zueinander präziser festzulegen. Es soll so versucht werden, die Basis für eine möglichst klar nachvollziehbare Antwort auf die einleitend genannte Frage zu umschreiben. 3

ABSTRACT: From the moment that executions of Christians in Roman spectacles buildings began to take place, the amphitheatre, as being the generic of such public buildings, becomes one of the paradigmatic settings of Christian identity. This would help to explain the emergence —after the Peace of the Church— of Christian buildings involving a worship of martyrial nature in the arenas of abandoned or unused entertainment buildings. The ludic substrate of certain martyrdoms allowed hagiographers to compose stories with an architectural background scenery full of symbolism that helped to emphasize the martyrial victory of the "athletes of Christ", thus contributing largely to explain this further relationship between Christian building and playful architecture occurred from the late fourth century and early fifth century and detected in the late antique and early medieval topography of some Roman cities. However, this issue has gone relatively unnoticed for Archaeology, and when the two key elements —roman spectacle building and church— appear, with few exceptions, they are considered separately in case of being subjected to some kind of study.

RESUMEN: A partir de las ejecuciones de cristianos en edificios de espectáculos romanos, el anfiteatro, como genérico de este tipo de edificios públicos, se convierte en uno de los escenarios paradigmáticos de la identidad cristiana, lo que ayudaría a explicar la aparición, en momentos posteriores a la Paz de la Iglesia, de edificios de culto cristiano de carácter martirial en las arenas de los edificios de espectáculos abandonados o en desuso. El sustrato lúdico de determinados martirios permitió a los hagiógrafos componer relatos con escenarios arquitectónicos de fondo cargados de simbolismo que ayudaron a enfatizar la victoria martirial de los “atletas de Cristo”, lo que contribuiría, en gran medida, a explicar esta ulterior relación entre edilicia cristiana y arquitectura lúdica acaecida a partir de finales del siglo IV e inicios del V y detectada en la topografía tardoantigua y altomedieval de algunas ciudades romanas. Sin embargo, tal asunto pasa relativamente desapercibido a los ojos de la Arqueología, pues cuando aparecen los dos elementos clave —edificio de espectáculos e iglesia—, salvo contadas excepciones, se consideran por separado en caso de ser objeto de algún tipo de estudio.

[This article was published 17 years ago in 1998, in the online journal Screening the Past: http://www.screeningthepast.com/2014/12/composing-the-past-music-and-the-sense-of-history-in-hollywood-spectacles-of-the-1950s-and-early-1960s/ ]

The sound of history has long been a neglected area in the study of historical film. This is somewhat surprising when we think about the fact that historical films have always made auditive comments on the past, not only on how people spoke in the ancient times but also how the bygone period sounded, what kind of auditive elements did that particular historical era have: in ancient spectacle we hear noisy marketplaces of Jerusalem, roaring masses of Roman circuses, echoing catacombes of Rome. Films have not only given an illusion of seeing but also of hearing the past.

This article emphasizes three specific questions. The first one is: How did composers themselves conceive the problem of historicity, the difference between ancient music and our modern perspective. Historical narration, no matter written or audiovisual, is always a dialogue between historical horizons, past and present. How was this dealt with in the case of film music? This problem is illuminated by analyzing Miklós Rózsa’s methods of composing. The next question is: How did film music encompass the interplay of historicity and universality, especially in the case of Biblical films that wanted to stress their ever-relevant message. Third question is: Did music have any real commentative role in these filmic historical narratives or did it only have a supporting function? To this end, Dimitri Tiomkin’s score for The Fall of the Roman Empire will be examined to consider whether music can make a serious contribution to the historical interpretation within a film.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the development of entertainment buildings in Ancient Rome, especially in the transitional period from the Late Republic to the Empire. The key question was how and when permanent Entertainment venues emerged, and how they were used as propaganda. Answers to this questions are based on the investigation of literary (primary and secondary), epigraphic and archaeological sources. It turned out that the organisation of entertainment in Rome always contained propagandistic messages. In the Roman Republic, the aristocracy used the organisation of entertainment, as well as providing housing for the spectacles, as political self-advertisement tool to acquire status, influence and prestige. There is evidence for at least three attempts of Roman magistrates that wanted to build permanent theatres in Rome during the second century BC. However, the Senate was able to block these attempts. While the Roman empire grew, and several cities including colonies built permanent theatres, Rome had none until the late first century. When the political and social conditions in Rome changed in the Late Republic, the aspects of propaganda within entertainment changed too. Permanent entertainment venues in Rome were the logical result of a gradual evolution of using entertainment as propaganda. Merely in the Late Republic this gradual evolution was accelerated. Strong magnates as Pompey Magnus and Julius Caesar were able to went a step further in the entertainment propaganda and the amount of permanent entertainment in Rome grew intense. Eventually Augustus and the emperors after him used permanent entertainment buildings as mass-communication tools to convey political, cultural and ideological messages and legitimize their power.