Map 28.1 Key sites mentioned in this essay.
It is not an exaggeration to say that images of spectacle and sport occur in every surviving medium of Roman art: floor mosaics, wall and panel paintings, coins, carved gems, glass vessels, bronze statuettes, stone reliefs, free-standing statues, bone and ivory weapon handles, and terracotta vases, plaques, figurines, and lamps. The imagery of spectacle and sport was literally everywhere.
A case study approach is an attractive way of surveying this mass of material, but it has inherent limits. For example, Pompeii provides a rich array of evidence for the types, placement, and use of the art of spectacle and sport during the 160 years that it was a Roman city. Art of this type is ubiquitous in the city, appearing in a range of places, from the most open public areas, such as the forum, to the most restricted private spaces, such as the small dining rooms of houses. Yet even Pompeii has limitations. For example, excavations at the site have not as yet found any gladiator graves, which were commonly marked with stone reliefs that showed the occupant in the arms and armor he used in the arena. Furthermore, because it was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, Pompeii lacks any of the second century and later material, notably sarcophagi, on which chariot-racing scenes are commonly found. In addition, Pompeii did not have its own site for chariot racing (a circus), so chariot-racing imagery is certainly underrepresented compared to communities with circuses. Thus, even the best-preserved Roman city does not provide a full range of material that can be analyzed.
We will, therefore, adopt an alternative approach by focusing on subject matter and context; this approach permits a fuller analysis of the use and social function of the art of spectacle and sport. In the Roman arts there are five main subject categories of spectacle and sport imagery: the three major events in the amphitheater (beast hunts, public executions, and gladiatorial combats), chariot races, and Greek sport. Each subject has its own iconography and conventions of representation, but some overall patterns are clear. The presumption of the action images is that of a snapshot of an event, overwhelmingly a specific rather than generic one. Even images that display a single individual carry an illusion of context or narrative and typically celebrate the games and their sponsor rather than the performer or athlete who is the subject of the image. This differs from Greek athletic imagery found in the Panhellenic sanctuaries, where statues of athletes commemorate their victories and personal achievement in games and contests. A Greek sanctuary such as Olympia became filled over time with what amounted to a museum of victorious athletes whereas Roman images of beast hunts, for example, more often act as reminders of the beneficence of the patron of a set of games.
It is essential to pay close attention to the context in which images of spectacle and sport appeared because this had a powerful influence on how they were seen and understood. Scenes of gladiatorial combat and public executions on the walls and floors of elite dining rooms certainly conveyed a different set of values and messages than reliefs on infant sarcophagi showing chariot races – the first example suggested elite beneficence, the second the notion of victory in death. We will, therefore, look at how imagery of spectacle and sport was displayed and functioned in five distinct contexts: sarcophagi, amphitheaters, baths, tombs, and houses.
The survey of subject matter and context undertaken here is not comprehensive because the brevity of this essay necessitates the omission of numerous details and nuances of the massive amount of relevant material. That said, what follows does touch on many of the primary features of the Roman art of spectacle and sport and the relevant interpretive issues.
Images of beast hunts (venationes) fall into two broad categories: those of animals facing each other in the arena and those of professional hunters (venatores) battling wild animals. In each case the images are notable for their precise portrayal of particular wild animals. The animals shown in Roman depictions of venationes match the literary and documentary accounts of those that were imported into the arena, sometimes at great expense and loss of life and over long distances (Jennison 1937; Toynbee 1973:17–22; see also Chapter 34 in this volume).
The animal versus animal scenes are generally organized into pairs of fighting animals as often was the case in the actual events. Standard images found repeatedly include a bull and bear chained together, as seen in the Zliten mosaic, which was created in the first century CE as part of the decoration of a Roman villa in what is now Libya (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000: fig. 83), and in the paintings on the amphitheater at Pompeii (Jacobelli 2003: fig. 50). (For the locations of key sites mentioned in this essay, see Map 28.1.) Another common pairing is a lion or other large cat pursuing or taking down a deer or other ruminant mammal. This also appears on the amphitheater at Pompeii (Jacobelli 2003: fig. 51) as well as on many well-preserved lamps (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000: fig. 82).
Map 28.1 Key sites mentioned in this essay.
The straightforward presentation of these scenes apparently recording actual hunts is contradicted by the Pompeian scene since Pompeii’s amphitheater was not designed for large cats, and extant announcements of games held in Pompeii do not mention any. (On the Pompeii amphitheater, its decoration, and the events held there, see Jacobelli 2003: 53–64 and the bibliography cited therein.) The amphitheater paintings from Pompeii, like many others, depict a landscape reminiscent of wilderness and are probably intended to evoke the setting in which these animals normally lived rather than to document any re-creation of that setting in the arena. The landscape echoes wall paintings showing idealized hunting grounds, as found in a number of domestic interiors at Pompeii including the House of Octavius Quartio.1 The images reflect the events in the arena in general, but are ultimately shaped more by the ideology behind venationes than their realities. The display of wild animals from the borders of the Roman Empire in exotic settings, both in the arena and in art, trumpeted Roman military and cultural power over nature.
Images of professional hunters battling wild animals are more common and more varied than those of paired wild animals. Venatores are shown fighting a wide range of dangerous animals including various big cats, bulls, bears, and boars. They are also depicted attacking animals famed for their speed, such as ostriches, deer, and wild asses. In many cases compositions of paired figures predominate. Images that feature groups of animal fighters against a number of animals often highlight the setting in which the encounter takes place; architectural elements, cages, weapons, or auxiliary figures show that the event is a staged set of games in the arena, not a hunt in the wilderness. Developed versions of this are seen on the Zliten mosaic; the Magerius mosaic (see Figure 42.1), which dates to the middle of the third century CE and comes from a private home in what is now Tunisia (Blanchard-Lemée, Ennaïfer, Slim, et al. 1996 (1995): 209–14 and fig. 162; Dunbabin 1978: 67–70 and figs. 52–3; Brown 1992: 198–200; Bomgardner 2009; Fagan 2011: 128–32); and a terracotta plaque of the first century CE from Pompeii (Jacobelli 2003: fig. 14).
Hunters are depicted wearing a variety of types of protective dress and equipment, and some scholars have linked that variety with chronological developments in animal hunting (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000: 70–2). This seems to be a false impression that springs from the paucity of sources. Venatores attacking animals of speed are fairly consistently armed with spears and little or no body armor, whereas those facing big cats are more heavily armed and equipped with body armor. The heaviest armed figures are those facing lions, the largest of all carnivores found in the arena.
As with the animal versus animal scenes, the killing of exotic animals by venatores operates as a metaphor for Roman control over nature. In addition, venationes supported a narrative of the extension of Roman power into contested areas, with exotic animals symbolizing the inhabitants of the areas of Roman expansion. Accordingly, Romans made concerted attempts to gather animals from the edges of Roman territory for display in Rome and in other urban centers.
Scenes of public executions are found almost as often and in many of the same images as those of animal hunting.2 (On Roman public executions, see Chapter 35.) By far the most common depictions of executions show damnatio ad bestias, which involved people being exposed to wild animals. Here again the Zliten mosaic features prominently; it shows a number of such scenes, with some individuals driven with whips to waiting animals, while others are tied to small carts and wheeled into the arena to be attacked by leopards (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000: fig. 83).
Damnatio ad bestias was among the most spectacular methods of execution and was particularly striking when visually represented. This was an important reason for the frequency with which it was depicted. It is not coincidental that public executions became gradually more theatrical during the first two centuries of Rome’s rule by emperors (Coleman 1990). The desire for novelty and unprecedented entertainment probably fueled this development and prisoners began to be executed through reenactments of Greek myths such as those of Actaeon, Marsyas, and Prometheus, a trend illustrated on the reliefs that decorated the amphitheater at Capua (Tuck 2007).
Another, equally important reason for the portrayal of public executions in art was that they highlighted the role of the patron of the games as supporter of Roman values, punishing those who transgressed against the Roman system. Patrons provided public, exemplary demonstrations of the enforcement of Roman power and the re-creation of social order through dispatching prisoners, either of war or the penal system. Images of staged executions provided reassurance that the Roman system worked and benefited those inside that system, which included the viewers of executions and of the art depicting them (Brown 1992: 194–7).
Gladiatorial combat was the most popular subject matter for images of spectacle and sport in ancient Rome. (On gladiatorial combats, see Chapters 25, 31, and 32.) The images are often very conventional representations of action in the arena (Coulston 2009). The most common composition is a pair of gladiators engaged in combat, as seen in a wall painting from the Tomb of Vestorius Priscus at Pompeii (Figure 28.1). The gladiators are almost universally armed and armored in ways that conform to the known categories of gladiators (see Chapter 25), giving these otherwise generic scenes a specificity that was probably important to the patron or audience. The images seem to represent one of three stages in gladiatorial combat: the initial clash with both combatants on their feet facing each other; an intermediate stage when one combatant is disarmed, on the ground, or facing possible defeat; or the conclusion of a bout with the defeated fighter subdued, wounded and surrendering, or dead.
Figure 28.1 Wall painting of gladiators from the Tomb of Vestorius Priscus at Pompeii, 76 CE. Source: Photograph by Steven Tuck. Used with permission.
The addition of names to these paired scenes is common and makes them representations of a particular bout, most often one held in the local arena. Captioning with names occurs in permanent works such as mosaics, reliefs, and paintings, but also in graffiti such as those found at Pompeii where, despite their casual nature, the conventions of more formal images still apply (Jacobelli 2003: fig. 43; Garraffoni and Funari 2009).
Almost as common as combat scenes are images of single gladiators standing as though preparing for or having just completed a match. These images seem to carry no narrative and provide our best evidence of the purely decorative use of gladiators in Roman art. With the exception of gravestones for gladiators, the standing individuals are not named and the images do not operate as souvenirs of famous gladiators or particular events. As generic images of gladiators they demonstrate the ubiquity of gladiatorial imagery in Roman art; even stripped of any context or apparent reference to real events, depictions of gladiators were immensely popular (Coulston 2009).
The second most popular subject matter for images of spectacle and sport in ancient Rome was chariot racing (Humphrey 1986: 176–254). (On chariot racing, see Chapter 33.) Circuses accommodated much larger numbers of spectators than amphitheaters and chariot racing had an immense number of ardent fans, so an expansive audience for the art of chariot racing was almost guaranteed. The relevant depictions fall into two major categories: what might be thought of as portraits (i.e., images of single charioteers or horses) and action scenes. Within these categories, however, there is a remarkable range of conventional imagery that demonstrates the allure of chariot racing for the Roman audience.
The individual images are generally victory portraits of a winning charioteer, horse, or team of horses. These occasionally have captions or names attached, but they often just convey the iconography of victory through a palm branch (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000: fig. 101, 103). The action scenes predominately illustrate the most dramatic moments in a chariot race: the victory ceremony; accidents; and, most commonly, teams negotiating a turn. Chariots rounding turning posts offered an excellent opportunity for depicting the architectural detail and decorative features of the circus, notably the spina (the central divider of the track), as well as a moment of intense competition and risk. Unlike any of the other spectacle or sport subjects in Roman art, circus imagery became a powerful metaphor for life (Koortbojian 1995: 127–42).
The iconography of athletic images in Roman art is similar to that of gladiatorial scenes but with additional cultural references to the Greek nature and origins of athletics (Newby 2005). The relevant depictions typically show either vignettes of athletic activity and competition or images of single athletes. The combat events of boxing, wrestling, and pankration are the sports most often represented, with the standard composition showing pairs of competitors actively contesting a bout. These are also the Greek sports most often presented as spectacular, as opposed to participatory, activities in the Roman world, indicating that their portrayal might evoke patronage, as did many gladiatorial displays. It seems likely that the imagery of pairs of boxers, wrestlers, or pankratiasts was intended for the consumption of those who watched such activities rather than those who participated in them.
The opposite might be the case for images of single athletes or of athletic groups exercising or standing in a gymnasium, as found on a large-scale mosaic from Ostia (see Figure 28.2). In these instances the imagery seems evocative and perhaps designed to reinforce or at least represent the ideal of behavior in a particular context, for example in the exercise area of a bath complex.3
Figure 28.2 Mosaic from the Porta Marina Baths in Ostia showing athletes, second century CE. Source: Photograph by Steven Tuck. Used with permission.
For the Romans, themes and meaning in sport imagery clearly derive from the combination of image and context. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is found in the category of child sarcophagi that depict chariot races. These are a product of the explosive growth of inhumation that began to dominate Roman burial practice in the second quarter of the second century CE.
One such sarcophagus (see Figure 28.3) provides a superb case study in the use and meaning of sport images, here with chariot racing as a metaphor for life and the denial of the power of death (D’Ambra 2007: 345). This sarcophagus has a relief with a representation of a chariot race in a circus. The setting is indicated by many detailed decorations from the spina, including columns, an obelisk, the turning posts, and lap markers (shaped like eggs). An accident, a common occurrence in races, is also shown. The depth and three-dimensional carving allow for the depiction of chariots on both sides of the track. The major variance from real racing is the use of Cupids or Erotes as charioteers, a common feature of chariot-racing scenes on children’s sarcophagi and presumably considered appropriate given the nature of the occupant (D’Ambra 2007: 340–5; Bell 2003).
Some of the scenes and motifs are apparently metaphors for life, even without an explicitly victorious charioteer (which is a frequent component of this type of relief, but which is missing here). Images on Roman sarcophagi such as Victory personified and chariot races are symbols of life and its successful conclusion. This may seem curious in cases of premature death, as in this child’s sarcophagus, but here the emphasis is on the quality of the life lived, the race run perhaps, rather than its quantity, and on the eternal display of that life by perpetually youthful figures. The same notion suffuses the epitaphs of children who are praised with qualities and virtues that may seem disproportionate to their young ages.
Figure 28.3 Front panel from a marble sarcophagus for a child showing chariot race with Erotes as charioteers, c.190–220 CE. Source: Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri (83.65): Silver anniversary gift of the UMC Development Fund Board and the Boone County Community Trust.
Complex uses of spectacle imagery appear in many other areas throughout the Roman world. In public spaces and buildings this art is clearly intended to evoke, reflect, and extend the use of space, the messages of the spectacles, and the notions of imperial and local political beneficence and social standing that were closely associated with spectacle. To someone walking across the city of Pompeii near the end of its existence the spectacle imagery would be obvious (Kellum 1999). Public spaces held large-scale imagery. The forum on occasion hosted large painted wooden plaques that portrayed participants in games sponsored by local political figures, reinforcing the connection between hosting games and political advancement.
Amphitheaters were particularly important sites for the display of images of spectacle and sport. Capua, Carthage, Pompeii, Puteoli, and Rome all have amphitheaters with informative, if incompletely preserved, decorations that include spectacle and sport imagery (Bomgardner 2000: 61–120). Even given the incomplete nature of the surviving decoration in these buildings, some notable patterns are clear. There is a heavy emphasis on beast hunts and prisoner executions as well as a minority of reliefs showing processions and magistrates in attendance at games. All of the facilities mentioned above had images, generally in relief, of events taking place in and around the arena that were components of a day’s games, with the notable exception of images of gladiatorial combat – the main event of arena spectacles. Gladiators are shown, sometimes singly and sometimes in groups, but not gladiatorial bouts or action scenes. Such scenes probably evoke the types of entertainment to be presented rather than records of specific games.
Capua provides many of the best examples of these types of imagery in its preserved interior relief sculpture (Tuck 2007). One relief (Figure 28.4) shows a reenactment of the Calydonian boar hunt taking place. Here the mythological figures are framed by a doorway that matches the architecture of the amphitheater itself, a feature out of place for the original myth and its normal iconography. The amphitheater at Capua was in fact decorated with many images of executions staged as Greek myths as well as scenes of presiding magistrates and of the procession (pompa) with which a day of games began.
Figure 28.4 Marble relief from the amphitheater at Capua showing reenactment of the Calydonian boar hunt, second centuryCE. Source: Photograph by Steven Tuck. Used with permission.
The best-preserved images of gladiators from any arena were the paintings from the podium wall at Pompeii’s amphitheater (Jacobelli 2003: fig. 49). Those paintings showed a pair of gladiators who were arming themselves with helmets, swords, and shields and who thus appear to be in the final stages of preparation just prior to combat.
The theme in these and similar decorative programs is one of reinforcement of Roman power. Those elements that threaten the Roman system, be they wild animals, criminals, or prisoners of war, are subdued and inevitably defeated in spectacular entertainments. Gladiatorial combats do not clearly and necessarily support this narrative and so their combats are not portrayed. A duel between gladiators and the defeat or victory of one or the other of the combatants would not convey any greater lessons about the superiority of the Roman system to the spectators than the mere presence of the images does.
Public bathing complexes were another important venue for the display of images of spectacle and sport. At Ostia the Bath of the Seven Sages has wall paintings of chariot racing, a very unusual motif for that setting. Far more common are images of athletes, who exercised, trained, and perhaps competed in these complexes (Newby 2005: 45–87). The so-called Samnite palaestra at Pompeii had an athletic statue, and mosaics are commonly found in second- and third-century CE facilities such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and the Maritime Baths and Baths of the Porta Marina at Ostia.
The large black and white floor mosaic from the Porta Marina bath (Figure 28.2) shows a full range of athletic figures (Newby 2005: 51–6). The centerpiece of the mosaic is a table with prizes for athletic competitions, including a decorated crown and a palm branch. To the right of the table is a herm with another palm branch and a hoop and short stick with a curved end, used to steer the hoop.4 In front of the table, from left to right, are a metal bowl on a high foot, a leather ball, a vessel with a handle (probably for oil), and a ring with three strigils (used to scrape oil and dirt off the skin after exercise). Below the table two boxers are depicted; the one to the left, raising both arms, has won. To the right of the boxers is a referee. To the right of the table is an athlete holding weights. Above the table are four athletes. The first is carrying a ring to which two strigils and a vessel holding oil are attached. The second one also carries a strigil. To the left are two wrestlers. Finally, to the left of the table is a discus thrower with his left arm raised, perhaps indicating victory. To his right is a trumpeter.
The variety of athletes and the emphasis on prizes and victors indicates competition as the major theme here, which is not to say that this mosaic, or many similar ones, necessarily represents athletic spectacle. It may be designed to evoke the use of this space for sport and recreation by everyday users of the bath. In this way it may operate in a way similar to arena decoration, which extends the use of the space in those buildings with thematic decoration recognizable to the spectators as representing appropriate activities. This differs from mosaics of famous athletes such as one showing two renowned athletes of the third century CE, Helix and Alexander. Versions of this mosaic have been found in a tavern at Pompeii and in a building on the Bay of Naples. In this case athletic imagery celebrates well-known individuals (Jones 1998) rather than suggesting that the spaces in question were intended for athletic training.
Tombs, private monuments displayed in the overtly public setting of cemeteries, were another important site for the display of imagery of spectacle and sport, and here again context proves to be critical in interpreting the social meaning of the imagery. Two well-preserved tombs for sponsors of games, the Tomb of C. Lusius Storax at Teate Marrucinorum (modern-day Chieti in Italy) and the Tomb of Vestorius Priscus at Pompeii, provide superb evidence of the use and meaning of spectacle images on tomb monuments.
Storax, who died c.40 CE, was buried in an expensive tomb with multiple registers of relief decoration portraying games that he put on in Teate (Clarke 2003: 145–52; Papini 2004: 138–46). The two most important elements are a long frieze of 10 pairs of gladiators (a standard number for a set of local games) in combat and above it a pediment containing a triangular relief with Storax seated in the stands presiding over the games. The two scenes are on separate registers but integrated by the gladiators, some of whom look up to Storax for his decision on whether they are to be granted missio at the conclusion of their bouts. (On missio, see Chapter 25.) Storax is seated in the center of the pediment and is the largest figure there. The theme of his glorification is sustained by the lower level magistrates who surround him and the attendants, including musicians, who fill out the corners of the pediment. Attention is further concentrated on Storax by imagery of the presentation of a petition, a common occurrence during games. The attention focused on Storax by both performers and spectators highlights his role as patron of the games and the political and social benefits of hosting a set of games for a small town magistrate and his family. It also demonstrates exactly the power of such representations in perpetuating such benefits. Here the literal petrification of the event indicates its status as the major defining image of Storax’s life.
The Tomb of Vestorius Priscus, who was buried outside the Vesuvian Gate at Pompeii in 75/6 CE, echoes the theme of personal aggrandizement found on the Tomb of Storax but with a more extensive set of painted images that contextualize the images of arena spectacle (Clarke 2003: 187–203; for a more detailed analysis see Mols and Moormann 1994). The images in the central panels on the inner surfaces of the enclosure walls of the tomb show a range of high status iconography designed to represent the identity of the deceased as an important man in Pompeii, an identity defined by his public service and connections.
There are six major panels, which feature the following depictions: (1) a large silver table service of the type found on display in the dining rooms of expensive homes, (2) a high status banquet or symposium, (3) a pair of gladiators (Figure 28.1), (4) Vestorius Priscus standing in the tablinum of his house (the room where he would receive dependents), (5) Priscus seated and surrounded by attentive listeners, and (6) a walled park (paradeisos) where wild animal hunts took place.
Three of these images are domestic and focus on Priscus’s role as a host, receiving dependents and welcoming guests, whereas the silver service establishes his pretensions to high status domestic display. The outdoor scenes of Priscus and an audience and the paradeisos are linked by the pair of gladiators. The gladiators probably represent one component of a set of games he hosted as aedile (a civic official) at Pompeii, most likely in the year he died. That panel shows the connections between local elites and the games that they sponsored, and demonstrates the close ties between their games and personal identity. Hosting games was as important for a Roman politician as hosting dinners and receiving clients. The use of spectacle imagery in the domestic sphere also reinforces its critical role in projecting personal values and identity.
Yet another significant site for the display of imagery of sport and spectacle was the private setting of the house. It is, however, important to bear in mind that, as is clear from his tomb, elites such Vestorius Priscus regularly received substantial numbers of visitors at their houses, which were thus more than purely private spaces. The expectation of visitors must in some cases at least have influenced choices of decorative program.
The House of the Tragic Poet at Pompeii provides insight into class distinctions in representations of spectacle and sport. Scenes from Greek mythology are standard for Roman houses of the second quarter of the first century CE at Pompeii, and the paintings that fill the central panels in the main entranceway (atrium) of the House of the Tragic Poet concentrate on the Trojan War. The dining room (triclinium) in the rear of the house, however, also has paintings of gladiators (Bergmann 1994; Pappalardo 2009: 178–89). This is the only excavated and recorded house at Pompeii with such spectacle images in the dining space. This is an especially notable instance because depicting gladiators in domestic interiors inspires mocking in a passage in Petronius’s Satyricon (30) in which the speaker denigrates just this sort of interior decoration in the home of a freedman in southern Italy, probably somewhere on the Bay of Naples, on which Pompeii was located.
When we look to parts of the Roman world other than Italy we find that gladiators and other arena spectacles commonly form a major component of domestic display in Roman Africa, as the famous Zliten mosaic exemplifies. The large Roman villa at Zliten, near the coast in the province of Africa Tripolitania in North Africa, has a mosaic floor dated to the late first century CE, making it among the earliest mosaics of Roman Africa (Aurigemma 1926: 13–201, fig. 77, pl. D; Brown 1992: 194–6; Dunbabin 1978: 17–18, 66, 109, figs. 46–9; Dunbabin 1999: 119–21; Parrish 1985). The floor is a large square, with each side being 3.53 meters in length. Its center consists of 16 alternating squares laid in rows of four. Small mosaic roundels of varieties of fish and shellfish within square frames alternate with high-quality square panels containing geometric patterns.
Along the outside is a figural border with scenes of events in a day of arena games, all on a white ground. Clearly identifiable are venationes featuring deer and ostriches, executions, and – unusually even for Roman Africa – many gladiators, along with the musicians and the arena attendants known from other arena images and literary accounts. The gladiators take up two sides of the border and are clearly the major performers of the day, with very precise representation of the types of gladiators, pairing of combatants, and circumstances of their refereed bouts.
The prisoners in the mosaic are being executed by damnatio ad bestias. Two are bound to stakes mounted on little carts pushed by attendants toward leopards, while another is driven by whip blows toward an attacking lion. The prisoners look remarkably similar in height, skin tone, and hairstyle to some of the individuals depicted as supervising their execution. They are figures from the region, generally thought to be Garamantes, people of the southern edge of Roman territory along the Sahara.
The details of specific events and pairings of gladiators lead to the conclusion that this mosaic illustrates a specific set of games, probably in the amphitheater of Lepcis Magna a short distance away from the villa, and almost certainly sponsored by the owner of the villa, who commissioned this mosaic as a record of his beneficence. In contrast to other provinces where they are very rare, many arena and spectacle mosaics are found in Roman Africa. Here the context is different from the spectacle images found on the tombs of local elites in Italy, but the meaning is the same. The owner of the villa hosted games and made the representation of that event the central decorative feature of his major reception room, probably a triclinium. His guests would all recognize the theme of beneficence, which reinforced his public position in the community.
Representations of spectacle and sport replicate the complex roles they played in the Roman world. The power of spectacle and sport is reflected in the use of arena images to aggrandize local elites, to create or reinforce social and political connections, and to demonstrate the power of Rome in defeating criminals, barbarians, and nature, whether displayed on tombs or the walls of taverns or houses. The imagery of chariot racing extends the reception of this entertainment and its typical imperial patronage while adapting to the metaphor of triumph after death, as seen on sarcophagi. These victorious images echo those of athletes and provide insights into Roman attitudes on achievement, victory, and social status.
NOTES
1 This edifice is sometimes also designated as the House of Loreius Tiburtinus. On this house and its decoration, see Clarke 1991: 193–207 and Guzzo and d’Ambrosio 1998: 95–9.
2 No images survive of staged mass sea battles (naumachiae) or of the aquatic shows sponsored by some emperors at Rome that featured trained animals (Coleman 1993). Perhaps these were impossible to illustrate effectively, or perhaps such images had no appreciable audience. The principals in naumachiae were all prisoners of war, so those who followed animal hunters and gladiators might not have been interested. Also, since emperors sponsored such shows, private patrons were unlikely to commission images of such scenes.
3 This differs from statues in Greek sanctuaries that evoke the prizes and celebrate the achievements of specific, named athletes as a component of religious festivals. Athletic imagery in the Roman world was often in a secondary context, having been plundered from Greek sites or copied from Greek originals, and selected to be appropriate for a space without historic or celebratory function (Bartman 1991).
4 Herms were statues, with stubs for arms, that were originally understood as depictions of Hermes, a patron deity of athletes. Over the course of time the basic sculptural form took on a broader range of uses and meanings. The pastime of hoop rolling remained popular until the advent of motor vehicles in the early twentieth century CE.
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GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
The biggest difficulty in studying representations of spectacle and sport is finding them. No corpus of all images exists, not even for any one of the sports. The most complete, for gladiators, is Teyssier’s 2009 book with its list of 1,535 images cross-indexed to artistic media. The catalog of the Gladiators and Caesars exhibition (Köhne, Ewigleben, and Jackson 2000) provides a range of images from each category of sport and spectacular entertainment along with important interpretive essays on gladiators, athletes, chariot racing, and the use and meaning of these images. Most sports are discussed in one or two interpretive articles that explore the material by subject. Bergmann 2008 collects and analyzes circus and chariot racing imagery while Newby 2005 does the same for Greek sport in the Roman world. Coulston 2009 argues that images of gladiators sometimes served erotic, comedic, or apotropaic purposes.
Pompeii is understandably prominent in studies. There are several good, concise works that offer an introduction to the site and its history; see, for instance, Guzzo and D’Ambrosio 1998 or Ling 2005. Jacobelli 2003 collects and analyzes the display of gladiator and arena imagery at Pompeii. Garraffoni and Funari 2009 concentrate on gladiatorial graffiti at Pompeii. Clarke 2003 likewise engages the material from Pompeii but with more analysis that contextualizes spectacle imagery within domestic, commercial, or tomb display. His work is limited to case studies of specific examples, largely at Pompeii, but it provides astute observations and conclusions.
For a well-illustrated study of the architecture, art, and history of the “Colosseum” or Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, see Gabucci 2001. Bomgardner 2000 publishes the evidence for decorative programs of some of the best-preserved and most important extant amphitheaters, with discussions of the rationale behind the images found. Tuck 2007 argues that the reliefs from the amphitheater at Capua represent mythological reenactments in the arena otherwise found only in literature (see Coleman 1990).
Scenes of spectacle and sport in mosaics from Roman North Africa have attracted a considerable amount of scholarly attention. See, for instance, Dunbabin 1978: 65–108 and Blanchard-Lemée, Ennaïfer, Slim, et al. 1996 (1995): 189–218.
Some articles use single sites or pieces to draw broader conclusions about spectacle imagery. For example, Bomgardner 2009 examines the Magerius mosaic and issues of depicted patronage, arena action, and crowd interaction. Other studies tackle a particular type or context of art; see, for example, the work of Bell 2003 and D’Ambra 2007 on spectacular iconography in funerary contexts.
The reading of the Roman art of spectacle and sport proposed here builds on a significant body of scholarship on the social history of Roman spectacle. See, in particular, Hopkins 1983: 1–30; Beacham 1999; Potter 2010; and Wiedemann 1992.