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