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96 Cards in this Set
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Those erstwhile players of horns, those perpetual friends Ofpublicarenas, noted through all the towns for their Roundedcheeks,now mount shows themselves, andkill Topleasewhen the mob demand it witha turned thumb (polliceverso) |
Juvenal, Satire 3 |
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“After lunch Commodus wouldfight as a gladiator. The form of contest that he practicedandthe armour thathe used were those of the secutores, as they were called: he held the shieldin his right hand and the wooden sword inhis left, and indeed took great pride in the fact that he was left-handed.His antagonistwould be some athlete or perchance a gladiator armed with astick; sometimesit was a man that he himself had challenged, sometimes one chosen by thepeople, for in this as well as in other matters he put himself on an equalfooting with the other gladiators,except for the fact that they enter the lists for a very small sum, whereasCommodus received a million sesterces from the gladiatorial fund each day.” |
Cassius Dio Munus of Emperor Commodus |
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“Leisure is a system of symbols which acts toestablish a feeling of freedom and pleasure byformulating a sense of choice and desire.” |
Toner definition of leisure |
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“As I frequently contemplate and call to mindthe times of old, those in general seem to me, brother Quintus, to have beensupremely happy, who, while they were distinguished with honours andthe glory of their actions in the best days of the republic, were enabled topursue such a course of life, that they could continue either in employmentwithout danger, or in leisurewith dignity. Tomyself, also, there was a time when I thought that a season forrelaxation, and for turning my thoughts again to the noble studies once pursuedby both of us, would be fairly allowable, and be conceded by almost every one;if the infinite labour offorensic business and the occupations of ambition should be brought to a stand,either by the completion of my course of honours (cursushonorum), or by the decline of age.” |
Cicero, Republic Otium cum dignitate |
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“For it is by a man’s pleasures – hispleasures indeed – that his sense of dignity, integrity and moderation can bestbe judged. For who is so dissolute that no trace of seriousness is to be foundin his pastimes? Our leisure(otium) givesus away.” |
Pliny - otium as a means of self-definition |
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“Itisessential for those who are looking after the state that the people be veryhappy and devoid of all concern and contemplation, having handed their leisureover to others (aliis permisso otio suo) whomust look after it and who must not make the mistake of having the people thinkthat their leaders are neglecting their comforts (commoda)’’ |
Cicero, Republic |
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“But if we ourselves who are kept by ourbusiness from public pleasure and are able to find many other pleasures in thework itself, if we nevertheless are delighted and attracted to games, why areyou amazed at the ignorant masses?’’ |
Cicero, Pro Munera (elite may criticize masses for enjoying spectacles, but they also enjoy them) |
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“Here I am, surrounded by all kinds of noise(my lodgings overlook a Bath).Conjure up in your imagination all the sounds that make one hate one's ears. Ihear the grunts of musclemen exercising and jerking those heavy weights around;they are working hard, or pretending to. I hear their sharp hissing when theyrelease their pent breath. If there happens to be a lazy fellow content with asimple massage I hear the slap of hand on shoulder; you can tell whether it's hitting a flat or a hollow. If a ball-player comes up and starts calling outhis score, I'm done for. Add to this the racket of a cocky bastard, a thiefcaught in the act, and a fellow who likes the sound of his own voice in thebath, plus those who plunge into the pool with a huge splash of water. Besidesthose who just have loud voices, imagine the skinny armpit-hair pluckerwhose cries are shrill so as to draw people's attention and never stop exceptwhen he's doing his job and making someone else shriek for him.” |
Seneca, Letter to Lucius |
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“The large halteres train the shoulders and hands of jumpers,and the circular ones train the fingers. The jumping weights should be taken up by those that practicelightand heavy formsoftraining, excepting in recreational exercise (taking a break). “ |
Philostratus, Gymnasticus |
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“Antiphanesdescribes the game thus: ‘He seized the ball and passed it with a laugh to one,while the other player he dodged; from one he pushed it out of the way, whilehe raised another player to his feet amid resounding shouts of ‘out of bounds’‘too far’ ‘right beside him’ ‘over his head’ ‘on the ground’ ‘up in the air’‘too short’ ‘pass it back in the crowd’” |
Harpastum, roman ball game |
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“Sparta, we are amazed at the rules ofyour wrestling schools, and particularly at the young women athletes: for yourgirls, there is no shame in working out, naked among the men wrestling…..TheRoman Woman, on the other hand, goes around in a huge crowd– you can’t getanywhere near her, can’t find out what she’s really like or find a way to talkto her. Rome, if you would adopt the rules of wrestling from Sparta, you wouldbe even dearer to me.” |
Propertius, Fantasy of spartan women |
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“Who doesn’t know about the purpleathlete’s cloaks, and the ladies’ wrestling ointment? Who hasn’t seen thewounds on the palus, which they’ve gouged with the rudis andbeaten with the shield?...What decency can a woman show wearing a helmet, whenshe leaves her own sex behind? She wants to be strong like a man, but does notwant to turn into a man: after all, we men have such little pleasure.” |
Juvenal, Satire 6 |
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“As long as Romans continued to farm,there were two benefits: bycultivation they made andkept theirlandsmost productive, while they themselves enjoyed a lustier health, and might dispense withthe towngymnasia of the Greeks.” |
Varro, on farming |
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“If you exercise, the body is worn away.If you do not exercise, it is overcome by rust.” |
Aulius Gellius - paradox of exercise |
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“Everyone speaks in favour ofthe healthiest body, as also of the most ‘well-conditioned’”…..“The‘wellconditioned’ is the healthiest arrangement, and the goal of all men.” |
Galen - best constitution of our bodies |
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“For it is silly, my dear Lucilius, andno way for an educated man to behave, to spend one’s time exercising thebiceps, broadening the neck and shoulders and developing the lungs. Even whenthe extra feeding has produced gratifying results and you’ve put on a lot ofmuscle, you’ll never match the strength of the weight of a prizedbull. Moreover, the more weight you put on, the more constricted and sluggishyour mind becomes. You ought therefore to reduce your body and give more playto your mind.” |
Seneca, Letter to Lucilius - brain vs brawn |
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“There are numerous disadvantages tobeing an athlete. There is first of all the laborious training, which exhaustsa man’s vitality and disqualifies him from concentration and serious study.Then there is the sheer size of a training meal, enough to deprive a mind ofits agility. There are the slave-coaches, dreadful men who behave like tyrants.… A perfect day for them is one in which they have had a really good sweat and,to make good the loss, take a good swig of liquor, which will sink the deeper ifthey have had nothing to eat. Drinking and sweating- this is the life to whichthose people are condemned.” |
Seneca, criticim of physical activity |
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You should pray for a healthy mind in ahealthy body. Askfor astout heart that has no fear of death, anddeemslength of days the least of Nature's gifts thatcanendure any kind of toil, that knows neither wrath nor desire and thinks thewoesand hard labors of Hercules better than thelovesand banquets and downy cushions of Sardanapalus. What I commend to you, you can give toyourself; Forassuredly,the only road to a life of peace is virtue (virtus). |
Juvenal, Satire 10 |
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“It was dedicated by Marcus Agrippa infront of his Baths. [The emperor] Tiberius, so muchadmired this statue [...] and removed the [X] tohis bedroom, substituting a copy. But the people of Rome were so indignantabout this that they staged a protest in the theater, shouting "Bring backthe [x]!"And so despite his passion for it, Tiberius was obliged to replace the originalstatue.” Question: who is the author of this quote and what is the [x] in this passage referring to |
Pliny the Elder, x is the Apoxyomenos of Lysippos |
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Where now the Sun's Colossus has its closerview of the starsAnd towering scaffolds loom above thestreet,The hated entrance halls of that wildking once gleamedAnd a single dwelling stood in all thecity.Where now the venerable mass of theAmphitheater risesHigh above Rome, the pond of Nero spread.Where now we gaze in wonder on the suddenBaths of Titus,A haughty estate deprived the people ofhomes.Where now the Claudian colonnade unfoldsits spreading shadeThe furthest part of the palace came toan end.Rome has been restored to Rome, Titus,with you as her defender,And pleasures grabbed by a tyrant returnto the people. |
Martial, On Spectacles 2 - praising baths of titus |
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" he now had but one eye and one hand, andthat those whom he had taught to take up arms for one another had now taken them up against oneanother".... “now inhabits a house,which he himself destroyed and acted as though the gods of his household didnot exist.” Author of quote, and who are they referring to |
Philostratus, Criticisng Caracalla after murder of Geta |
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“As soon as Greece ceased fighting, shestarted fooling,And when better times had come, lapsedinto error,One moment hot with enthusiasm forathletes,Then horses, mad for workers in ivory,marble, bronze:Mind and vision enraptured by paintedpanels,Crazy now for flute-players, now fortragic actors:Like a girl-child playing at her nurse’sfeet,Quickly leaving when sated what she’sloudly craved.” |
Horace, Epistles - distraction of greek culture |
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“The Romans used to be very suspicious ofanointing, and they believed that nothing has been responsible for the slaveryand softness of the Greeks as the gymnasia and palaestra, which give rise to agreat deal of leisure and idleness, mischief, and pederasty, and the ruin ofyoung men’s bodies by sleeping, strolling about, performing rhythmic exercises,and following strict diets. Influenced by these things, they have unconsciouslyleft behind their weapons and prefer to be called not good warriors andknights, but rather nimble and beautiful athletes.” |
Plutarch, Roman Questions - Roman attitudes towards greek athletics |
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“This was in the 175th Olympiad according tothe Greek calendar, but there were no Olympic games then except races in thestadium, since [x] had carried away the athletes and all the sights and showsto Rome to celebrate his victories in the Mithridatic and Italian wars, underthe pretext that the masses needed a breathing-spell and recreation after theirtoils.” |
Appian, Bellum Civile x = Sulla |
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“Nero was the first who instituted, inimitation of the Greeks, a trial of skill in the three several exercises ofmusic, wrestling, and horse-racing, to be performed at Rome every 5 years, andwhich he called the Neroneia.” |
Suetonius, Neruo |
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“As it was, the morality of their fathers,which had by degrees been forgotten, was utterly subverted by the introductionof a lax tone, so that all which could suffer or produce corruption was to beseen at Rome, and a degeneracy bred by foreign tastes was infecting the youthwho devoted themselves to athletic sports, to idle loungings and low intrigues,with the encouragement of the emperor and Senate, who not only granted licensetovice, but even applied a compulsion to drive Roman nobles into disgracingthemselves on the stage, under the pretense of being orators and poets. What remainedfor them but to strip themselves naked, put on the boxing-glove, and practicesuchbattles instead of the arms of legitimate warfare?” |
Tacticus, Annales on Nero's Ill Effects on Hellenistic Influence |
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Anybody want the cup as his prize?Because no Greek alive is going to beatme in boxing and lead away this mule.I’mthe best there is. Isn’t it enough I come up short in war? A man can’t be goodat everything.But let me tell you this, and it’s a sure thing: Anybody fights me,I’ll bust him wide open and crush hisbones.Better have his next of kin standing byTo carry him out when I’m through withhim. |
Iliad, Epeius |
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“The stipend appointed for the victorin theIselastic games ought not, I think, to commence till he makes his triumphantentry into his city. Nor are the prizes, at those combats which I thoughtproper to make Iselastic, to be extended backwards to those who were victorsbefore that alteration took place” |
Emperor Trajan to Pliny the Younger - stipends for the isoelastic games |
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“[x] showed some some sign of goodnessby acting with moderation andmildness to those who approached him. He also had more seriousinterests,including in his circle distinguished men of learning and devoting hisenthusiasm to wrestling school and athletic activitiesof free citizens.” |
Herodian on Geta |
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“[x] was always a manof grim and violent action who had absolutely nothing to do with theseactivities mentioned above and made himself out to be an enthusiast for asoldier’s life of war. A man of violent temper in all he did, he made hisfriends by threats and intimidation rather than persuasion and favour.” “But then straight away there began ageneral slaughter of [his brother's] household and friends and members of his palacestaff….Not a person survived who was even casually associated with [his brother].Athletes and charioteers and performers of all the arts and dancing– everythingthat [his brother] enjoyed watch or listening to- were destroyed.” |
Herodian on Caracalla |
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•“At Olympiaa wreath of wild olive, at the Isthmus one of pine, at Nemea of parsley, at Pytho someof the God's sacred apples, and at our Panathenaea oil pressed from the temple olives. Whatare you laughing at, Anacharsis? Arethe prizes too small?” |
Solon - the prizes and purpose of athletics |
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“My dear sir, it is not the things’ intrinsicvalue that we look at. They are the symbols of victory, labels of the winners;it is the reputation(doxa)attaching tothem that is worth any price to their holders; that is why the man whose quest forfame (eukleia)leads throughtoil(ponos) iscontent to take his kicks. No pain, no fame; he who covets fame must start with enduring hardship; when he hasdone that, he may begin to look for the pleasure and profit his labours areto bring.” |
Solon |
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“So you wish to conquer in the OlympicGames, my friend? And I, too... But first mark the conditions and theconsequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule,to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whetheryou like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine atyour will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate yourwrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severelythrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.” |
Epictetus, Stoic Philospher Inevitability of losing |
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Our view is not bounded by the contests, anddirected to their carrying off prizes there--of course only a small proportionof them ever reach that point; no; the indirect benefit that we secure fortheir city and themselves is of more importance. There is another contest inwhich all good citizens get prizes, and its wreaths are not of pine or wildolive or parsley, but of completehuman happiness (eudaimonia), includingindividual freedom and political independence, wealth and repute, enjoyment ofour ancient ritual, security of our dear ones, and all the choicest boons a manmight ask of Heaven. It is of these materials that the wreath I tell you of iswoven; and they are provided by that contest for which this training and thesetoils are the preparation. |
Solon |
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“Then, as they get on, we versify, for thebetter impressing their memories, the sayings of wise men, the deeds of oldtime, or moral tales. And as they hear of worship won and works that live insong, they yearn ever more, and are fired to emulation (mimesis), thatthey too may be sung and marvelled atby them that come after, and have their Hesiod and their Homer. |
Solon: Education for the sake of emultion |
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“The crucial difference between animalsand humans, is seen in the great variety of technaiwhich this latter animal (human) performs, and from the fact that the humanalone has the capacity for knowledge: hecan learn whichever technai he wishes.” |
Galen |
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“Thatman might be more feeble of body, butwhen the god bestows on him words, all delightas they see him. Surely he speaks, Andsoftly, with grace, and wins out among them. As hegoes through the town they think him a god.” |
Galen, Quote from Odyssey |
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“Ofevery evil in this land of Greece, Thereis none worse than the tribe of athletes. First,they are ignorant of how to live, unable,too – for how could such a man, attaina living to support his life, [who is] Theslave of his mouth, victim of his stomach? Yetill prepared for chance and poverty, trainedin bad habits from the first, such men arelost and helpless when they suffer change.” |
Eurpides |
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•“Nowthat athletes have never, even in a dream, enjoyed the goods of the soul isclear to everyone. To begin with, they are unaware that they have asoul, so far are they from understanding its rational nature. Because they arealways occupied in the business of amassing flesh and blood, their souls are asit were extinguished in a heap of mire, unable to contemplate anything clearly,mindless as beasts without reason.” |
Galen - athletics = anti-intellectual |
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Athletes overexert themselves, overfillthemselves with food, and completely ignore the great man’s advice(Hippocrates), just like drunken revellers. Hippocrates; prescription for thehealthy life was: “Labour,food, drink, sleep, sex– moderation in all” (Epidemics vi. 6.2). These peopledaily exceed the proper measure. |
Galen, athleticism is excessive |
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“Athletics is not the cultivation ofhealth, but of disease. And I think Hippocrates is of this opinion too, asshown by his statement: “The Athletic state is not natural; better the healthycondition.” ……. |
Galen - nothing healthy about athletics |
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“In terms of health of the body, then, itis clear that no other breed of men is as badly off as that of the athletes.One might, in fact surmise that athletes had been well named- from the word athlios– orthat this word for “miserable’ had derived from the word “athlete”- or perhapsthat both take their name from a common source, the term athliotês,misery.” |
Galen, Protrepticus |
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“Let us consider sophia thefollowing, namely philosophy, rhetoric, as well as an understanding of poetics,music, and geometry, and even astronomy, as long as it is withinreason. But sophia isalso the ordering of an army, and still also such things as all forms ofmedicine and painting and sculpture, including the forms of statues both as shapedstone andhollow iron. But concerning physical crafts, let technê begiven to them also, a technê by which some instrument (or) objectfulfills its purpose correctly. But still let sophia bereserved for those practices alone, which I have named. But concerning athletictraining (gymnastikê),let us consider it a sophia less than no other technê, inso far as it has been established in treatises for those wishing to practiceathletics.” |
Philostratus Gymnasticus |
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Doctors stop diseases by injections orplasters, but the Gymnastês will restrain such things through regimen andmassage.” |
Philostratus, gymnasticus |
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“For the old athletic training used to makeMilos and Hippostheneses, andPouludamases, andPromachoses and Glaukos sonof Demulos, andalso athletes before them, Peleus and Theseus and Herakles himself. And athletic trainingin the time of our fathers knew lesser men, but still amazing and worthy ofrecollection. But the training that has been established now has harmed theaffairs of athletes so much that many are burdened by those who take delight inathletics.” |
Philostratus, Gymnasticus - Embodying the greek past |
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“Letter to the Romans”: I am writing to all the Churches and Ienjoin all, that I am dying willingly…, ifonly you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allowme to be eaten by the beasts.. |
Ignatious of Antioch, example of Damnatio ad bestias |
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–“Theentire apparatus of the spectacles originates from idolatry.”–“Noone ever approaches a pleasure such as this without passion; no one experiencesthis passion without its damaging effects.” |
Tertulian, on spectacles |
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“Strength which is harmful or uselesswill never please you, and neither will body-building that goes beyond God’screation…And wrestling is the work of the devil: he was the first to strike atmen. He has the moves of a snake, he is tenacious at holding on, good attwisting and binding up, but fluid at slipping away.” |
Tertulian, on spectacles |
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“Lastly,whatever part of the material appeared valuable they scraped off and melted inthe fire to prove its worth, after which they secured and set apart whateverthey judged needful for their purpose, leaving to the superstitious worshipersthat which was altogether useless, as a memorial of their shame.” |
Eusebius, Life of Constantine |
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“Then the festival of the Olympics ceased,which it was customary to celebrate at the end of every fourth year.[P327A] It was instituted at the time when Manasses was king.. and continued until the reign ofTheodosius. …”“Likewise Theodosius overturned all the temples ofthe fictitious ‘gods’, which Constantine the Great ordered . Hedied at Milan aged 60 from illness, after reigning 16 years, leaving two sons.” |
Credenus, Byzantine basis for date of end of olympics |
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“If any images stand even now in thetemples and shrines, and if they have received, or do now receive, the worshipof the pagans anywhere, they shall be torn from their foundations, since we recognizethat this regulation has been very often decreed by repeated sanctions. Thebuildings themselves of the temples which are situated in cities or towns oroutside the towns shall be vindicated to public use. Altars shall be destroyedin all places, and all temples situated in Our landholdings shall betransferred to suitable uses. The proprietors shall be compelled to destroythem." |
Credenus |
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“Just as we have already abolishedprofane rites by a salutary law, so we donot allow the festal assemblies of citizens and the common pleasure of all tobe abolished.Hence we decree that, according toancient custom, amusements be furnished to the people, but without anysacrifice or any accursed superstition, and they shall be allowed to attendfestal banquets, whenever public desires so demand.” |
Credenus |
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“In the [palace] of Lausus was… the image of Athena of Lindos, ofemerald stone, four feet high….whichwasoriginally given by Sesostris,tyrant of Egypt, as a gift to Cleobulus, the tyrant of Lindos. And the Aphrodite of Cnidos,from white stone, nude, hand over the pudenda, the work of Praxiteles of Cnidos. And the Hera of Samos, the work of Lysippus and Bupalos of Chios. … And the ivory Zeus ofPhidias, which Pericles dedicated in the Olympic temple.” |
Credenus |
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“And the Olympics endured infirst place down from the judges of the Hebrews until Theodosius theYounger. For a fire having broken out in the temple of Olympia, theassembly of the Eliansabandoned it.” |
Scholia to Lucian basis for alternative end date of olympics |
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Must we but weep o'er days more blest? Mustwe but blush? – Our fathers bled. Earth! render back from out thybreast Aremnant of our Spartan dead! Of the three hundred grant butthree, Tomake a new Thermopylae. |
Lord Bryon, Isles of Greece example of Philhellenism |
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“Where are all your theaters and marble statues?Where areyour Olympic Games?” |
Panagiotis Soustos - poem = dialogue of the dead first call for revival of olympic games (1833) |
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“you have matched us ancients in braveryof battle. Now match the old times in education and culture.Bring back to your land the days ofMiltiades and Themistocles.Bring back the glorious days ofPericles..And let the only contests that you havebe those national games,theOlympics, to which theolivebranch once summoned the sons of Greece in ancient times.” |
Panagiotis Soustos - Ruins of Sparta second call for revival (1833) |
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•“Englandhas made its influence known on the two hemispheres through its industrialexpositions. Greece happens to have no power for that competition. But ifGreece would reestablish the Olympic Games…then the peoples of the world wouldrespect Greece.” |
Panagiotis Soustos - 3rd call for Olympics (1951) |
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“Spiridon Louis was a magnificent peasant dressedin the popular kilt and quite unfamiliar with the finer points of scientifictraining or in fact the modern notion of training at all. He prepared himselffor the event by fasting and prayer, and it was said, spent the night beforethe race praying by the light of candles in front of icons. His victory wasmagnificent in its brilliance and simplicity. ..I shall never forget the sceneand it left me convinced that psychic forces play a much more active role insport than is generally believed.” |
Pierre de Coubertan on Spyridon Louis victoy in marathon |
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“The Olympic Games which recently tookplace in Athens were modern in character, not only because of their programs,which substituted bicycle for chariot races and fencing for the brutalities ofpugilism, but because in their origin and regulations they were internationaland universal, and consequently adapted to the conditions in which athleticshave developed to the present day.” |
Pierre de Coubertin |
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•“Itwas Hellenism above all else, that advocated measure and proper proportion,co-creators of beauty, grace, and strength. We must return to these Greek concepts tooffset the appalling ugliness of the industrial age through which we have justlived.” |
Pierre de Coubertin –Hellenismrequired as an antidote to the ugliness of the industrial age. |
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“The primary, fundamental characteristicof ancient Olympism, andof modern Olympism aswell, is that it is a religion. Bychiseling his body through exercise as a sculptor does a statue, theancient athlete “honored the gods”. In doing likewise, the modern athletehonors his country, his race, and his flag. Therefore, I believe that I wasright to restore, from the very beginning of modern Olympism, areligious sentiment transformed and expanded by the internationalism anddemocracy that are distinguishing features of our day. Yet this is the samereligious sentiment that led the young Hellenes, eager for the victory of theirmuscles, to the foot of the altars of Zeus.” |
Pierre de Coubertin –ModernReligion of the Body: “By chiseling his body through exercise as asculptor does a statue, the ancient athlete “honored the gods”. In doinglikewise, the modern athlete honors his country, his race, and his flag.” |
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“My notion about the ancients— and remember,their wrestling is just as we have it in all results— is that they were not abit better men than there are now living, but that occasionally they found aman incomparably better than his fellows. The classical statues are allidealized— the complete dream of the artist who found in individuals someperfect parts, and shaped a form in which no ingenuity could pick a flaw. Ofcourse, that a Hercules or Venus may have been is not impossible: in beauty orstrength nothing is impossible, but we don't see such men or women everywhere.” |
Eugene Sandow on Physical Training (1894) |
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“In a few minutes the torch bearer willappear to light the Olympic fire on his tripod, when it will rise flaming toheaven, for the weeks of the festival. It creates a real and spiritual bond offire between out German fatherland and the sacred places of Greece foundednearly 4,000 years ago by Nordic immigrants.” |
Dr. Theodor Lewald, Nazi Interpretation of the First Olympic Torch |
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“The route begins, moreover, in the mostillustrious of all places, under the sign of the eternal Hellenism thatcontinues to shine on the path of the ages, whose ancient solutions still applytoday to many a present day problem.” |
Pierre de Coubertain Interpretation of First Olmpic Torch |
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•Forit was neither every kind of fame nor fame from every source that he courted,as Philip did, who plumed himself like a sophist on the power of his oratory,and took care to have the victories of his chariots at Olympia engraved uponhis coins; nay, when those about him inquired whether he would be willing tocontend in the foot-race at the Olympic games, since he was swift of foot,‘Yes,’ said he, ‘if I could have kings as my competitors.’ |
Plutarch Life of Alexander |
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Then, going up to Ilium(Troy), hesacrificed to Athena and poured libations to the heroes. Furthermore, thegravestone of Achilles he anointed with oil, ran a race by it with hiscompanions, naked, as is the custom, and then crowned it with garlands,pronouncing the hero happy in having a faithful friend while he lived, andafter death, a great herald of his fame (i.e.Homer). |
Plutarch Life of Alexander |
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Then, so his large city would not beempty, using an old plan employed by the founders of cities, who gather aboutthemselves a mass of obscure and humble people, pretending that the earth hadraised up sons to them, Romulus opened the sanctuary in the place that is nowenclosed by two groves as you go up the Capitoline hill. To that place came acrowd from neighboring states, both slave and free, eager for a fresh start,and that was the first advance in power towards greatness. When he was not nowashamed of his strength, Romulus added policy to power. He appointed onehundred “fathers” [the senate], whether because that was a sufficient numerber, orbecause that was the total number whom he could call “fathers”. |
Livy History of Rome |
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•FirstTarquiniuswaged war on the Latins andcaptured the town of Apiolae.Because he brought back more plunder than expected from what seemed like asmall war, he put on more extravagant ludi than previous kings had done. It wasthen that the place now called the Circus Maximus was marked out. There wereseparate sections of seats for senators and knights to watch from, with bencheson supports as much as 12 feet from the ground. There were horse races andboxers brought in from Etruria. These games are still held annually, and calledthe LudiRomani or the Great Ludi. |
Livy, History of Rome - Origin of Ludi Romani/ Great Ludi |
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“But now the procession is coming—keepsilence all, and attend! The time for applause is here—the golden procession iscoming. Firstin the train is Victory, borne with wings outspread—come hither, goddess, andhelp my love to win! Applaud Neptune (Poseidon), you whotrust toomuch in the wave!I willhave nothing to do with the sea; I choose that the land keep me. Applaudthy Mars, O soldier! Arms I detest; peace is my delight, and love that is foundin the midst of peace. And Phoebus Apollo—lethim be gracious to augurs, and Phoebe gracious to huntsmen! Minerva(Athena), turnin applause to thee the craftsman’s hands! You country dwellers, rise to Ceres (Demeter)and tenderBacchus(Dionysos)! Letthe boxer court Pollux, thehorseman Castor! Butwe applaudthee, mildVenus (Aphrodite) and thychildren potent with the bow…. |
Ovid, Amores |
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“But even those who have triumphs, and who onthat account keep the generals of the enemy alive a longer time, in order that,while they are led in triumph, the Roman people may enjoy an ennoblingspectacle, and a splendid fruit of victory; nevertheless, when they begin toturn their chariot from the forum towards the Capitol, order them to be takenback to prison, and the same day brings to the conquerors the end of theirauthority, and to the conquered the end of their lives.” |
Cicero |
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“For in time long past, in accordance with thebelief that the souls of the-dead are propitiated by human blood, they used topurchase captives or slaves of inferior ability and to sacrifice them atfunerals.Afterwards, they preferred to disguisethis ungodly usage by making it a pleasure. So, after the persons thus procuredhad been trained--for the sole purpose of learning how to be killed!-- in theuse of such arms as they then had and as best as they could wield, they thenexposed them to death at the tombs on the day appointed for sacrifices in honorof the dead. Thus they found consolation for death in murder.” |
Tertulian, gladiators and human sacrifice |
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“So the Romans made use of the spendidarmor of their enemies to do honor to the gods; while the Campayujnians, inconsequence of their pride and hatred of the Samnites, equipped after this fashion thegladiators who furnished them entertainment at their feasts, and bestowed onthem the name of Samnites.” |
Livy - Romans react to Campanian Gladiators swhen they encounter them in 308 BCE |
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•“Thelast day was that of the elephants, and on that day the mob and crowd wasgreatly impressed, but manifested no pleasure. Indeed, the result was a certaincompassion (misericordia) anda kind of feeling that the huge beast has a fellowship with the human race.” |
Cicero pity for elephants |
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•"ButPompey's elephants, when they had lost all hope of escape, tried to gain thecompassion of the crowd by indescribable gestures of entreaty, deploring theirfate with a sort of wailing, so much to the distress of the public that theyforgot the general and his munificence carefully devised for their honor, andbursting into tears rose in a body and invoked curses on the head of Pompey forwhich he soon afterwards paid the penalty.” |
Pliny pity for elephants |
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The insurrection of the gladiators andtheir devastation of Italy, which is generally called the war of Spartacus,1 had its origin as follows. A certain Lentulus Batiatus hada school of gladiators at Capua, most of whom were Gauls andThracians. Through no misconduct of theirs, butowing to the injustice of their owner, they were kept in close confinementand reserved for gladiatorial combats.Two hundred of these planned to maketheir escape, and when information was laid against them, those who got wind ofit and succeeded in getting away, seventy-eight in number, seized cleavers andspits from some kitchen and sallied out. On the road they fell in with wagonsconveyinggladiators' weapons to another city; these they plundered and armed themselves.Then they took up a strong position and electedthree leaders.The first of these was Spartacus, a Thracian of Nomadic stock, possessed notonly of great courage and strength, but also in sagacity and culture superiorto his fortune, and moreHellenic than Thracian. |
Plutarch, Life of Crassus - Spartacus more hellenic than thracian |
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•“Spartacusemergesas the most capital fellow in the whole history of antiquity. A great general[...], of noble character, a ‘real representative’ of the proletariat ofancient times. Pompey a real sh*t [...]” |
Karl Marxc |
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“Thewhole world belongs to Rome so Rome must be destroyed and made only a badmemory, and then where Rome was, we will build a new life where all men willlive in peace and brotherhood and love, no slaves and no slave masters, nogladiators and no areas, but a time like the old times, like the golden age. Wewill build new cities of brotherhood, and there will be no walls around them.” |
Howard Fast 1951 Spartacus |
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“In the number, variety, and magnificence ofhis public spectacles, he surpassed all former example. Four and-twenty times,he says, he treated the people with games upon his own account, andthree-and-twenty times for such magistrates as were either absent, or not ableto afford the expense.” |
Suetonius, Divine Augustus |
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“In the number, variety, and magnificence ofhis public spectacles, he surpassed all former example. Four and-twenty times,he says, he treated the people with games upon his own account, andthree-and-twenty times for such magistrates as were either absent, or not ableto afford the expense.” |
Suetonius, Divine AUgustus |
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“Augustus corrected theconfusion and disorder with which the spectators took their seats at the publicgames, after an affront which was offered to a senator at Puteoli, forwhom, in a crowded theatre, no one would make room. He therefore procured adecree of the senate, that in all public spectacles of any sort, and in anyplace whatever, the first tier of benches should be left empty for theaccommodation of senators. He would not even permit the ambassadors of freenations, nor of those which were allies of Rome, to sit in the orchestra; having foundthat some freedslaves hadbeen sent under that character.” |
Suetonius, Divine Augustus |
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“Heseparated the soldiery from the rest of the people, and assigned to marriedplebeians their particular rows of seats. To the boys he assigned their ownbenches, and to their tutors the seats which were nearest it; ….. none clothedin black should sit in the centre of the circle.1 Nor would he allow any women to witnessthe combats of the gladiators, except from the upper part of the theatre,although they formerly used to take their places promiscuously with the rest ofthe spectators. |
Suetonius, Divine Augustus |
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“So come, all of us celebrate our happyrites!…I shall hold games for all our Trojans.First a race for ourswift ships,then for our fastest man afoot, And then our best and boldest can step upto win the javelin-throw or wing the wind swift arrow or dare to fight withbloody rawhide gloves (boxing). Come all! See who takes the victory prize, thepalm.” |
Virgil's Aeneid Bk 5 - Funeral Games for Anchises |
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“watch the long column, split into threeequal squads, Splits into rows of six, in bands dancingaway, Then recalled at the next command they whelled andcharged each other, lances tense for attack, Wheeling charge into countercharge,return and turn Through the whole arena, enemiescircling, swerving back in their armor, acting out a mock display of war.” |
Virginls Aenid Bk 5 - Trojan Games |
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“Now that no one buys our votes, the publichas long since cast off its cares; the people that once bestowed commands,consulships, legions and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly forjust two things----Bread and Games!” |
Juvenal |
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“The Emperor Trajan knew that the Romanpeople are held in control principally by two things– free grain and shows–that political support depends as much on the entertainments as on matters ofserious import, that…neglect of the entertainments brings damning unpopularity,that gifts are less eagerly and ardently longed for than shows, and finally,that gifts placate only the common people on the grain dole, singly andindividually, but shows placate everyone.” |
Fronto |
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At a gladiatorial munus,when the sun was blazing and the awnings had been put out, he would sometimesinsist that they be taken off, and forbid anyone to leave. He would exhibit thecheapest, second-rate beasts and gladiators grown old and sick. He would makemen with physical disabilities fight, even if they were respectable, freecitizens. And sometimes he would close the granaries and announce that thepeople would starve. |
Suetonius, Caligua |
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He was so extravagantly fond of the partyof charioteers whose colours weregreen, that he ateand lodgedfor some time constantly in the stable where their horses were kept. At acertain revel, he made a present of two million sesterces toone Cythicus, adriver of a chariot. The day before the Circensian games, he used to send his soldiers toenjoin silence in the neighbourhood,that the repose of his horse Incitatus, might not be disturbed. For this favouriteanimal, inaddition to giving a marblestable, an ivory manger, purple housings, and a jewelled frontlet, he appointed a house, with aretinue of slaves, and fine furniture, for the reception of those who were invited in the horse's name to eatwith him.It is even said that he intended to make his horse consul. |
Suetonius, Caligua |
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“That no memory or the least monument mightremain of any other victor in the sacred Grecian games, he ordered all theirstatues and pictures to be pulled down, dragged away with hooks, and throwninto the common sewers. He drove the chariot with various numbers of horses,and at the Olympic games with no fewer than ten; though, in a poem of his, hehad reflected upon Mithridates forthat innovation. Being thrown out of his chariot, he was again replaced, butcould not retain his seat, and was obliged to give it up, before he reached thegoal, but was crowned notwithstanding.” |
Suetonius, Nero |
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“But above all he was carried away by a crazefor popularityandhe was jealous of all who in any way stirred the feeling of the mob. It was thegeneral belief that after his victories on the stage he would at the nextlustrum [i.e., Olympic Games] have competed with the athletes at Olympia; forhe practiced wrestling constantly, and all over Greece he had always viewed thegymnastic contests after the fashion of the judges, sitting on the ground inthe stadium; and if any pair of contestants withdrew too far from theirpositions, he would force them forward with his own hand. since he wasacclaimed the equal of Apollo in music and of the sun in drivingachariot, he had planned to emulate the exploits of Hercules as well; and theysay that a lion had been specially trained for him to kill naked in the arenaof the amphitheatre forall the people, with a club or by the clasp of his arms.” |
Sueotnius, Nero |
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“Now the enemy, pursuing yourecklessly…comes boldly across the course to ram your wheel. His horsescrumple. The shameless mob of their legs goes in the wheels and breaks thespokes one after another, until the center of the wheel is full of cracking soundsand the rim stops the flyting feet. He himself falls from the collapsingchariot, making a massive mountain of ruin, and staining his fallen face withblood.” |
Apollonaris Sidonius, violence of the circus games |
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“Let Victory in sadness break her Idumaeanpalms; O Favour,strike your bare breast with unsparing hand. Let Honour change her garb for that of mourning;and make your crowned locks, O disconsolate Glory, an offering to the cruelflames. Oh! sad misfortune! that you, Scorpus, should be cut off in the flower of youryouth, and be called so prematurely to harness the dusky steeds of Pluto. Thechariot-race was always shortened by your rapid driving; but O why should yourown race have been so speedily run?” |
Charioteer, Scorpus Martial Epigrams |
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O Rome, I am Scorpus, theglory of your noisy circus, the object of your applause, your short-lived favourite. Theenvious Lachesis,when she cut me off in my twenty-seventh year, accounted me, in judging by thenumber of my victories, to be an old man.” |
Charioteer Scorpus Martial Epigrams |
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The Circensian Games were taking place; a kind ofentertainment for which I have not the least taste. They have no novelty, novariety, nothing, in short, one would wish to see twice. I am the moreastonished that so many thousands of grown men should be possessed again andagain with a childish passion to look at galloping horses, and men standingupright in their chariots. If, indeed, they were attracted by the swiftness ofthe horses or the skill of the men, one could account for this enthusiasm. Butin fact it is a bit of cloth they favour, a bit of cloth that captivates them.And if during the running the racers were to exchange colours,their partisans would change sides, and instantly forsake the very drivers andhorses whom they were just before recognizing from afar, and clamorouslysaluting by name. |
Pliny the younger, cheering for clothes - team fanatics |
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Andnothing is so damaging to good morals as to hang around at some spectacle.There through pleasure, vice sneaks in more easily. Icome back more greedy, more desirous of honour, more dissolute, even more unfeeling andcruel, because I have been among people. By chance I happened to be at thespectacle at noontime, expecting some witty entertainment and relaxation, torest men’s eyes from the gore. It was the opposite. Whatever fighting there wasbefore was comparative mercy. Now there was pure murder, no more foolingaround. …Many people prefer this to the ordinarypairs and the fighters. Why wouldn’t they? No helmet or shield pushes the swordaway. Where is the defence?Where is the skill? These things are just to delay death. In the morning men are thrown to lionsand bears, at noontime to the audience. “ |
Seneca - criticism of violence |
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Let barbarous Memphis stop talkingabout the miracle of the pyramids;Assyrian toil is not to vauntBabylonand the soft Ionians are not togarner praise for Trivia’s temple;let the altar of many horns saynothing about Delos,and do not let the Carianslavish extravagant praise on theMausoleum suspended in empty airand exalt it to the stars.All labouryields to Caesar’s amphitheatre:Fame will tell of one work insteadof them all. |
Martial, Spectacles on Colosseum |
