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 Vocabulary
aedile: public works magistrate in charge of games
munus: duty, especially responsibility to the dead;
gladiatorial show
venatio: hunting; a wild beast show
circus: chariot race track
amphitheatre: 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 general
gladiator: a sword (gladius) bearer; a fighter in the
arena
The Site of Rome
Campus Martius
Sites Important for Sports
in Early Rome
Forum
Capitoline 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 Augurs
530-480 B.C
An Etruscan Funeral Contest?
Phersu
An Etruscan
actor/pantomime/priest
English: persona
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
Vergil and Homer
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
Boat Race
Cloanthus – Scylla
Mnestheus – Shark
Gyas – Chimaera
Sergestus – Centaur
Questions about the Boat Race
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?
Running
Euryalus
Helymus
Diores
Salius
Nisus
Questions about the Foot Race
Why 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. Entellus
Youth 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. Theissen
This 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
Hippocoon
Mnestheus
Eurytion
Acestes
Questions about the Archery Match
Archery 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
th
Ludi Romani (6 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)
Claudia
Quinta
Lambert Lombard
(1506 – 1566)