Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

• In September, the Romans went to the Ludi. Beginning on the Nones of September and continuing for two weeks (September 5-19), Romans celebrated games they called either "Roman" or "Great." These were the oldest and most magnificent of the Roman games. They were first held (for a single day) on the Ides of September in 509 BCE in honor of the god Jupiter Optimus Maximus to whom the Romans consacrated a temple on the Capitol on the same day. Over the course of the Republic additional days of celebration were added both before and after the Ides. In the early years the games were not celebrated annually. Rather, generals vowed to pay for the games if the won a battle and were granted a triumph (votive games). By 366 BCE, however, the games had become annual events, paid for by the state and supervised by the aediles.
  
  
• The Ludi Romani included two types of competition: the ludi circenses (Games in the Circus Maximus - athletic) and luci scaenici (dramatic competitions). On the first day of the Ludi an extraordinary parade, even more striking than that Ovid described for the Ludi Megalesiaci was held. We know alot about what the parade was like in the time of Augustus because Dionysius of Halicarnassus (a Greek historian living in Rome) described it in detail. The parade route began at the Capitol, continued through the Forum and concluded with a sacrifice of oxen presided over by the consuls. The parade itself consisted of the athletes who would compete, a group of musicians and actors dressed as satyrs and Silenoi, and finally, a procession of statues of the gods.
  
  
  • the consuls and magistrates
    
    
  • young men on horseback and foot
    
    
  • charioteers driving four horse and two horse teams
    
    
  • riders on individual, unyoked mounts
    
    
  • athletes for other competitions, dressed only in loin cloths
    
    
  • flute and lyre players
    
    
  • war dancers in red tunics and bronze belts, wearing bronze crested helmets and carrying swords and short spears
    
    
  • actors dressed as satyrs in goatskins and others dressed as Silenoi in shaggy tunics - this groups mocked and mimicked the war dancers who proceeded them
    
    
  • flute and lyre players
    
    
  • incense burners
    
    
  • people carrying gold and silver vessels (?for use in the sacrifice?)
    
    
  • men bearing images of gods on stretchers carried at shoulder height
    
    
    • Olympians
      
      
    • Saturn, Ops, Themis, Latona, Parcae
      
      
    • Muses and Graces
      
      
    • heros: Hercules, Aesculapius, Castor and Pollux
      
      
• Romans had probably inherited chariot racing from the Etruscans. A typical race lasted seven laps (5 miles) and the competitors wore blue, green, red or white colors. Over time professional teams developed, identified by these colors. Romans were more obsessed with the rivalry between these teams than people in Chicago are with the Bulls. Betting was furious and fan loyalty was obsessive (there is a recorded example of a fan who threw himself onto the funeral pyre of a Red charioteer in the 70s BCE). During the principate, fan support often had political overtones. People conciously chose to boo teams that "bad" emperors backed.
  
  
• Some of the races were unique. For example, in one kind of chariot race, an extra man rode with the driver. After the driver crossed the finished line, his companion jumped from the car and ran the track again. It was the winner on foot who determined the winner of the race. In another competition, the rider rode a team of two horses, leaping from one to the other at the end of each lap. Occasionally, but not always the Ludus Troiae (the Trojan Game) was also held during the Ludi Romani. The Romans believed that Aeneas had invented this competition but the earliest evidence modern scholars can find for it dates from Sulla's reign. Two groups of young men of good birth paraded, wearing armour, on horseback, performing very complicated drills and then a mock battle. Augustus revived these games
  
  
• It is impossible to underestimate the enthusiasm Romans had for the games. The Circus Maximus sat 150,000 and it was always full (perhaps in part because at all the other Roman amphitheaters - and the temporary theatres erected for the ludi scaenica men and women had separate seating sections). Some highbrow Romans like Cicero and Pliny complained about them, but emperors who dared not to attend were despised as high-faluting. Julius Caesar attempted to negotiate this dilemna by attending the games, but doing paper work in his seat. The fans saw right through him.
  
  
• On the Ides of September itself, Romans honored Jupiter Optimus Maximus at his temple on the Capitol. At some time over the course of the Republic an epulum Iovis - banquet for Jupiter) became associated with the rites in honor of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (organized by the college of epulones from 196 BCE on). The magistrates and Senate attended the feast which began with a sacrifice (which included, in addition to the sacrificial animal, the mola salsa, the Vestal Virgins had prepared for use at the Vestalia, Lupercalia and this feast). A statue of Jupiter, the face of which had been painted red was laid on a couch and statues of Juno and Minerva were placed on chairs (in the 'old fashioned' days, Roman women never reclined at dinner but always sat in upright chairs). Food was set on tables before them and music played to entertain them.

Roman Theatre / The Prejudice Against Theatre /

depiction of temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on coin /

Roman Circus Games / The Role of the Emperor at the Games /

The History of Roman Public Games / EB on chariot racing