Jim Lohmar jmlohmar@ufl.edu Turlington 3302 Tuesday 2:00-5:00

1. Jim Lohmarjmlohmar@ufl.eduTurlington 3302Tuesday 2:00-5:00

2. From where comes this fascination? How much is too much? Is it art or merely entertainment? A “Silver Age”? Violence Today

3. Seneca (Nero) Lucan (Nero) Petronius (Nero) Statius (Domitian) Silius Italicus (Domitian) Intense fascination with bloodshed and violence Seneca’s Hippolytus Lucan’s Bellum Civile Statius’ Thebaid “Silver Age” Latin

4. Some Statistical Analysis

5. Lucan’s Bellum Civile 8.663-675 Pompey’s head and chest resound from the steel Septimius cuts open Pompey’s toga Places neck upon bench inside of boat Begins hacking at his neck with an axe “it was not yet an art…” Nerves and Veins hacked at Septimius takes Pompey’s head and exults with it Just to Give You an Idea…

6. Cultural Context “Literature does not exist in a vacuum” A few possible reasons for this intense interest: - historical the amphitheater and ludi - philosophical the shattering of bodies reflects the disintegration of the world we are living in. the body of state is shattered - rhetorical Seneca’s Controversiae For our purposes, we’ll focus on the violent atmosphere of Imperial Rome and the ludi

7. The Roman Penal System A variety of aims come through here Retribution: “payback”; not necessarily carried out in an official manner Seneca tells us this was the favorite form of penalty for the Emperors Galba would cut the hands off of moneylenders and nail them to a table this aim has multiple purposes

8. Penal System Humiliation: not for physical suffering, but rather emotional runaway slaves would be tattooed with an “F” for fugitivus Correction: preferred by the philosophers Prevention: keep someone from committing same crime (Galba) Deterrence: provide a negative exemplum crucifixion

9. Public Displays of Punishment This is a major point of difference between us and the Romans A few things are needed for such a culture to exist: - person or administration to mount the spectacle - venue with adequate facilities - supply of people to be displayed - an approving audience

10. The munerarius The person who would pay for the ludi (games) Derived from munera; Latin for “gifts” Display of one’s largess Gain the favor populi Attempts to outdo one another in grandeur of games

11. Nero’s lacus drained The Flavians give site over for public use Opens during the reign of Domitian A symbol of the city of Rome The Amphitheater

12. 189 meters long 156 meters wide 50,000 – 60,000 people (Swamp: 91,000) Harena 83 x 48 meters Trapdoors Tunnels Vela for shade The Flavian Amphitheater

13. The Circus was also a site of games The spina or euripus as obstacle 600 m x 80 m Capacity: 250,000 The Circus Maximus

14. The Circus Maximus

15. Condemned criminals Captured prisoners of war Damnati ad bestias Great majority of these sentences are capital Venatores Gladiatores The Supply of Performers

16. Supply of Performers This was both a tax on and display of the Romans’ power Two different statuses of criminals honestiores: higher status; would not show up in the arena humiliores: lower status; would show up in the arena

17. Morning: venationes beasts hunted as if in the wild Noontime: public executions Afternoon: Gladiatores man against man What could you see?

18. Criminals that were thrown to animals in a controlled environment Nero would starve dogs and let them loose on a wounded criminal Mythological scenes also staged Damnati ad Bestias

19. The “main event” so to speak Variations existed naumachiae: staged sea battle gladiatorial combat en masse The morituri salutation Some could become quite prolific Gladiatores

20. So, why watch? endorse the justice system fascinated by the gruesome nature St. Augustine chance factor: the person might not actually die desire to witness death first-hand The Fascinating Horror

21. Violence Today (Revisited) The Romans confronted gruesome death scenes first hand Today we have the filter of television and film Again, why the fascination?