3-17-2015-Rome on the Seas-WeSaluteYou-Naumachiae

Transcription

Death by Water(?): Executions and
Spectacles
Carthage
Dr. Kristian Lorenzo
Dr. Kristian Lorenzo, [email protected]
Today’s Plan
Upcoming Important Dates
Morituri Te Salutamus!
Launching into History: Aquatic
Displays in the early Empire
Upcoming Important Dates
Thursday, March 19th: Sign up for Presentation date.
2nd Extra Credit Opportunity
March 19th 2015, Kathryn Sampeck, Anthropology Assistant
Professor at Illinois State University “Spanish Entradas and
Indian Roads: Colonial Encounters of the First Kind in the
Interior of the US Southeast”, Room 118 Jepson Hall at 6pm.
Tuesday March 24th: Developed Bibliographies and Outlines
Due by 1:30pm
Leon begins his discussion with what has been known in both popular culture and
classical scholarship as the gladiator’s salute. Our earliest textual evidence for this
comes from Suetonius’s Life of Claudius
21.6 “He gave representations in the Campus Martius of the storming and sacking of
a town in the manner of real warfare, as well as of the surrender of the kings of the
Britons, and presided clad in a general's cloak. Even when he was on the point of
letting out the water from Lake Fucinus he gave a sham sea-fight first. But when the
combatants cried out: "Hail, emperor, they who are about to die salute thee," he
replied, "Or not," and after that all of them refused to fight, maintaining that they had
been pardoned. Upon this he hesitated for some time about destroying them all with
fire and sword, but at last leaping from his throne and running along the edge of the
lake with his ridiculous tottering gait, he induced them to fight, partly by threats and
partly by promises. At this performance a Sicilian and a Rhodian fleet engaged, each
numbering twelve triremes, and the signal was sounded on a horn by a silver Triton,
which was raised from the middle of the lake by a mechanical device.”
Suetonius is not the only source to mention the salute. Dio Cassius writing in the
2nd cent. AD is the other one. He says,
60.33.3-4 “Claudius conceived the desire to exhibit a naval battle on a certain lake;
so, after building a wooden wall around it and erecting stands, he assembled an
enormous multitude. Claudius and Nero were arrayed in military garb, while
Agrippina wore a beautiful chlamys woven with threads of gold, and the rest of the
spectators whatever pleased their fancy. Those who were to take part in the seafight were condemned criminals, and each side had fifty ships, one part being styled
"Rhodians" and the other "Sicilians." First they assembled in a single body and all
together addressed Claudius in this fashion: "Hail, Emperor! We who are about to
die salute thee." And when this in no wise availed to save them and they were
ordered to fight just the same, they simply sailed through their opponents' lines,
injuring each other as little as possible. This continued until they were forced to
destroy one another.”
However, while many modern scholars and non-academics link this salute with
gladiators this is not the case. It was actually spoken by naumachiarii (i.e. fighters
in a naumachia, or exhibitionary naval battle).
Morituri Te Salutamus!: naumachia 1-2
Julius Caesar was the first to give a naumachia in the city of Rome. Caesar’s naumachia
fought by Egyptians and Tyrians was part of his triumphal games in 46 BC. He set them in
an purpose built lake in the Campus Martius near the Tiber. The lake’s exact location is
unknown.
Sextus Pompeius staged a naumachia with groups of captured soldiers in the strait
between Sicily and Italy. In 40 BC he did this both to celebrate his occupation of Sicily and
to mock Octavian and his supporters.
Augustus staged a naumachia in a custom built structure, his stagnum located on the west
bank of the Tiber in the Trastevere region in 2 BC. He boasts of this in his Res Gestae.
Augustus’s naumachia pitted Athenians against Persians and celebrated the dedication of
the Temple of Mars Ultor in the overarching inaugural program for the Forum of
Augustus.
Claudius in AD 52 sponsored the most elaborate naumachia with Sicilians fighting
Rhodians to celebrate the impending completion of a 3-mile long tunnel to drain Lake
Fucinus in the Apennine Mountains. Claudius, as much for glory as for gain undertook
this project.
Claudius
Augustus
Nero staged his own naumachia, in his wooden amphitheater in the Campus Martius in AD 57.
The arena was filled with seawater stocked with fish and other marine creatures. There was a
battle between Persians and Athenians, after which the water immediately was drained and
another contest presented between forces on land. A second naumachia may have been staged
in 64, but it could also be the same as the one in 57.
Titus presented an elaborate show at the stagnum of Augustus as part of the spectacles
celebrating the dedication of the Colosseum in AD 80. There was a sea battle between
Athenians and Syracusans and a gladiatorial show, as well as the presentation of five thousand
beasts, all in a single day.
Titus
Nero
Morituri Te Salutamus!: naumachia 7
Domitian having used the Flavian Amphitheater for a naval display, excavated beside the Tiber a
stagnum upon which he launched almost full-scale fleets. This naumachia is associated with
Domitian’s Dacian victory.
Possible/doubtful naumachiae:
In the 3rd century the Emperor Elagabalus flooded a great basin with wine and staged navales
circenses therein, most probably boat races and not battle reenactments.
Celebrating Rome’s millennium in 247, Philip the Arab gave water games of all sorts in a
stagnum across the Tiber which may have possibly included a naumachia.
Morituri Te Salutamus!: naumachia NOT
Based on the unreliability of the later evidence, I believe that both Elagabalus’s and Philip’s
“naumachiae” are fictions created to connect those emperor’s with both Caesar himself and
earlier emperors (Augustus, Domitian and Trajan) and their ability to stage naval battles in
either custom-built stagna or specially modified monuments.
Elagabalus
Philip the Arab
Morituri Te Salutamus!: naumachia
Salient Points
Naumachiae were not regular games but were given
infrequently on special occasions.
Held in purpose-built structures, the Colosseum (very
doubtful***) and natural bodies of water
Named combatants (e.g. Athenians vs. Persians )fought in 6
out the 7 naumachiae
Morituri Te Salutamus!: naumachia
Salient Points
The outcomes may or may not have been scripted since in
the naumachia with Athenians and Syracusans history was
inverted when the Athenians won.
The naumachiarii were war captives and criminals
condemned to death who on one occasion used the salute,
"Hail, Emperor! We who are about to die salute thee."
A naumachia then was a spectacular form of execution.
Sometimes survivors were excused from further slaughter.
Morituri Te Salutamus!: Conclusions
"Hail, Emperor! We who are about to die salute thee."
was not a regular salute of either naumachiarii or gladiators.
It was only used once by the former to elicit sympathy.
Launching into History:
Aquatic Displays in the early Empire
Coleman concentrating mainly on Titus’s aquatic displays in 80 asks a series of
questions (see below) predicated on an aspect of the Roman mentalité that is
largely alien to our modern outlook. What aspect is that?
E.G.
Were aquatic displays really staged in the Colosseum?
Was the arena large enough for naval combat?
Why stage a replay of a historical event, only to allow the outcome to
contradict history?
All these questions/issues are predicated on the largely alien aspect of the Roman mentalité:
a passion for novel and elaborate ways of mounting spectacle, which in turn generates the
notion of enhancing mortal combat by staging it in a theatrical setting.
But going beyond naumachiae Coleman broadens her scope to include the Roman
adaptation of the theatrical genre of pantomime to stage myths set in a marine context such
as Leander and Hero. The choice of such themes raises another question:
Did the Romans perceive the distinction between myth and history in the same
terms as we do?
Hero and Leander
Two lovers celebrated in Greek legend. Hero, virgin priestess of Aphrodite at Sestos, was
seen at a festival by Leander of Abydos; they fell in love, and he swam across the Hellespont
at night to visit her, guided by a light from her tower. One stormy night the light was
extinguished, and Leander was drowned; Hero, seeing his body, drowned herself likewise.
In attempting to answer her questions Coleman first discusses the 3 different types
of venue where naumachiae are said to have been performed. The 3 venues were?
Hypothetical location of
the stagnum Domitiani.
VII
VI
IX
IV
III
VIII
XIV
the stagnum Augusti.
V
X
XI
II
XIII
XII
I
The heir to Caesar’s basin, the exact location of which we don’t know, was the stagnum
Augustus built in the Trastevere region. Based on further scholarship a modified rectangular
shape was most probable.
Purpose built structure
The Aqua Alsietina
Canal to Tiber
The Stagnum Augusti was a concert of architecture and spectacle with its inaugural naval battle.
Through the creation and control of this new intra-urban sea Augustus made his and the Roman
state’s complete mastery of the whole Mediterranean a concrete permanent fact embedded in
Rome’s urban network.
Probable
location of
the stagnum
Augusti in
Regio XIV, the
Transtiberim.
Tiber River
N
536 x 357 m
with seating
areas, a high
bridge and an
island
Sextus Pompeius staged a naumachia with groups of captured soldiers in the strait between Sicily
and Italy. In 40 BC he did this both to celebrate his occupation of Sicily and to mock Octavian and
his supporters.
Natural setting
Claudius in AD 52 sponsored the most elaborate naumachia with Sicilians fighting Rhodians to
celebrate the impending completion of a 3-mile long tunnel to drain Lake Fucinus in the Apennine
Mountains. Claudius, as much for glory as for gain undertook this project.
Natural setting
Not
completely
drained until
1875.
Nero staged his own naumachia, in his wooden amphitheater in the Campus Martius in AD 57.
There was a battle between Persians and Athenians, after which the water immediately was drained
and another contest presented between forces on land.
Structures intended primarily for other purposes.
Not
completely
drained until
1875.
Titus presented an elaborate show at the stagnum of Augustus as part of the spectacles celebrating
the dedication of the Colosseum in AD 80. There was a sea battle between Athenians and
Syracusans and a gladiatorial show, as well as five thousand beasts, all in a single day.
Structures intended primarily for other purposes.
Tiber River
N
536 x 357 m
with seating
areas, a high
bridge and an
island
Domitian having used the Flavian Amphitheater for a naval display, excavated beside the Tiber a
stagnum upon which he launched almost full-scale fleets. This naumachia is associated with
Domitian’s Dacian victory.
the stagnum Domitiani.
VII
VI
IX
IV
III
VIII
XIV
the stagnum Augusti.
The Colosseum
V
X
XI
II
XIII
XII
I
The imperial biographer Suetonius’s unequivocally states that Domitian flooded the Flavian
Amphitheater for a naval display, while Dio Cassius claims that Titus staged a naval engagement
there. But…?
Despite the textual evidence the big question remains could a full-scale
naval battle have been fought in the Colosseum?
87.3 long by
54.3 m wide
No, based on dimensions alone.The length of a Greek trireme was ca. 40 x 6 x 7 m. It’s width
was ca. 10 m with oars. There were of course many other smaller warships available to the
Romans: liburnum (25-30 x 4.75m), lembos, pristis, triemiolia, hemiola (15-20 x 4m).
Yet you need room to get the ships inside, room for
the ships themselves, room for them to maneuver,
and build up some speed.
87.3 long by
54.3 m wide
Furthermore, there is neither evidence for water proof cement nor opus signinum nor drains
for a very hypothetical earlier basin in the arena. The 6m deep hypogeum (basement) has to be a
later addition. Any very hypothetical earlier basin would have had to have been much shallower.
87.3 long by
54.3 m wide
For any naval battle in the arena, if any ever actually took place, you would need miniature
replica ships on the order of ca. 8-10m long by ca. 3 m wide (perhaps 5m with oars). The
number however would be limited due to the arena’s spatial dimensions.
87.3 long by
54.3 m wide
Charade: Two epigrams in the poet Martial’s book about spectacles describe a reenactment
of the myth of Hero and Leander. The reenactment probably took place for verisimilitude in
the Stagnum of Augustus where “Leander” may have been a criminal sentenced to death who
could get a reprieve if he survived the swim to “Hero.”
Hero and Leander
where “Leander” may have been a criminal sentenced to death who could get a reprieve if
he survived the swim to “Hero.” It can be argued that Martial couches the reprieve
“Leander’s” survival of the swim earns him as an aspect of the emperor’s power over the
elements.
“Stop being amazed that the night’s wave spared your
life, Leander: it was Caesar’s wave.” Mart., Spect. 25.
Hero
and
Leander
Pantomime: Martial then describes in poem 26 choreographed groupings and re-groupings of
women dressed or undressed as Nereids swimming in the Colosseum in a performance akin
to water ballet or synchronized swimming. Poetic conceit or actual event?
Nereids were 50 water nymphs, minor goddesses born from Nereus and Doris. They were the
patrons of sailors and fishermen. They came to the aid of men in distress, and goddesses who
had in their care the sea's rich bounty. Individually they also represented various facets of the
sea, from salty brine, to foam, etc. They were not ALWAYS depicted naked (contra Coleman.
Beyond mythological charade and water ballet there is evidence for dressage, beast hunts, and
chariot races all taking place in an artificial aquatic environment for their spectacular effect.
However, now let’s return to Coleman’s inquiry into the purpose of all these aquatic displays
but especially that of the naumachiae.
to display the emperor’s power by re-enacting the great sea-battles of the remote past, both as
history occurred (i.e. a confirmation of the present) or as the Romans wished they had (Rome
as Athens defeating the Syracusans). The emperor can recreate myths and even change their
outcome at the wave of a hand.
Coleman does not claim that the Romans could not tell the difference between myth and
history, but that the aquatic displays suggest that Greece’s classical age was sufficiently remote
from imperial Rome for the actual and the mythical past to be accorded equal status in the
popular imagination.
Extra Credit Opportunities:
Students may earn extra credit by attending an Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)
lecture and submitting a 1-2-page response paper commenting on how it related or
compared to what we have studied (Please do not merely summarize the lecture). However,
if the topic of the lecture does not relate or compare to what we have been studying, then
please structure your paper in the following way. Begin with a short 1-paragraph summary of
the lecture including the speaker’s thesis, main evidence/argumentation, and conclusion. The
rest of your paper should be an analysis and critique of the speaker’s thesis, main evidence/
argumentation, and conclusion. Points you may cover include: Did they have a thesis? Were
they successful, or convincing? Is the argument logical? Does the evidence support their
thesis? Responses are due by email within 48 hours of the lecture. Eligible lectures:
2. March 19, 2015, Kathryn Sampeck, Illinois State U, “Spanish Entradas and Indian Roads:
Colonial Encounters of the First Kind in the Interior of the US Southeast” at 6 pm in Jepsen
Hall Room 118.
3. April 9, 2015, Anne-Marie Knoblauch,VT, “The Sculptural Tradition of Ancient Cyprus:
Island Culture or Outsider Art?” at 6pm in Jepsen Hall Room 118.
Naval Victory Monuments for Actium: Rome
The stagnum’s mock naval battle as a reenactment of the Battle of Salamis, a Classical battle
of almost mythical proportions, provided a visually impressive and emotionally engaging
manifestation of the victory at Actium’s results and their role in ushering in a new era of
peace, prosperity and happiness.
La Naumachia de 1775 (Engelmann 1824).

3-17-2015-Rome on the Seas-WeSaluteYou-Naumachiae

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