{"title":"Gladiators as a Class","authors":"V. Hope","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.47","url":null,"abstract":"The amphitheatre has been described as a microcosm of Roman society. In the amphitheatre the social divisions and distinctions that defined Roman society were exposed to all. From the worst seats to the best seats, from slaves to the emperor, from dirty clothes to regal purple, visually (and audibly) society was on show. At the heart of this was the arena itself, where the gaze of all fell upon the gladiators. These men (and women) were, in principle, the lowest of the low; despised and hated, debased outcasts from society. In reality their place in society and their relationship to and with those who gazed upon them was more complex. This chapter will investigate how gladiators were viewed both by others and by themselves, and the extent to which gladiators were regarded as a cohesive group, even a ‘class’. It will explore how the lowly legal status of gladiators, their social isolation and the stigma of infamia, co-existed with society’s admiration for fighting prowess and its need for heroes and sex-symbols. It will also explore how gladiators shaped their own identity and created their own social structures, ‘families’ and hierarchies within the gladiatorial barracks. One of the challenges in investigating gladiators is moving beyond the stereotypes and prejudices created by elite authors; to this end this chapter will look not just at literary sources, but also inscriptions, epitaphs and gladiatorial tombstones and burials. This evidence highlights the central dichotomy that faced gladiators and defined their life; that they were both isolated from but integral to Roman society.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114828740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Origins of the Olympics to the Sixth Century bce","authors":"U. Sinn","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.23","url":null,"abstract":"The tumulus at Olympia, later a cult site of Pelops, dates to the mid-third millennium bce, but cult activity and the altar of Zeus are evidenced only from the late eleventh century. Votive tripod ornamentation from the tenth to the eighth century reflects myth and warfare, not athletics. Weapons and armour from all over Greece were dedicated in abundance in the late eighth to early seventh centuries. The sacred precinct was extended and the stadium built at about 700 bce. The tumulus became a Pelops Heroön about 600 bce. Texts like Pindar O.10 that portray Pelops as the Olympics founder reflect the biased view of the Eleans. The site was much earlier a sanctuary for Zeus and other deities to promote agriculture and cattle, then prominent at the site of the oracle of Zeus Olympios, and finally as the festival site. The oracle functioned importantly in matters of warfare and colonization, especially in the Greek west.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127199364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Theories of Greek and Roman Sport","authors":"P. Christesen","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.3","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the use of theory in the study of Greek and Roman sport. It begins with a brief review of the reasons for the relative paucity of theory in the relevant scholarship, then goes on to examine five different kinds of theory that have been productively applied to the study of sport: functionalism, conflict theory, the ‘discipline’ theory of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu’s work on corporeal discipline and on the relationship between sport and social inequality, and ritual theory. This is by no means a comprehensive survey of theories that have been used in the study of sport—a task that could occupy a volume of its own. The five theories discussed here were chosen because they have strong potential usefulness in the study of Greek and Roman sport.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129100353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spectatorship, Control, and Collective Groups","authors":"Geoffrey S. Sumi","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.49","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.49","url":null,"abstract":"It is axiomatic that the Roman emperor attempted to control the city populace through an ideology of ‘bread and circuses’ (free grain and public entertainment). Yet a riot during a food crisis in 189 ce, which began in the circus and spread to the streets, shows that spectators could be the agents of political interaction at public spectacles rather than merely passive participants, that public spectacles could be organizing events for the non-elite population. It has been argued that crowds in order to form require a ‘notion of legitimation’. Indeed, the crowd at this riot was engendered in part through the long-standing conventions of spectatorship at Roman public spectacles, including 1) public spectacles as venues for popular protest and interactions with the emperor; 2) the custom of arranged seating, including claques, factions, and trade guilds (collegia); 3) common forms of spectator response, such as acclamations.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126396824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gender and Sexuality in Greek Sport","authors":"T. Scanlon","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.21","url":null,"abstract":"Greek sport was in its earliest forms and predominantly thereafter a male activity. Greek masculine virtues were consistently reflected in texts discussing sport from Homer onward. The athletic and the martial spheres were often in tension regarding how greatly success in sport was valued as a measure of male excellence. The Greek gymnasium and athletic nudity were factors that fostered the Greek male sexual system of pederasty. Material culture in the form of sculpture, inscriptions, and vase paintings reflects the androcentrism of Greek sport. Female participation in Greek sport has a historical existence much less consistent and widespread than that of males, seen most prominently during the Roman empire.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121882982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sport in Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East","authors":"Wolfgang Decker","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.6","url":null,"abstract":"Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East are new fields of sport history. From the beginning of Egyptian history Pharaoh displays his sportsmanship which is embodied in the dogma of kingship, including his run during the Jubilee Festival. He is an eternal victor acting as a perfect bow shooter at targets, helmsman of ships and trainer of horses. Only his very participation on a competition is taboo. Sources of wrestling, stick fencing and running are to be emphasized in the private sector. The Near Eastern ruler was also said to have showed high performance in sport. Shulgi ran 320 km in one day. There is the famous scene of wrestling into the epic of Gilgamesh between the hero and Enkidu. As to the Hittite civilization, there is to be mentioned the so called Book of Horse Training, which contains prescriptions for training for the condition and technique of chariot horses.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134062370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gymnasium and Polis","authors":"N. Kennell","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.8","url":null,"abstract":"The article sketches the development of the gymnasium from its origins in the archaic period to the later Hellenistic period when, in addition to its military function, the gymnasium was a multi-use complex numbering among a city’s largest buildings. Epigraphical and archaeological evidence provide insights into the gymnasium’s infrastructure, user groups, and contests which were peculiar to it. Its administrator, the gymnasiarch, was a prominent official, whose position provided opportunities for displays of competitive generosity. The gymnasium also received benefactions from the local elite, kings, and dynasts, who thereby burnished their reputations as supporters of Hellenic culture. Gymnasia were also equipped with instructors in athletic and military subjects, with lectures or courses in the liberal arts mostly provided by travelling teachers. The homogeneity of its programme throughout the Greek world made the gymnasium an effective vehicle for transmitting Hellenic culture to non-Greeks, although Jewish society was ambivalent about its benefits.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126002003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Greek Festivals in the Roman Era","authors":"Z. Newby","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.13","url":null,"abstract":"Greek festival culture expanded in the period of the Roman empire, through the establishment of Greek-style festivals in Rome under Nero and Domitian, by their influence on the western provinces (Italy, Gaul and N. Africa), and through their continued vitality in the East. This was a period when control of festivals lay firmly in imperial hands and the headquarters of the athletic synod were moved to Rome. At the same time, Greek writers such as Pausanias suggest the enduring centrality of Olympia as the Panhellenic site par excellence, and new festival foundations were a popular form of Greek civic euergetism. This study explores the place that festivals played in the negotiations between Greek identity and Roman power, questioning whether the establishment of a new periodos challenged the traditional supremacy of Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea, or rather reflected the emergence of an empire-wide culture based in part on the diffusion of Greek cultural values.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131313538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Law, Litigation, and Sport in Ancient Greece","authors":"Zinon Papakonstantinou","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.16","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the interplay between sport, law, and legal contests in Archaic and Classical Greece. Since the Archaic period Greek communities legally regulated a wide range of activities, including sport. Civic laws on sport practices, such as those attributed to Solon, can be interpreted in the context of wider civic movements, evident also in the so-called archaic sumptuary legislation, to re-negotiate and pre-empt the meaning and social value of traditional elite practices. Laws that spell out sporting rules and prohibitions, as enforced in civic and interstate games or in training venues, are no less revealing, both for the conduct of competitive sport as well as for its social and ideological context. Through a detailed discussion of case studies (regulations of the Olympic games; rules governing the operation of gymnasia, palaistrai and the ephebeia) it is argued that the promulgation of legal frameworks for sport practices corresponds in many respects to the emergence and development of laws which regulated other aspects of life in the Greek world. Furthermore, extant Greek laws on sport, and the evidence for their reception and use, articulate the realities and dynamism of athletic practices as well as something of the popularity, excitement, and at times ambivalence that accompanied Greek sport.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"281 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131586905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Greek Sanctuaries and Stadia","authors":"D. Romano","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199592081.013.20","url":null,"abstract":"The stadium (stadion) included the racecourse proper (dromos; of 600 feet) and the spectator area. Originally using natural slopes for onlookers, the stadia became more elaborate, with stone seating and complex starting lines (husplyges), in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The second-century-bce stadium-cum-theatre at Pergamon is of special note, resembling in concept the fourth-century-bce structure on the Pnyx in Athens. Other stadia surveyed here are at Messene (Peloponnese) and Aphrodisias (Caria). Water channels allowed the track to be watered to avoid hardening. A 100-foot-square (plethron) space was used for field events. Most stadia had formal entrances, some using vaulted ‘tunnels’ (Olympia, Nemea, Delphi, and Epidauros). The history of certain stadia is traced: Olympia, Corinth, Halieis, Mt Lykaion (a hippodrome-cum-stadium), Rome (stadium of Domitian), Isthmia, Nemea, Delphi, and facilities at some civic and rural sanctuaries.","PeriodicalId":272437,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133275819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}