Pompeii and Games

Pompeii represents a special lens for understanding urban games during the Roman period, with its preservation of the daily surroundings, monuments, and artefacts of performers, organizers, and fans, as well as the notices (edicta), graffiti, paintings, and objects that attest to the arrangements for and engagement with spectacles. Particularly important is the evidence for how Pompeii (and likely other small towns) differed from Rome: as to scale, the financial resources of local magistrates, obviously, could not compare to those of the emperor. Pompeiian graffiti indicate that deaths were few during fights and the architectural details of the amphitheatre point not to the participation of ferocious wild beasts, but rather local animals. The painted edicta suggest that the occasion and dates for spectacle did not coordinate with the most important festivals celebrated in Rome or in the main towns of Campania. Nevertheless, games held great importance even in a ‘minor’ urban context such as Pompeii, as evident in the popularity achieved by some magistrates for having organized munificent games, and in the spreading celebrity of performers, so deeply rooted in society today.