Greek and Roman sports

This case study explores the concept of "bread and circuses" in the Roman Empire and its modern-day parallel in American society, focusing on the role of entertainment, media, and political rhetoric as tools of social control. In ancient Rome, the ruling elite used free grain and public spectacles to pacify the masses and distract them from social and economic inequality. Similarly, in contemporary America, mass distractions through entertainment, media, and political discourse serve to divert attention from pressing issues such as economic disparity, racial injustice, and political corruption. By analyzing the similarities between these two societies, the study highlights how both have used entertainment and media to maintain social order, prevent civil unrest, and preserve the power structures that perpetuate inequality. The study underscores the enduring relevance of the "bread and circuses" strategy in modern contexts and offers insights into the ways mass distraction functions as a tool of social control in both ancient and contemporary societies.

Here we limit the question by locating the ancient equivalent of modern media in the following two areas:
1. sports-associated written texts including literature (Homer, Pindar, et al.) and inscriptions (victor inscriptions, rules relating to gymnasia, etc.)
2. sports-related art and architecture, primarily vase painting and sculpture and the actual sporting structures

We will discuss what the media are, as defined above, and briefly how these
media were supported by social institutions and how they communicated to their contemporary audience. We will proceed chronologically, from about 2600 B.C. to A.D. 400, starting with Egyptian and Near Eastern civilizations, then Minoan Greece, Mycenaean Greece, Homer, the sixth century B.C. revolution in sports with gymnasia andnewfestivals, Pindar and Plato, the fourth century expansion of stadia size, Roman spectacles and chariot races, the spread of Roman amphitheaters, and Roman art and sports.

Jim Drain (RISD BFA 1998, Sculpture) was a member of Forcefield, a Providence-based group that merged music, performance, film, and installation. His subsequent solo work has been widely collected and exhibited. Daniel Heyman (RISD faculty, Printmaking) has taught and lectured extensively. His prints and paintings, shown widely, are in public collections including the RISD Museum, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

This essay focuses on the main figurative documents representing the fortune of the agonistic activity practiced in Naples during the imperial age and inspired by the local famous Sebasta games. The contribution also presents an unpublished monument, a small marble base with prize crowns on relief, kept in the cloister of Saints Marcellino and Festo. Despite its origins are still uncertain, the find represents an important piece of evidence relating to the sporting memories of the Greco-Roman Neapolis.

Manual is a benefit of RISD Museum membership at the Friend and Radeke Society levels. It is also available for sale in RISD WORKS and online at risdworks.com. (cover) American Circus Poster, ca. 1850 Color woodcut on paper 71.1 × 59.7 cm. (28 × 23 ½ in.) (irregular) Museum Works of Art Fund 44.558.8

The enthusiasm of the population of Rome for chariot-races is attested both in written sources and in the iconographical record.  Among the latter the contorniates of the fourth and firth centuries AD occupy a special place.  The rich holdings of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid) form the basis for this review of different aspects of chariot-racing, including the purpose-built race-course and the monuments that decorated the central spina, depictions of races, and the names of winning charioteers and of their horses.  The evidence of the contorniates is compared with that derived from other sources and, in particular, that of mosaics.

Chariot races were the earliest, most popular, and longest-lived of all forms of ‘spectacles’ in the Roman world. This essay surveys the spatial and architectural framework of the Circus Maximus, the primary chariot racing venue at Rome, and circuses around the empire; the organization of the races, including the role of the factions; the symbolic representations of victories and athletic victors, as well as the charioteers’ actual prizes; and the horses that were bred for racing. Throughout I also briefly discuss the sport’s spectators and fans, for whom the sport was a socially binding religion.
The essay focuses on the first through the fourth centuries A.D., with the bulk of the evidence (literary, epigraphic, artistic, and archaeological) drawn from the first two centuries. In keeping with current directions in the study of ancient sport and spectacle, the approach adopted here places less emphasis on the legal and technical aspects of the chariot races (‘event-oriented sport history’) and more on these competitions as ‘part of a broader social canvas’ (the ‘social history of sport and spectacle’).

L'iconographie monétaire est une source documentaire extrêmement variée. De nombreux thèmes y sont exploités par les cités, notamment les sports et les athlètes. Dans cette étude nous analyserons l'utilisation de thèmes sportifs dans les monnayages antiques, principalement grec, mais également dans les monnayages romain et provincial. Parfois, l'utilisation d'une scène sportive est récurrente, et constitue le type principal de la cité comme c'est le cas à Aspendos, mais la plupart du temps, ce choix iconographique est ponctuel. Il peut servir à souligner une victoire aux jeux et à glorifier le vainqueur, à l'instar des odes de Pindare. Les tyrans de Sicile furent ainsi les premiers à mettre leur victoire en valeur à travers leurs monnayages. Du fait de sa large circulation, tant dans le temps que dans l'espace, la monnaie offrait ainsi un médium intéressant pour glorifier un vainqueur et diffuser leur exploit. Certains types commémoratifs qui apparurent sur les monnayages à la suite d'une victoire furent repris par d'autres cités et devinrent populaires. C'est le cas par exemple du quadrige en Sicile. Cependant, bien que certains types soient assurément à mettre en relation avec des victoires aux jeux, de nombreuses scènes ne peuvent être reliées directement avec un événement précis. Le cas particulier du monnayage d'Olympie, le seul monnayage associé avec des jeux panhelléniques, sera également abordé puisqu'il est en quelque sorte indissociable des sports.

Iconography on coinage is an extremely varied source of documentation. Many themes are used by cities, especially sports and athletes. In this study, we will analyze the use of sports themes in antique coinage, mainly Greek, but also Roman and provincial. At times, the use of a sports scene is recurring, and constitutes the city's main type, as is the case with Aspendos, but, most of the time, that iconographic choice is exceptional. It can be used to highlight a victory during games and glorify the winner, like Pindar's odes. Sicily's tyrants were thus the first to underscore their victory via their coinage. Given its circulation, both in time and space, money thus offered an interesting medium to glorify a winner and spread their exploit. Certain commemorative types that appeared on coinage after a victory were copied by other cities and became popular, such as the quadriga in Sicily. However, even though certain types can definitely be linked to victories in games, many scenes cannot be directly linked to a specific event. The particular case of the Olympian coinage, the only coinage associated with Panhellenic Games, will also be raised as it is, in a way, inseparable from sports.

This article examines a marble bust of a charioteer now in Budapest as well as one in Rome and reconstructs the previously overlooked genre to which they belong. First, it discusses the formal qualities of the two busts, including their materials, manufacture, and craftsmanship, and compares their imagery to representations of charioteers in bust form across visual media (i.e., graffiti, ivory figurines, lead weights, terracotta lamps, and freestanding sculptures). It then considers their social patronage and function, and seeks to reimagine the responses of their viewers—especially amongst the lower social orders, who were charioteers’ most passionate and partisan followers. In this way, the article aims to provide new insights into their graded hierarchies of material, form, style, and display—hierarchies which take on their full import when set within the wider context of the Roman economy of civic honors, sacred dedications, and funerary memorials.

Chariot races were the earliest, most popular, and longest-lived of all forms of ‘spectacles’ in the Roman world. This essay surveys the spatial and architectural framework of the Circus Maximus, the primary chariot racing venue at Rome, and circuses around the empire; the organization of the races, including the role of the factions; the symbolic representations of victories and athletic victors, as well as the charioteers’ actual prizes; and the horses that were bred for racing. Throughout I also briefly discuss the sport’s spectators and fans, for whom the sport was a socially binding religion.
The essay focuses on the first through the fourth centuries A.D., with the bulk of the evidence (literary, epigraphic, artistic, and archaeological) drawn from the first two centuries. In keeping with current directions in the study of ancient sport and spectacle, the approach adopted here places less emphasis on the legal and technical aspects of the chariot races (‘event-oriented sport history’) and more on these competitions as ‘part of a broader social canvas’ (the ‘social history of sport and spectacle’).

Tra il IV e il V secolo d.C, nonostante il veto opposto dalla Chiesa ufficiale alle antiche pratiche agonistiche e ludiche di tradizione pagana, la popolarità del pugilato è ancora alta a Roma. Lo confermano alcune lastre marmoree dell’epoca con incisioni di tema atletico, la cui natura estemporanea e spontanea testimonia l’evidente entusiasmo degli spettatori.

Between the IV and V century C.E., despite the veto of the official Church
against ancient competitive and combative practices from pagan tradition, boxing remained extremely popular in Rome. This is confirmed by marble slabs dating from the period with carvings on athletic themes, the extemporary  and  spontaneous nature of which witness the obvious enthusiasm of spectators for this sporting discipline.

Recent excavations in the site of Messene have unveiled numerous inscriptions from the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods that significantly increase our understanding of the agonistic life of the city. By utilizing this new set of evidence in this paper I examine patterns of athletic competition by Messenian athletes in panhellenic and local contests. Moreover, I explore victory commemoration practices in the urban landscape of Messene as a means to comprehend how the community acted out, in an institutionalized manner, its collective memory, identity, and historical consciousness. * Unless otherwise indicated, all ancient dates are bc.

i Sebasta di napoli furono istituiti in onore di Augusto come ringraziamento per aver aiutato la città sconvolta da un terremoto 1 . le feste si svolgevano tra agosto e settembre 2 e la data dell'istituzione è stata per molto tempo dibattuta, con un'oscillazione tra il 2 a.c. 3 e il 2 d.c. 4 si trattava di agoni isolimpici, equiparati cioè alle feste di olimpia, tanto nelle tipologie di specialità atletiche e ippiche che nella periodicità, con un ritmo, pertanto, penteterico o quinquennale, dal momento che ogni edizione si svolgeva nel quinto anno successivo alla precedente 5 . il programma dei Sebasta ci è noto da un'iscrizione frammentaria trovata a olimpia, che costituisce una copia del regolamento dei Sebasta, inviata al santuario olimpico 6 . 1 vell. ii 123; suet. aug. 98, 5; cass. dio lv 10, 9. 2 sulla posizione dei Sebasta nel calendario agonistico cfr. G. petzl -e. schwertheim, Hadrian und die dionysischen Künstler. Drei in alexandria troas neugefundene briefe des Kaisers an die Künstler-vereinigung, Bonn 2006, pp. 14-15, 75, 83. 3 cass. dio lv 10, 9. 4 calcolo basato su IG xiv 748 (e. miranda, Iscrizioni greche d'Italia. Napoli, i-ii, roma 1990-1995, i, n. 52). È possibile che la festa sia stata istituita nel 2 a.c. per poi essere celebrata per la prima volta nel 2 d.c., cfr. m.l. caldelli, L' Agon capitolinus. Storia e protagonisti dall'istituzione domizianea al iv secolo, roma 1993, p. 29. secondo dittenberger, invece -primo editore del regolamento di olimpia -la data di istituzione delle gare napoletane andava posta nel ii secolo d.c. ipotizzando che essa costituisse il risultato di una fusione tra due nuclei: l'originario, formato dall'agone ippico e ginnico e quello secondario, costituito dalle gare musicali e dal secondo agone ippico. non esistono, tuttavia, attestazioni che confermino quest'ipotesi. 5 sul regolamento degli Olympia si veda H.m. lee, the Program and Schedule of the ancient I culti della Campania antica. atti del Convegno internazionale di studi in ricordo di Nazarena Valenza Mele (Napoli, 15-17 maggio 1995), napoli 1998, pp. 237 ss. 15_Maia16,2_DiNanni.indd 399 23/08/16 17:24

Im Lapidarium des Schlosses Seggau, am Seggauberg bei Leibnitz, befindet sich oberhalb des linken Zugangs in den Korridor ein 0,3960,43 m großes Relieffragment 1 , in dem man zwei ringende Knaben erkannt hat (Abb. 1). Dem Stück, das bisher wenig Beachtung gefunden hat 2 , soll hier nun etwas mehr Aufmerksamkeit zuteilwerden.

Sol es ampliamente conocido iconográficamente por conducir la cuadriga solar de caballos. Desde muy temprano estuvo ligado a las carreras de carros en Roma, siendo esta divinidad su patrona, y contando incluso con un templo en el mismo recinto del Circo.
Debido a la distancia cronológica, no suele aceptarse una conexión directa de Sol Indiges (Roma republicana) con Sol Invictus, protector de los emperadores desde la segunda mitad del siglo III hasta Constantino. Pese a todo y más allá de las similitudes iconográficas a las que obliga la estética greco-romana, la vinculación a los ludi y carreras es un hecho para ambas deidades. Sea con Aureliano o con posteridad, los agones Solis citados por el emperador Juliano constituyen el cabo final de una misma línea religioso-deportiva. Podremos crear un puente sobre el vacío de 200 años entre ambas divinidades y establecer una vinculación directa si atendemos a diversos testimonios en la ciudad de Roma.
Existen muestras escultóricas de Sol como conductor del carro solar; y se conocen ejemplos numismáticos del Alto Imperio que muestran la vinculación con Sol del Circo Máximo (monedas de Marco Antonio, Trajano y Caracalla). Así mismo, las fuentes literarias siguen haciendo explícita la memoria de este dios vinculado a los ludi circenses durante la fase imperial (Tácito Ann.  XV 74). Otros hechos como la reconversión del Coloso de Nerón por Vespasiano o la política monetaria de Galieno en el siglo III (Weigel, “Gallienus ‘Animal Series’ Coins and Roman Religion”) en las series animales reafirman esta línea explicativa. Visto en conjunto, la religiosidad romana posee una idea continua que une dos dioses frecuentemente referidos como diferentes a través de la práctica deportiva.

Agonistic graffiti, containing texts and/or images related to sport training and competition, are attested in numerous cities of the Hellenistic and Roman world, especially in the Aegean islands and western Asia Minor. 1 Most of the known agonistic graffiti from Iasos, in their majority victory acclamations, were published by T. Reinach and other scholars in the 1890s while more specimens were recently published mainly by M. Nafissi. 2 Much of the early discussion on these and similar texts revolved around the location and the medium on which such graffiti were inscribed as well as whether they represented good wishes or congratulations after a victory. In this paper I revisit these texts in the light of practices of sport competition and victory commemoration in Iasos and Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. The high number of agonistic graffiti in Iasos is commensurate with a prevalent local culture of athletic competition that revolved around the city's gymnasia and promoted sport and euergetism as primary constituents of civic identity. Moreover, I argue that by inscribing victory acclamations in civic buildings and monuments for distinguished citizens, the authors of agonistic graffiti imprinted themselves into the commemorative landscape of Iasos through a process of reconfiguration of the meanings articulated by existing monuments.

In the rich epigraphic dossier found in one of the building sites of the new Naples metro are recorded the names of about 150 winners of Italika Rhomaia Sebastà Isolympia. The catalogs refer to at least four editions of the games, dating to the reign of Domitian, and allow us to reconstruct the careers of well-known athletes such as T. Flavius Artemidoros from Adana, Tiberius Claudius Artemidoros from Tralles, Titus Flavius Herakleides from Alexandria, Hermogenes from Xanthus. Among the names appears also that of the boxer [Mela]nkomas, maybe the same boxer known as a friend of Titus.

The Colosseum is well understood as a dynastic monument that was key to the Flavian building programme and to Flavian ideology. From this point of view it has been approached as the fulfilment of Augustus's ambition for a large-scale amphitheatre, as serving to diminish Nero's memory as it was constructed on the atrium of his dismantled Golden House, and as a victory monument built with the spoils of the Jewish War. One important political aspect of this dynastic monument has been largely overlooked: its connection with emperor worship. Outside Rome, it is well known that amphitheatres served as a venue for the procession and placement of imperial cult images; in Rome, the Circus Maximus and the theatres were venues for the display of imperial images and attributes brought in during their respective pompae. Through the deployment of textual, topographical and visual evidence, this article demonstrates that the Colosseum also had a pulvinar that displayed images and attributes of the gods and divi brought in during the pompa. The location of the pulvinar and the mechanisms by which it was serviced are explored, as are the ideological implications of cultic activity in the Colosseum.Il Colosseo è considerato un monumento dinastico, chiave del programma edilizio e dell'ideologia flavia. Da questo punto di vista è stato considerato in molti modi: compimento del desiderio di Augusto di un anfiteatro di grandi dimensioni, o ancora la sua edificazione è stata letta come volontà di oblio di Nerone, essendo stato costruito sull'atrio della demolita Domus Aurea e anche come monumento legato alla vittoria di un evento bellico, costruito con le prede della guerra giudaica. Tuttavia un importante aspetto politico di questo monumento dinastico è stato ampiamente tralasciato: la sua connessione con il culto imperiale. Al di fuori di Roma, è ben noto come gli anfiteatri servissero come sede per la processione e per collocarvi le immagini di culto imperiali. In Roma il Circo Massimo e i teatri erano sedi in cui venivano esibiti le immagini imperiali e gli attributi portati durante le rispettive pompae. Attraverso l'analisi di testi, fonti topografiche e iconografiche, il presente articolo dimostra come il Colosseo fosse fornito anche di un pulvinar, in cui venivano esposte immagini e attributi degli dei e divi portati nella processione. Vengono esaminati la localizzazione del pulvinar e il meccanismo di manutenzione, nonché le implicazioni ideologiche dell'attività cultuale all'interno del Colosseo.

Alături de alte produse ale toreuticii romane, statuetele de bronz au intrat de timpuriu în atenţia specialiştilor, care au realizat tipologii, catalogări, consideraţii iconografi ce şi cronologice 1 . Problema tehnicii de confecţionare şi mai ales a atelierelor în care au fost realizate aceste produse constituie de asemenea subiectul a importante studii şi cercetări, care au evidenţiat existenţa, alături de piese de import, originare din atelierele italice sau gallice, a numeroase potenţiale produse ale atelierelor locale de bronzieri sau ale meşterilor itineranţi care reproduceau modele importate 2 . Situaţia statuetelor de bronz şi mai ales a centrelor în care au fost produse este cu atât mai complexă cu cât ele puteau avea o durată îndelungată de utilizare, iar pe de altă parte, dimensiunile reduse permiteau transportarea lor la distanţe mari.

Nike statue in Neaples National Museum, founded in the center city in 1893 and dated to the early 1st century AD, is a different version of Paionios’ type reproductions and it belongs to one not local sculpture workshop. It was placed probably in a columned portico outside the southern urban walls.