Ancient Rome Gladiatorial Games: Historical Exploration and Cognitive Evolution
Speaker: Gao Fujin Location: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Online Classroom Lecture Time: April 2022
Roman Coliseum, also known as Colosseum , Roman Colosseum, can be said to be one of the world-famous ancient buildings that everyone here is familiar with. What we are discussing in today’s lecture is the gladiators who once used this place as an important stage.
gladiators are also known as sword gladiators. Gladiator matches in ancient Rome were roughly composed of three parts: gladiator performances between humans, "performances" that imposed dramatic death sentences on foreign prisoners of war or slaves, and beast-related fights (including human-beast fights or The fight between beasts). Gladiator competitions, which today seem to be extremely cruel activities, were once a joyful and enthusiastic entertainment activity for the ancient Romans in ancient Roman history, and lasted for about 700 years.
Gao Fujin is a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Teaching and Research Office of the Compendium of Modern Chinese History, School of Marxism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. To date, he has published more than 100 papers of various kinds; his works include "On the History of Western Culture", "Sun Worship and Sun Myths - A Worldwide Perspective of Primitive Culture", "Chronicles of Earth and Human Culture: A General History of Civilization", "By Exclusive" To the total: Western Etiquette, Customs and Culture", "Chinese Symbolic Culture Illustrations", "European Cultural History", "Research on Ancient Roman Gladiator Activities", etc.
A cruel historical memory
Gladiator matches in ancient Rome were originally fist fights between people, and later gradually developed into hand-to-hand combat between people and tigers, lions, bears, leopards, bison and other beasts. Later, in order to satisfy the Roman audience's demand for greater excitement, there was a life-and-death fight between gladiators: two gladiators fought each other with shields and weapons such as swords, tridents, and nets.
Academic circles have different views on the historical origin of Roman gladiatorial activities. The more common perception is that the Romans learned their formal gladiatorial activities from the Etruscans. The Etruscans originally held this kind of activity as a religious ceremony, with the purpose of paying tribute to the dead heroes. This bloody religious ceremony was considered a sacred and courageous act at the time. In 264 BC, during the First Punic War, the first official gladiatorial competition was held in Rome, with three pairs of gladiators participating. Soon, more and more Romans began to "invest" in this kind of gladiatorial competition. They held such ritual activities mainly to commemorate the dead and to increase the prestige of their own families. As time went on, the latter purpose became more prominent. The middle and late stages of in the Roman Republic were the gradual development stage of gladiatorial activities. By the late 1st century BC, which was the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire, Roman gladiatorial activities entered a prosperous stage. At this stage, as the free people of Rome became more and more enthusiastic about this activity, some great nobles and consuls funded gladiatorial competitions in order to win the support of citizens. Senate Nobles also compete with each other in gladiatorial competitions to gain more support and seek greater political reputation. The famous Caesar in Roman history also held many large-scale gladiatorial competitions to satisfy the preferences of Roman citizens. By the time of the Roman Empire around the 1st century AD, gladiatorial activities gradually lost their original religious significance and evolved into an important public entertainment activity for the ancient Romans. During this period, it was common for the ancient Romans to hold gladiatorial competitions alone, during Roman festivals, or together with beast races and chariot races. The gladiatorial fighting entertainment that the Romans loved gradually spread to the areas where Roman culture could be affected with the expansion and conquest of Rome, reaching an eye-catching height in terms of the number of participants and the scale of the arena.
Mosaic murals reflecting gladiators in ancient Rome. Data picture
At that time, wrestling matches between people could be subdivided into many types, the main ones being gladiatorial fights between two people and group fights.Gladiators who died in gladiatorial games were usually carried to the morgue, and the door of the morgue was called the door of the "Goddess of Death". After entering the morgue, the dead gladiators would be attacked again on their vital parts to ensure that they really died in the gladiatorial game and were not pretending to be dead.
Large-scale animal fighting performances are also part of the gladiatorial competition. According to records, in 169 BC, 63 African lions, cheetahs, 40 bears and several elephants were hunted in a gladiatorial show. Since wild animal resources were relatively abundant in the ancient Roman era, meeting the needs of gladiatorial competitions became one of the important purposes of hunting activities at that time. This directly led to an increasing demand for live rare beasts, so much so that many beasts in the areas ruled by Rome were killed. Catching light early even affected the local ecological balance, so people turned their hunting attention elsewhere. As the audience of gladiatorial matches needs fresher "excitement", new animal species including tigers, crocodiles, giraffes, lynxes, rhinos, ostriches, hippopotamus, etc. have been introduced into the Roman Arena to please the audience of gladiatorial matches. Later, the scale of this kind of animal fighting became larger and larger, with 400 or even 600 lions needed for a single game.
According to rough estimates, the ancient Romans' obsession with gladiatorial games lasted for about 700 years. Gladiatorial games also had an important impact on ancient Roman society.
Western scholars believe that the development of gladiatorial games actually stimulated the development of the Roman economy. However, during the Roman rule, the organizers of gladiatorial games, including the Senate nobles and the emperor, did not have the subjective intention of using gladiatorial games to stimulate the economy. Therefore, even to a certain extent, economic development is indeed related to gladiatorial games. The competition is nothing more than an objective promotion.
The gladiatorial competitions sought after by the ancient Romans were extremely cruel to the losers. But during the prosperous period of gladiatorial entertainment, watching gladiatorial games was a "noble" entertainment for the Romans at that time. Even Stoic representative and ancient Roman philosopher Cicero admitted that (gladiator games) this kind of entertainment is a good education. The Romans believed that it can cultivate a calm, brave, and aloof spirit. . Cicero's judgment is very different from the judgment under the perspective of modern civilization, and to some extent it reflects the ancient Romans' acceptance of gladiatorial games.
With the gradual decline of the Roman Empire, the gladiatorial competitions that were so popular for a while gradually came to the end of its history. In 325 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I banned gladiatorial games. Although for the ancient Romans, hundreds of years of inertia would not completely end with one order, several Roman emperors since then have successively issued decrees prohibiting gladiatorial games. This bloody game was finally abandoned before the fall of the Roman Empire. After 403 AD, gladiatorial games were no longer held in the Roman Coliseum.
The gladiator who died under the watch of the audience
As the protagonists of this cruel competition, the gladiators were mainly composed of prisoners of war, prisoners and specially trained slaves. They fought in the gladiatorial arena armed with shields and daggers to entertain the spectators.
"The Wrestler" (1853) by the French painter Gustave Courbet. Information picture
In the gladiatorial competition, there are two main ways for death row prisoners and various prisoners to enter the gladiatorial arena : one is a real gladiatorial competition, and the other is throwing them to wild beasts. The former is not necessarily a dead end, but the latter is certain. As early as the Republic, Roman law stipulated that prisoners sentenced to death after court trials were generally handed over to the arena to be "feasted" by wild beasts, and this process was "appreciated" by the audience. Those prisoners who committed serious crimes were not only sent to gladiatorial schools, but were also called "ghosts under the knife" or "beasts in China". They either became targets of heavily armed gladiators and were slaughtered, or were killed in groups. Vote to the hungry beast.
Slaves are also the main component of gladiators. They are called "gladiator slaves". We mentioned before that the first gladiatorial game held by the Romans in 264 BC, the gladiators were slaves.From the late Roman Republic to the Empire, the vast majority of students in specialized gladiatorial schools were slaves. The origin of slaves is more complicated: some of them were prisoners of war who became slaves. Among the victims of gladiatorial matches in the Roman Colosseum were prisoners of war from , Carthage, and other forces that failed in the war with Rome; some were abducted or kidnapped. And became slaves; some were plundered by pirates; others were sold by their owners - the later Roman Emperor Hadrian once issued a decree in response to this situation, restricting these sold slaves from entering gladiatorial schools. , unless the slave consents or enters by sin.
Romans, including free citizens , nobles and even emperors, often directly participated in this carnival-style competitive entertainment. In the late Republic, the Romans' gladiatorial entertainment gradually prospered, and there were already members of the gladiators who entered the arena voluntarily rather than being forced. According to the research of scholar George Weir, "most gladiators of this period went to the gladiatorial arena motivated by profit." Many Roman freedmen sold themselves as gladiators in order to gain considerable prize money, as well as enviable group respect and admiration. Of course, some of them are out of madness. A poet in the era of Tiberius once said that those who sell themselves to die in the gladiatorial arena have made themselves their own enemies even in the absence of war. According to the data, the Roman Emperor Caligula was initially so well-supported that “when he fell ill, people gathered around the palace for several nights, and some even swore they were willing to act as gladiators and participate in gladiatorial performances.” Two famous tyrants in Roman history, Nero and Commodus, also entered the arena many times. The Roman Emperor Commodus fought many gladiatorial battles in the Colosseum and was always the “winner.” Although Commodus was said to be merciless in official and public competitions, according to contemporary historian Cassius , during private contests at home, Commodus often saw blood with his sword, killing or maiming him. Many opponents.
There has been a lot of discussion about whether there were female gladiators in history. Now through archaeological and documentary research, we can confirm that female gladiators existed. Female gladiators appeared later in history. During the Roman Empire, gladiatorial games were fought between female gladiators and between female gladiators and others. The Roman historian Tacitus recorded this information more than once; the two Roman emperors Nero and Domitian once held gladiatorial matches in which women participated. One source of archaeological information is the ancient Roman female gladiator artifacts unearthed in Halicarnassus, Türkiye. However, due to the cognition and customs of the time, female gladiators were banned in many cases. For example, in 200 AD, the Roman Emperor Severus banned women from participating in gladiatorial competitions.
As gladiatorial games became increasingly popular among the Romans, certain charismatic gladiators became heroes in the eyes of the Romans. The ancient Romans worshiped warriors and honored gladiators who displayed great courage. Relevant carvings from the ruins of Pompeii in ancient Rome record a popular gladiator at that time: "Celadus, three times winner, three times champion, Prince Charming in the eyes of young girls." There was even a custom at that time. —If a Roman bride was to part her hair with a spear, she had better do it with a spear soaked in the blood of a failed and slain gladiator.
According to researchers' estimates, approximately 700,000 people died in the Colosseum during the hundreds of years when Roman gladiatorial competitions were popular. Most of them were young people with an average age of 18 to 25 years old. They died in front of spectators at gladiatorial games, and their bodies were carried out through the gates of the Roman Empire's grandest gladiatorial arena, just for the amusement of the spectators.
Behind the popularity of gladiatorial competitions
The gladiatorial activities held by the ancient Romans not only brought us a cruel historical memory, but also brought us many enlightenments. We can try to dig into and understand this issue from more angles - why did the Romans fall so passionately in love with this entertainment project.
In order to explain this problem, we need to pay attention to various relevant factors such as the economic, social, and cultural background of the Roman era.
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy (photo taken in 2013). Xinhua News Agency published
Historian Edward Gibbon condemned this inhumane gladiatorial entertainment in History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . He called it "a kind of entertainment that was justly justified by the laws and customs of Rome." Denounced as the most despicable profession.” The British poet Byron was particularly famous for his condemnation of gladiatorial games. Byron could not tolerate the ancient Romans who found pleasure in this game of bloodshed and death. He shouted angrily: "Come on! Goths, vent your anger. The rage!” Experts on contemporary Roman gladiators linked the rise and fall of gladiator competitions to the final demise of the Roman Empire. Scholar Roland Auguste believes that the Romans had long been accustomed to slavery and that slaves had no dignity at all. “The Romans recognized these strange moral norms, which is naturally something we strongly condemn... Because of this, Rome fell. … seems more terrible than death itself”.
also believes that this is a spiritual reflection of the Roman expansion period. For the ancient Romans, their lives were always connected with the process of conquest, which allowed entertainment such as gladiatorial games to arise naturally. The entertainment of gladiatorial games was so fashionable in ancient Rome that it quickly spread throughout the empire. According to the records of the Roman historian Tacitus, during the reign of the famous Roman tyrant Nero, gladiatorial performances were often held, and the "Neronia" games named after him included such activities. The summary of Otto Kiefer, a researcher on the history of Roman culture, may explain to a certain extent why the Romans did not object to gladiatorial entertainment at that time - even "many elegant and open-minded philosophers, such as Cicero and Tassi Tuo and Seneca (also did not object)...Under the rule of the Roman emperors, the whole society was interested in gladiatorial games."
In addition to various direct reasons, Roman nobles and emperors frequently held gladiatorial games, which was undoubtedly a political need. For example, by attracting Roman citizens to watch the games to win more support, the Roman emperor also used this to win over and control the Roman people. . As the American scholar Ellison Futrell said: "The arena laid the cornerstone of a complex political ritual. It does not mean sugar-coating to cover up coercion so much, but it is a realistic performance by the Roman rulers themselves. "Rituals in the arena were a way for the emperor to control through direct changes in personal attitudes, in order to create and manipulate popular emotional responses and re-formulate the orders of the ruling class."
There are also some psychological perspectives that try to draw from this. To explain this issue from the perspective of human nature. For example, the ancient Romans' admiration for heroes also became the spiritual boost for their pursuit of gladiatorial games. A large number of records show that even in the bloody and cruel environment of the Roman Colosseum, there were still "groupies" similar to today's. In order to increase their popularity, gladiators at that time would have their own "stage names", such as "The Fighter" and "The Tiger". Obsessed spectators in ancient Rome eagerly awaited the appearance of their star warriors in the games. At the Colosseum, Rome's largest arena, many gladiatorial fans could watch the action standing or from a hill overlooking the Coliseum. At that time, many Romans came here before dawn in order to have a seat. In the surviving Roman mosaics, there are also descriptions of young women expressing reverence to gladiator stars with palm branches symbolizing victory and wearing garlands on their heads. For another example, does the ancient Romans' enthusiasm for gladiatorial games come from some kind of subconscious acceptance of violent stimulation by human nature? Some views in modern behavioral science believe that aggression, seeking excitement, and pursuing pleasure are also part of human nature, and modern social mechanisms, legal systems, moral habits, etc. are all effectively controlling and distracting these human natures. On the contrary, it can be inferred that in the Roman era before these mechanisms were established and perfected, these negative parts naturally waited for the gap to explode, and eventually evolved into people's enthusiasm for gladiatorial games in the Roman era.
looks at it from a historical perspective. Each era has its own cultural background.The ancient Romans' enthusiasm for gladiators cannot be completely measured and judged by today's moral standards. Of course, not criticizing the ancients does not mean that we can condone today's people. The demise of cruel gladiatorial games itself is a coordinate for the development of human civilization. The biggest inspiration it gives to modern people is the hidden meaning in popular entertainment of different eras. There are certain elements of cruelty that must be constantly alerted to.
Chinese people’s understanding and research of ancient Roman gladiatorial competitions
Throughout history and research process, Chinese people’s understanding of ancient Roman gladiatorial games has experienced a “point, line, and surface” acceptance and dissemination process. This process has gone through for hundreds of years.
In the 13th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1674 AD), Nan Huairen, a missionary in China, wrote "Kunyu Tushuo", which mentioned the Roman Colosseum and illustrated it with a drawing. He called it the "Roman Arena", and The description of the Colosseum in "Kunyu Atlas" is naturally accompanied by the knowledge of gladiators: "The Roman Palace in Europe, Italy, and Asia built a public playground, with an oval shape and surrounding buildings. It is a four-story building with a height of more than 22 feet, all built with beautiful stones. The path of the open space is 76 feet. Under the building, various beasts are kept in multiple dens. During public entertainment, the beasts are released to fight with each other. It is a round platform with layers connected to each other, several feet high, and can accommodate 87,000 people. Each has its own walking path, without blocking each other. This place has been in existence since 1,600 years ago. After the publication of Atlas of Maps, it had a great influence at that time and was included in the "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" compiled by the officials of the Qing Dynasty. The historical facts of the Roman Colosseum and gladiators have gradually entered the Chinese people's horizons.
Later, Fan Shouyi, a native of Shanxi, traveled to Europe during the Kangxi period and left behind a travel diary " Personal Experience Record ", which also recorded his impressions of visiting the Colosseum, the former stage for gladiators. He described that there was "a house in Rome at that time, which was neither a palace nor a temple. Its rooms were like towers, round in shape, with five floors connected up and down. There were more than 10,000 rooms. You can see from the windows around it that it was a place where lions were kept in ancient times. Now it has collapsed. Half of it."
In the writings of Nan Huairen and Fan Shouyi, the main function of the Colosseum was to raise wild beasts. Therefore, it may be inferred that their attention to historical gladiatorial games was more focused on the fighting of wild beasts. The Chinese people's cognitive tendency toward gladiatorial games lasted until the late Qing Dynasty. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, Guo Liancheng, a Hubei native, traveled to Rome. In his book "Journey to the West", he recorded his visit to the Colosseum, which also mentioned that the Colosseum was used as an "animal enclosure" in ancient Rome. .
After the founding of New China, scholars had a broader understanding of Roman gladiators, and their focus on gladiatorial games began to lean more towards the cruelty of the games. In the 1970s, due to the academic attention at that time to the Spartacus uprising (later translated as Spartacus), the cruelty of Roman gladiatorial games, especially the tragic experience of gladiatorial slaves, was further understood and understood at that time. spread, and two popular and introductory books "Spartacus" and "The Story of Spartacus" appeared.
And The Commercial Press The translated works on the history and characters of ancient Rome in the "Chinese Translation Academic Masterpieces" series also had an impact on subsequent research, such as "Chronicles", "History" and "History" by the Roman historian Tacitus. The Life of Agricola ", Livy 's "History from the Founding of the City", Plutarch 's "Biography of Greek and Roman Famous People", Suetonius 's "The Life of the Twelve Emperors of Rome ", etc., all present some of the contents of ancient Roman entertainment activities and sports competitions, including gladiatorial competitions, and have become the main original documents cited by domestic and foreign researchers in modern times.
Since the 1990s, linear dissemination, systematic introduction and even research on historical facts related to gladiators have gradually appeared. Monographs on the history of Rome were published one after another during this period, including "Roman Culture and Classical Tradition" by Zhu Longhua, "Outline of Roman History" by Yang Gongle, "History of Ancient Rome" by Li Yashu and Yang Gongle, and "Research on the Social Economy of Rome" by Yang Gongle wait.
Entering the 21st century, domestic monographs on the study of gladiators have also appeared, such as "Gladiators: Memory of a Cruel History" co-authored by Hou Hongying and I.With the continuous expansion and deepening of world history special research, the translation and introduction work on Roman history is also advancing rapidly. There are more translations of historical figures related to gladiatorial activities, including David Short's "Tiberius". "and "Constantine the Great" by Hans Bolsander (both translated by Xu Shounan, 2001), "The Roman Emperor Nero" by Arthur Wegor (translated by Wang Yizhu, 2003), "Nero" by David Short (translated by Li Dan and Zhao Beibei, 2003), "Critical Biography of Caesar" by Sergey Le Utchenko (translated by Wang Yizhu, 2010), " August" by John Williams Sidu " (translated by Zheng Yuantao, 2018) and so on. Monographs and translations of literary theories about gladiators and their activities have also appeared one after another, such as "Gladiator: The Deadliest Game in History" by [Dutch] Fike Major (translated by Li Xiaojun , 2009), [English] John Marama's "Gladiators: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome" (translated by Xiao Huan, 2003), [US] David Porter's "Victor's Crown: A History of Athletics from Homer to the Byzantine Era" (translated by Cao Zhengdong) , 2017), [English] Philip Matysek's "Gladiator" (translated by Cao Ning, 2021), etc. According to incomplete statistics, since the 21st century, no less than 50 books on Roman history and its special topics have been translated. Domestic research on
has been fruitful in the past ten years, showing a series of "flat" results. Academic research and public interest complement each other and complement each other. The popularization of research on cultural history, coupled with the development of the Internet since the 21st century, has also increased the public influence of gladiator-related topics, thereby promoting further academic exploration of this topic. Research on a series of subdivided contents such as "whether women participated in gladiatorial games", "consumers of gladiatorial activities" and "how gladiatorial entertainment went to various provinces in the Mediterranean region" have appeared one after another.
However, comparing many monographs and related monographs at home and abroad, compared with the gladiatorial activities that lasted for seven centuries in history, there are some shortcomings in research due to the lack of original data. For example, some specific topics require in-depth exploration, regional horizontal comparative studies are relatively rare, and there are few evaluations from different disciplines and perspectives of the times. Specifically, the first is the analysis of the reasons for the changes in the status of gladiators, the in-depth exploration of the essential reasons for the rise and fall of gladiatorial activities, and the analysis of the general environment during the Roman Empire. The second is the evaluation of different perspectives of gladiatorial activities and the ancient and modern perspectives. Rather lacking.
In terms of research trends, on the basis of the continuous excavation and research of new archaeological data (including inscription data), currently foreign scholars (mainly the United States, Italy, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, etc.) are relatively concentrated in the field of cultural history The subtle details, such as inscriptions, lamps and other cultural relics related to gladiatorial activities, have become important circumstantial evidence for thematic research. With the deepening of research, especially with the discovery and compilation of new inscription data, new topics and details about gladiators have become research hotspots. Most of this content is still in the introduction stage in our country and needs to be further refined and Dig deeper.
" Guangming Daily " (Page 10, June 18, 2022)
Source: Guangming.com - "Guangming Daily"
