DOCSLIB.ORG

Fpuscholarworks

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fpuscholarworks FPUScholarWorks When they make a desert, they call it peace: the timing of Judean and Roman identity formation in the first century. Author(s): Honora Howell Chapman. Source: Pacific Journal 7 (2012): 1-17. Publisher: Fresno Pacific University. Stable URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11418/536 FPUScholarWorks is an online repository for creative and scholarly works and other resources created by members of the Fresno Pacific University community. FPUScholarWorks makes these resources freely available on the Web and assures their preservation for the future. When They Make a Desert, They Call it Peace: The Timing of Judean and Roman Identity Formation in the First Century HONORA HOWELL CHAPMAN Introduction Timing is everything, according to the old adage. Yet in the fi eld of classical studies there is a real hesitation to see a correspondence between the Judean rebellion against Rome in 66 C.E. and the literature and monuments produced at Rome subsequently, except when a Roman author explicitly mentions the ru- ined city of Jerusalem or one of its refugees (such as the Judean priest and gen- eral turned historian, Josephus), or when discussing the Arch of Titus, which displays obvious artifacts from the temple in Jerusalem. More subtle echoes of the effects of this war are diffi cult to prove when doing analysis of the Ro- man texts, since classics scholars are less apt to apprehend veiled references to Judean affairs in any text, especially canonical works such as the writings of Tacitus. It is as if classicists today were channeling Tertullian, with a slight al- teration: “What indeed has Rome [instead of ‘Athens’] to do with Jerusalem?”1 A lot, it turns out, and timing is everything. Tacitus’s most famous phrase about Roman imperialism, “When they make a desert, they call it peace,” offers an excellent opportunity to analyze how tim- ing might, partially at least, explain its inspiration and meaning. This senatorial historian survived the murderous reign of Domitian towards the end of the fi rst century to enjoy the relative calm and success of the empire under Nerva and Trajan at the very end of the fi rst into the early part of the second century. The war in Judea lingered as a memory throughout the careers of all three of these emperors, with Domitian commemorating the triumph of his dead brother Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem, on the famous Arch, while also allowing strip-searches of men to see if they were Judean and thus liable to pay the post- war tax. Nerva, however, advertised on coins that he was rescinding the power of false accusations made against people in order to force them to pay the 1 Pacifi c Journal post-war tax into the Fiscus Iudaicus, while Trajan eventually had to deal with a rebellion involving Judeans in Cyrene in 116 C.E. that echoed the troubles of decades before. Tacitus surely experienced the events related to the Judeans fi rst-hand at Rome, where he served as a senator from the time of Domitian’s father, Vespasian, and wrote his fi ve works. In one of these, his Histories, he displays his knowledge about the Judean people and their mores at the begin- ning of Book Five, but sadly the text is abruptly lost during his description of the siege of Jerusalem and the counterpart revolt of Civilis in Germany2 . Suf- fi ce it to say that Tacitus lived through these times and clearly recognized that the Judeans, whom we nowadays call the Jews, were part of the history of his own people, the Romans3 . It is in his earliest text that we fi nd Tacitus’s denunciation of Roman impe- rialism, a biography of his father-in-law, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, published around 98 C.E.4 The scene comes when Agricola is leading a military expedi- tion into modern day Scotland where he is about to encounter the local warriors at Mons Graupius. Tacitus allows the Caledonian chief Calgacus to rally the troops with a scathing indictment of Roman actions in Britain. The “cynical,” as Martin Goodman calls him, Roman senator is putting these words into the enemy’s mouth;5 there were no transcripts of any Caledonian speech, so we are left with a Roman senator creating a speech for an enemy character ranting in hyper-eloquent rhetoric against the Roman army. Calgacus states: Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our position, I have a sure confi dence that this day, and this union of yours, will be the beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain….But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks, and the yet more terrible Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifl e the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; nei- ther the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among 2 When They Make a Desert, They Call it Peace men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; when they make a desert, they call it peace.6 “Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.” With such damning words the Roman historian Tacitus allows the enemy Caledonian chief Calgacus to sum up the devastating nature of Roman imperialism. Scholars of the text of the Ag- ricola, Ogilvie and Richmond, have supplied a fi ne commentary on this most famous Tacitean aphorism, citing the writings of Quintus Curtius on Alexander the Great’s actions in Asia, and Pliny the Elder on what the Roman military did not do in Ethiopia, as providing parallel lines and possibly inspiration.7 A. D. Bosworth more recently has argued for the sustained infl uence of Curtius as a source for this line among many others in Tacitus.8 Curtius and Pliny, however, do not pair the idea of making a desert with the concept of calling it peace. Instead of looking at these Latin literary sources alone, I would like to examine the timing and historical context of this aphorism with respect to how the Ro- mans monumentalized their wars, including the war in Judea. When commenting on this passage in the Agricola, Ogilvie and Richmond point to Augustus’s Ara Pacis, or Altar of Peace, and Roman coinage depicting Pax “as lately as A.D. 80” as physical representations for this line in Tacitus, though they never explain why coinage of Pax was minted in this era.9 We can expand a bit more with respect to the Augustan monuments to peace and then carry this through to the Flavian era and the construction of the Temple of Peace, a remarkable monument to the Judean war built with an eye towards the Augustan regime and as a way of solidifying a new Flavian dynasty’s hold on power. Diana Spencer has argued in her 2011 book, Roman Landscape, that Ro- mans of the early empire formed their identities as citizens through the cultiva- tion and manipulation of the land into landscape.10 We should take her argu- ment one step further and examine how Romans understood their power to destroy such landscapes in other regions as part of their identity formation. 3 Pacifi c Journal By monumentalizing Peace/Pax after the total destruction of an enemy and an enemy’s land, Romans reshaped landscape both at the site of battle and back home in the capital as well, bringing the conquests home, so to speak. The Judean historian Josephus’s account of the revolt in Judea is a primary witness to the Roman propensity to turn a place into a desert in the name of “peace.” For several years before and after the dedication of the Temple of Peace in 75 C.E., Josephus wrote his history of the war, articulating the effects of Roman military might in terms related to the landscape of Judea that we fi nd in Calgacus’s speech: the “desert” as an image of war’s destructive nature, es- pecially when waged by Romans. The desert, however, plays a different role in the Judean scriptural tradition and identity formation, one celebrating the des- ert as a place of prophecy and even salvation for the Judean people. Josephus melds his interpretation of this scriptural tradition with the ambivalent Roman vision of its imperial mission, as described later in Tacitus. This blend of cultur- al identities formed in landscape culminates in Josephus’s text out in the desert at Masada just as it does physically at the Temple of Peace in Rome. The tim- ing of this temple’s dedication and the publication of Josephus’s Judean War in the late 70’s to early 80’s have never been taken into account when discussing infl uences on Tacitus creating his most famous aphorism on imperialism.11 The time has come for a deeper examination of the historical context. Monumentalizing War and Peace12 When Titus Flavius Vespasianus gained control of Rome after defeating two internal enemies, his competitors in the Roman civil war of 69 and the Judeans in the east, the emperor faced a challenge quite similar to that of Octavian ex- actly one hundred years before: how to represent this double victory through monuments. In some respects, the ensuing pax Flavia was a response to, an emulation of, and perhaps even a competition with the historical precedent of the pax Augusta and its monuments.13 In a recent popularizing book, The Archaeology of War, the editors imply the similarity between Octavian and Vespasian when they cleverly embed a 4 When They Make a Desert, They Call it Peace feature box on monuments to the fi rst-century Judean War, the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum, into a chapter on “The Spoils of Actium” set up by Oc- tavian in Greece.14 In the main body of this chapter, the authors Murray and Petsas discuss a massive war memorial dedicated by Octavian in 29 B.C.E.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Waters of Rome Journal
    TIBER RIVER BRIDGES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF ROME Rabun Taylor [email protected] Introduction arly Rome is usually interpreted as a little ring of hilltop urban area, but also the everyday and long-term movements of E strongholds surrounding the valley that is today the Forum. populations. Much of the subsequent commentary is founded But Rome has also been, from the very beginnings, a riverside upon published research, both by myself and by others.2 community. No one doubts that the Tiber River introduced a Functionally, the bridges in Rome over the Tiber were commercial and strategic dimension to life in Rome: towns on of four types. A very few — perhaps only one permanent bridge navigable rivers, especially if they are near the river’s mouth, — were private or quasi-private, and served the purposes of enjoy obvious advantages. But access to and control of river their owners as well as the public. ThePons Agrippae, discussed traffic is only one aspect of riparian power and responsibility. below, may fall into this category; we are even told of a case in This was not just a river town; it presided over the junction of the late Republic in which a special bridge was built across the a river and a highway. Adding to its importance is the fact that Tiber in order to provide access to the Transtiberine tomb of the river was a political and military boundary between Etruria the deceased during the funeral.3 The second type (Pons Fabri- and Latium, two cultural domains, which in early times were cius, Pons Cestius, Pons Neronianus, Pons Aelius, Pons Aure- often at war.
    [Show full text]
  • Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal Timothy Hanford Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/427 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by TIMOTHY HANFORD A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 ©2014 TIMOTHY HANFORD All Rights Reserved ii This dissertation has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Classics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Ronnie Ancona ________________ _______________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Dee L. Clayman ________________ _______________________________ Date Executive Officer James Ker Joel Lidov Craig Williams Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract SENECAN TRAGEDY AND VIRGIL’S AENEID: REPETITION AND REVERSAL by Timothy Hanford Advisor: Professor Ronnie Ancona This dissertation explores the relationship between Senecan tragedy and Virgil’s Aeneid, both on close linguistic as well as larger thematic levels. Senecan tragic characters and choruses often echo the language of Virgil’s epic in provocative ways; these constitute a contrastive reworking of the original Virgilian contents and context, one that has not to date been fully considered by scholars.
    [Show full text]
  • ROMAN ARCHITEXTURE: the IDEA of the MONUMENT in the ROMAN IMAGINATION of the AUGUSTAN AGE by Nicholas James Geller a Dissertatio
    ROMAN ARCHITEXTURE: THE IDEA OF THE MONUMENT IN THE ROMAN IMAGINATION OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE by Nicholas James Geller A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Classical Studies) in the University of Michigan 2015 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Basil J. Dufallo, Chair Associate Professor Ruth Rothaus Caston Professor Bruce W. Frier Associate Professor Achim Timmermann ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of many people both within and outside of academia. I would first of all like to thank all those on my committee for reading drafts of my work and providing constructive feedback, especially Basil Dufallo and Ruth R. Caston, both of who read my chapters at early stages and pushed me to find what I wanted to say – and say it well. I also cannot thank enough all the graduate students in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan for their support and friendship over the years, without either of which I would have never made it this far. Marin Turk in Slavic Languages and Literature deserves my gratitude, as well, for reading over drafts of my chapters and providing insightful commentary from a non-classicist perspective. And I of course must thank the Department of Classical Studies and Rackham Graduate School for all the financial support that I have received over the years which gave me time and the peace of mind to develop my ideas and write the dissertation that follows. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………………iv ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………....v CHAPTER I.
    [Show full text]
  • Los Ludi En La Roma Arcaica
    Martínez-Pinna, Jorge Los ludi en la Roma arcaica De Rebus Antiquis Año 2 Nº 2, 2012 Este documento está disponible en la Biblioteca Digital de la Universidad Católica Argentina, repositorio institucional desarrollado por la Biblioteca Central “San Benito Abad”. Su objetivo es difundir y preservar la producción intelectual de la institución. La Biblioteca posee la autorización del autor para su divulgación en línea. Cómo citar el documento: Martínez-Pinna, Jorge. “Los ludi en la Roma arcaica” [en línea], De Rebus Antiquis, 2 (2012). Disponible en: http://bibliotecadigital.uca.edu.ar/repositorio/revistas/los-ludi-roma-arcaica-pinna.pdf [Fecha de consulta:..........] (Se recomienda indicar fecha de consulta al final de la cita. Ej: [Fecha de consulta: 19 de agosto de 2010]). DE REBUS ANTIQUIS Año II, Núm. 2 / 2012 ISSN 2250-4923 LOS LUDI EN LA ROMA ARCAICA* DR. JORGE MARTÍNEZ-PINNA Universidad de Málaga Abstract: This paper it is discussed the public games held in Rome during the monarchy. Its creation is due to religious causes, related to fertility (Consualia, ludi Taurei) or to war (Equirria, equus October). The religious and politic fulfillment of the games materializes in the ludi Romani, introduced by King Tarquinius Priscus. It is also considered the so called lusus Troiae, equestrian game exclusive for young people, and likewise with an archaic origin. Key words: Archaic Rome; Games; King. Resumen: En este artículo se analizan los juegos públicos celebrados en Roma durante el período monárquico. Su creación obedece a motivos religiosos, en relación a la fecundidad (Consualia, ludi Taurei) o a la guerra (Equirria, equus October).
    [Show full text]
  • The Idea of the Labyrinth
    ·THE IDEA OF · THE LABYRINTH · THE IDEA OF · THE LABYRINTH from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages Penelope Reed Doob CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. Copyright © 1990 by Cornell University First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1992 Second paperback printing 2019 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-8014-2393-2 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-3845-6 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-3846-3 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-5017-3847-0 (epub/mobi) Librarians: A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress An open access (OA) ebook edition of this title is available under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by- nc-nd/4.0/. For more information about Cornell University Press’s OA program or to download our OA titles, visit cornellopen.org. Jacket illustration: Photograph courtesy of the Soprintendenza Archeologica, Milan. For GrahamEric Parker worthy companion in multiplicitous mazes and in memory of JudsonBoyce Allen and Constantin Patsalas Contents List of Plates lX Acknowledgments: Four Labyrinths xi Abbreviations XVll Introduction: Charting the Maze 1 The Cretan Labyrinth Myth 11 PART ONE THE LABYRINTH IN THE CLASSICAL AND EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIODS 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Theatricality of Naumachiae Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis
    Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of Theatre Studies Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis 2018 Lucia Steltenpohlová Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of Theatre Studies Theatre Theory and History Lucia Steltenpohlová Theatricality of Naumachiae Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Eliška Poláčková, Ph. D. 2018 Declaration Hereby I declare that this paper is my original authorial work, which I have worked out on my own. All sources, references, and literature used or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly cited and listed in complete reference to the due source. Lucia Steltenpohlová i ii Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Eliška Poláčková Ph.D., for all her professional support and enthusiasm with which she guided me throughout the process of research as well as writing of this thesis, for all the corrections and comments, for her patience. To all the staff of the department of Theatre studies for constantly broadening my horizons. A big thank you to my friends, namely the wonderful future doctor Simona Halajová and German language mage Bc. Andrea Bukovská, who had to listened to my theatre talk and did not complain the least bit. To Bc. Viktor Solík, for using his remarkable informatics skills to help me in the process of putting the formalities of this thesis together (and for teaching me that there are far too many names for brackets). To Michal Solčiansky, for cooking for me when I needed it the most. Last but not least a huge thanks to my family, for all that you have done and still do for me.
    [Show full text]
  • Calendar of Roman Events
    Introduction Steve Worboys and I began this calendar in 1980 or 1981 when we discovered that the exact dates of many events survive from Roman antiquity, the most famous being the ides of March murder of Caesar. Flipping through a few books on Roman history revealed a handful of dates, and we believed that to fill every day of the year would certainly be impossible. From 1981 until 1989 I kept the calendar, adding dates as I ran across them. In 1989 I typed the list into the computer and we began again to plunder books and journals for dates, this time recording sources. Since then I have worked and reworked the Calendar, revising old entries and adding many, many more. The Roman Calendar The calendar was reformed twice, once by Caesar in 46 BC and later by Augustus in 8 BC. Each of these reforms is described in A. K. Michels’ book The Calendar of the Roman Republic. In an ordinary pre-Julian year, the number of days in each month was as follows: 29 January 31 May 29 September 28 February 29 June 31 October 31 March 31 Quintilis (July) 29 November 29 April 29 Sextilis (August) 29 December. The Romans did not number the days of the months consecutively. They reckoned backwards from three fixed points: The kalends, the nones, and the ides. The kalends is the first day of the month. For months with 31 days the nones fall on the 7th and the ides the 15th. For other months the nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th.
    [Show full text]
  • Naumachie De Titus” Gérald Cariou
    Projet ”Naumachie de Titus” Gérald Cariou To cite this version: Gérald Cariou. Projet ”Naumachie de Titus”. Virtual Retrospect 2003, Robert Vergnieux, Nov 2003, Biarritz, France. pp.44-50. hal-01741936 HAL Id: hal-01741936 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01741936 Submitted on 23 Mar 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Version en ligne Tiré-à-part des Actes du colloque Virtual Retrospect 2003 Biarritz (France) 6 et 7 novembre 2003 Vergnieux R. et Delevoie C., éd. (2004), Actes du Colloque Virtual Retrospect 2003, Archéovision 1, Editions Ausonius, Bordeaux G. Cariou Project “Titus Naumachia” . pp. 44-50 Conditions d’utilisation : l’utilisation du contenu de ces pages est limitée à un usage personnel et non commercial. Tout autre utilisation est soumise à une autorisation préalable. Contact : [email protected] http://archeovision.cnrs.fr Virtual Retrospect 2003 November 6, 7 PROJET “NAUMACHIE DE TITUS” Gérald Cariou Centre de Recherche sur l’Antiquité et les Mythes (CERLAM) Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines de Caen Basse-Normandie Université de Caen, Esplanade de la Paix 14032 Caen Cedex [email protected] Abstract : A team of scientists, artists and computer graphics Mots clés : Rome Antique – Naumachie – modélisation – designers are working on a short film showing the greatest images de synthèse.
    [Show full text]
  • Augustus Program and Abstracts
    Program Monday 29 September 2014 8.30-9.20: Registration (CCANESA, Madsen Building, University of Sydney) Sessions are held in the Oriental Studies Room unless otherwise specified. 9.20-9.50: Welcome: Professor Barbara Caine, Head of the School (SOPHI) Session 1 Chair: Associate Professor Bruce Marshall (Macquarie University) 9.50-10.40: Professor Gregory Rowe (University of Victoria, BC): A Commemoration of Commemorations: the Res Gestae in the context of Augustan epigraphy 10.40-11.20: Dr Richard Westall (Catholic University of America, Rome Campus): Copies of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti and the eastern tour of Germanicus 11.20-11.50 Morning tea (CCANESA, Madsen Building) Session 2 Chair: Dr Ben Brown (University of Sydney) 11.50-12.30: Ms Paulina Komar (University of Wrocław, Poland and University of Liverpool, UK): Consumption boom in Italy in the Augustan age – causes and consequences 12.30-1.10: Mr James Donaldson (University of Queensland): Herod and Augustus: the politics of marriage 1 1.10-2.30: Lunch (CCANESA, Madsen Building) Session 3 Chair: Dr Lea Beness (Macquarie University) 2.30-3.10: Dr Hannah Mitchell (University of Warwick): Monumentalising aristocratic achievement in triumviral Rome: Octavian’s competition with his peers 3.10-3.50: Dr Frederik Vervaet (University of Melbourne): Subsidia dominationi: the early careers of Tiberius and Drusus revisited 3.50-4.30: Mr Martin Stone (University of Sydney): Marcus Agrippa: Republican statesman or dynastic fodder? 4.30-5.00: Afternoon tea (CCANESA, Madsen Building) Session
    [Show full text]
  • The Flavian Amphitheater Bread and Circuses
    THE NEW JERSEY ITALIAN HERITAGE COMMISSION The Flavian Amphitheater Bread and Circuses Grade Level: 6-12 Subjects: World History / United States History / Law / Language Arts / World Languages Categories: History and Society Standards: Please see page 7 of the lesson plan for complete New Jersey Student Learning Standards alignment. Objectives: Students will be able to: 1. explain why Vespasian decided to build the magnificent Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum. 2 determine why Vespasian wanted to give the plebeians games and circuses to distract them. 3. infer that slavery and the nonproductively and unemployment with the plebeians ranks served as a perpetual problem for Rome. Abstract: The lesson focuses on Caesar Vespasian’s and his son Caesar Titus’ desire to build a great monument to honor the Emperor and to keep the plebeians amused and content at the games. The lesson also highlights the ineffectiveness of slavery in a society. Key Terms: Patricians Latin The Roman upper class. Plebian Latin One of the common people of ancient Rome. A member of the lower classes. Gladiator Celtic A professional combatant or slave who entertained the public by engaging in mortal combat. Naumachia Latin A naval spectacle; a mock sea battle put on by the ancient Romans. Page 1 of 13 Copyright 2019 – New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission U3-LP-005 Background: Early in the history of the Roman Republic, most common Romans farmed on small homesteads around the city. They also served in the army during Rome's numerous wars. As Roman conquests increased, the city began to employee a professional army and the patricians, or the upper class accumulated tremendous amounts of wealth.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Colosseum Newsletter
    The Roman Colosseum A massive stone amphitheater located just East of the Roman Forum is a Colosseum that was commissioned around 70-72 A.D. by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty. It was a gift to the Roman people. The Emperor wanted to restore Rome to its former glory period prior to the turmoil of the recent civil war. Construction of the Colosseum began in 72 A.D. and was located on the site that was once the lake and gardens of the Emperor Nero's Golden House. The lake was drained and a concrete foundation six meters deep was put down as a precaution against potential earthquakes. The Colosseum's original name was Amphiteatrum Flavium (Flavian Amphitheater). It opened for business in 80 A.D. in the reign of Titus, Vespasian's eldest son, with a 100 day gladiator spectacular. The Colosseum was finally completed in the reign of the other son, Domitian. The finished building was like nothing Romans had ever seen. It was the biggest building of its kind. Its features: Four stories Height of 150 feet Width of 620 Feet x 513 feet A roofed awning Capacity for 50,000 people 32 animal pens 80 entrances 36 trap doors Underground two-level Colosseum Architecture Measuring some 620 by 513 feet, the Colosseum was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. It was a freestanding structure that spanned 6 acres of land. The distinctive exterior had three stories of arched entrances - a total of around 80-supported by semi-cicular columns. Each story contained columns of a diferent style.
    [Show full text]
  • Colosseum As a Site of Ancient Roman Entertainment and Where the Different Social Classes of the Ancient Roman Society Sat
    AimAim • I can describe the Colosseum as a site of Ancient Roman entertainment and where the different social classes of the Ancient Roman society sat. SuccessSuccess Criteria • •Statement I can explain 1 Lorem why ipsumAncient dolor Romans sit amet attended, consectetur the Colosseum. adipiscing elit. • •Statement I can explain 2 where the different social classes of the Ancient Roman society• Sub statement sat in the Colosseum. • I can explain the role of the Emperor and the senators in Ancient Roman society. • I can explain who the gladiators were and their role in relation to the Colosseum. A Roman Amphitheatre The Colosseum is a Roman amphitheatre. Its name in Latin was Amphitheatrum Flavium Romae. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire and many European languages spoken today, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian come from Latin. Attending the Colosseum was part of Ancient Roman life. Can you imagine why? A Place for Entertainment Ancient Romans liked to have fun, but they had a very different concept of fun to the way we amuse ourselves nowadays. For example, they enjoyed watching people fight against lions! They were also amused by watching gladiators fight to death. The Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built. It had seating for 55,000 people! That’s as big as the Anfield Football Stadium in Liverpool. The best place, the Podium, or Tribune, was reserved for the Emperor and his family, as well as for the senators. The Emperor and the Senate The Emperor controlled the Roman Empire and had a very luxurious life with the best of everything.
    [Show full text]