Module description
Topic: Bread and Circuses
Chariot racing, gladiatorial combat, athletic performance, often violent, as well as the theatre and other forms of popular entertainment played a major part as spectacles in life in the Roman empire throughout antiquity. Through close connections with other areas of ancient life, including religion, economic organisation, political power and patronage and the construction of group and gender identities, the forms taken by entertainment are very revealing of contemporary concerns and values.
This module will explore the ancient evidence for Roman spectacles from the Republic to late Antiquity, assessing the forms they took and the insights they offer into ancient societies. It considers texts and archaeological evidence, including art, architecture and inscriptions. It investigates ancient attitudes to spectacles and the responses of modern scholars to an aspect of Roman culture which causes difficulties for the advocates of the Classical world as the epitome of civilised values. It builds on students’ understanding of Roman material and visual culture and of the relevant historical context established by first year modules.
The module includes exploration of ancient representations of violence in text and image, as well as material evidence for violence including objects and human remains. Some of the reading discusses judicial and other forms of violence in other historical contexts.
Assessment details
800 word commentary (30%) and 2000 word essay (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
This course aims to identify what can be reconstructed of entertainment and spectacle culture in the Roman world, and to discuss its interpretation, drawing both on primary sources and on scholarly approaches. It combines close study of the evidence for individual forms of entertainment (including case studies of particular performances, events and sources) with a broad overview of their comparative social and political role. It requires students to consider the respective contributions of texts, inscriptions and visual and archaeological evidence, in the reconstruction and evaluation of ancient entertainments. Students will be encouraged to use the rich evidence available in and around London for spectacle culture, including the British Museum and surviving remnants of Roman spectacle buildings.
Teaching pattern
10 x 1 hour lecture and 10 x 1 hour seminar (weekly)