Week 14 (Roman Public Entertainment & the Severan Dynasty)

Question 1

Roman Public Entertainment
- Ludi (_____) provided by imperial funds on mostly religious public holidays
- Types of ludi: chariot racing, gladiatorial, animal hunts, dramatic performances, athletics
- ____ admissions, influx of people outside city, seating by ______ rank / wealth
- In the Republic, _______ organized shows, in the empire ________ organized shows
- Imperial family monopolizes game-giving in Rome
- Provincial elite leaders could provide games presenting themselves as priests of the imperial cult
- Performers were looked down upon; consisted of the ________ + lower class, shameful for senators and emperors to perform

Answer 1

games
free, social
aediles, praetors
enslaved

Question 2

Roman Public Entertainment Continued
- “Collective effervescence”: people feel more connected and emotionally charged when they come together as a crowd experiencing the same thing

Roman Chariot Racing
- Earliest and ____ popular Roman public entertainment
- First track (the ______ _______) beg. 6th cent. BC
- Primarily venue for chariot racing, sometimes gladiatorial battles and animal hunts
- ____ different chariot factions that acted almost like corporations (professional organizations owned by wealthy equestrians)
- Race typically 7 laps around the _____ (think spin)

Answer 2

most
Circus Maximus
Four
spina

Question 3

Roman Public Entertainment Continued
- First gladiatorial fight = _rd cent. BC
- Emergence of a wooden ____________ in the Roman forum early on
- Gladiatorial games and beast fights arranged according to ____; gladiator troupes as businesses
- Gladiatorial games were advertised by public inscriptions
- Gladiators and beast fighters were big ___________, and trained in fight schools near amphitheaters
- Gladiators were paired specifically by armor, weapons, fighting styles (ex. retiarius (net & trident) vs. secutor (sword, shield, helmet) or thrax (small shield, short sword))
- Gladiatorial battles according to lex pugnandi (_____) regulated by summa rudis (________)
- The rudis (wooden sword) symbolized earned freedom

Answer 3

3rd
amphitheater
acts
investments
rules, referees

Question 4

Severan Dynasty
- More autocratic, provincial, and militant
Septimius Severus (193 - 211 AD)
- Context: Senate names urban prefect Pertinax emperor, but assassinated early 193
- Didius Julianus ____ the principate
- Provincial governors retaliate (Clodius Albinus in Britain, Septimius Severus in Pannonia, and Pescennius Niger in Syria)
- Septimius wins out, allies with the Senate, purges Praetorian Guard
- Septimius Severus from ______ _____ in Africa, wife Julia Domna, sons _________ and ____; claimed adoption by ______ _________, divinized ________ for legitimacy

Answer 4

buys
Leptis Magna, Caracalla and Geta
Marcus Aurelius, Commodus

Question 5

Septimius Severus Continued
- Big political change: introduces __________ elites into the Senate, incorporates more “foreigners” into the Roman ____
- Harsh but effective general: Stops ________ invasion, captured Babylon and Ctesiphon (197-199 AD)
- Arch of Septimius Severus commemorates his victory
- Funded construction projects across empire, esp. in Africa and hometown ______ _____ (a hub for trans-Saharan trade)
- Tetraphylon of Septimius Severus (203 AD)

Answer 5

provincial, army
Parthian
Leptis Magna

Question 6

Caracalla (211-217 AD)
- Septimius Severus dies campaigning in Britain, becomes emperor alongside his brother ____ (who he murders, 212 AD + damns memory)
- Built the _____ of Caracalla (216 AD), features intense mosaic and sculptural decoration decoration
- Antonine Constitution of 212 AD grants Roman ___________ to most free males in the Empire: raise ___ revenue, eases the application of legislation
- Economic downturn context: higher ____ salaries, inefficient tax codes, excessive expenditure
- Result: over-minting coinage, debasement of coinage (i.e. less ______ content), institution of the thinner silver coin (antoninianus), and greater pressure on __________ elites for public funding (growing income gap, honestiares (top of Roman popoulation) vs. humiliores (ordinary working people))

Answer 6

Geta
Baths
citizenship, tax
army
silver, provincial

Question 7

Caracalla Continued
- Caracalla constantly on campaign: murdered by the ___________ in Syria (217 AD), the Praetorian prefect Macrinus briefly becomes emperor

Elagabalus (218-222 AD)
- endorsement of deity Elagabal (Syrian sun god): procession of god to Rome, minting of coins, dedicated temple on Palatine Hill

Alexander Severus (222-235 AD)
- presented as more traditional
- Julia Maesa (grandmother) then Julia Mamaea (mother) lead the ______
- ________ Persian Empire conquers the Parthian Empire (227 AD), successful repulsion
- Assassinated alongside mother by new emperor Maximinus _____

Answer 7

Praetorians
Senate
Sassanid
Thrax