Images, Spectacles, and Power in Rome. Historical and Mythological Scenes in the Munera.
Ausonius| N° d'inventaire | 22388 |
| Format | 17 x 24 |
| Détails | 347 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Pessac, 2020 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782356132529 |
At the initiative of Caesar and then Nero, both very innovative in the field of political spectacle, we saw the appearance, associated with the gladiatorial combats and hunts that represented the traditional program of the munera, of different types of stagings of historical or mythological themes. Indeed, the naumachia and the land battle presented by Caesar in 46 BC associated with principles close to the gladiatorship references to the military history of the Greek world, according to a principle taken up by Augustus and his successors for the naumachia, but not for the combats by land troops, now closer to the model of Roman triumphal iconography. As for the spectacles of mythological themes, which appeared under Nero and were quickly designated Pyrrhic, they reenacted in the arena the deaths of characters guilty of hubris such as Icarus or Actaeon, the exploits of monster-slaying heroes such as Hercules, or evoked figures symbolizing the power and eternity of Rome such as its relatives, Mars and Venus. This work combines written sources on these various spectacles with iconographic documentation that had never been compiled. The whole reveals the recurrence in Roman and provincial arenas, even in the late empire, of a small number of mythological themes. However, these themes had all previously enjoyed particular popularity in Roman stage performances and especially in art.
At the initiative of Caesar and then Nero, both very innovative in the field of political spectacle, we saw the appearance, associated with the gladiatorial combats and hunts that represented the traditional program of the munera, of different types of stagings of historical or mythological themes. Indeed, the naumachia and the land battle presented by Caesar in 46 BC associated with principles close to the gladiatorship references to the military history of the Greek world, according to a principle taken up by Augustus and his successors for the naumachia, but not for the combats by land troops, now closer to the model of Roman triumphal iconography. As for the spectacles of mythological themes, which appeared under Nero and were quickly designated Pyrrhic, they reenacted in the arena the deaths of characters guilty of hubris such as Icarus or Actaeon, the exploits of monster-slaying heroes such as Hercules, or evoked figures symbolizing the power and eternity of Rome such as its relatives, Mars and Venus. This work combines written sources on these various spectacles with iconographic documentation that had never been compiled. The whole reveals the recurrence in Roman and provincial arenas, even in the late empire, of a small number of mythological themes. However, these themes had all previously enjoyed particular popularity in Roman stage performances and especially in art.