1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778878303321

Autore

Kyle Donald G.

Titolo

Spectacles of death in ancient Rome / / Donald G. Kyle

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 1998

ISBN

1-134-86271-7

1-134-86272-5

1-280-33500-9

0-203-00635-6

0-203-15857-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (301 p.)

Disciplina

306.9

Soggetti

Death - Social aspects - Rome

Funeral rites and ceremonies - Rome

Violence - Rome - History

Gladiators - Rome - History

Christian martyrs - Rome - History

Rome Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 272-281) and index.

Nota di contenuto

SPECTACLES OF DEATH IN ANCIENT ROME; Copyright; Contents; List of illustrations; Preface; 1 Introduction: violent spectacles and Roman civilization; Ancient and modern attitudes; Interpretations of Roman violence and spectacles; Somatics and necrology: the problem of disposal; 2 The phenomenon: the development and diversity of Roman spectacles of death; Festivals, punishments, celebrations, and games; Munera: rites and spectacles; Late Republic: power, proscriptions, and multi-dimensional spectacles; Spectacular punishments: summa supplicia and 'fatal charades'

3 The victims: differentiation, status, and supplyThe body count; Gladiators and beast-fighters: infamy, virtue, and ambivalence; Noxii: the doomed and the damned; Law and the arena: demand and supply; Rituals and resources; 4 Death, disposal, and damnation of humans: some methods and messages; Roman death: rites and rights, hierarchy



and the hereafter; Death as a spectacle in some other pre-modern societies; 5 Disposal from Roman arenas: some rituals and options; Rituals of death and removal; Some options: burial, pits, exposure, crucifixion, fire

6 Arenas and eating: corpses and carcasses as food?Ad bestias - consumption or abuse?; Hunting, games, and game; Spectacles and food: spectators and scrambles; Addendum: America; 7 Rituals, spectacles, and the Tiber River; Water: punishment and purgation; Executions and riots in the Forum; Political violence and disposal by water; Commodus the gladiator; 8 Christians: persecutions and disposal; Persecutions: passions, procedures, spectacles, and disposal; Lyons and disposal by water; Relics and resurrection; 9 Conclusion: hunts and homicides as spectacles of death; References; Index

Sommario/riassunto

The elaborate and inventive slaughter of humans and animals in the arena fed an insatiable desire for violent spectacle among the Roman people. Donald G. Kyle combines the words of ancient authors with current scholarly research and cross-cultural perspectives, as he explores* the origins and historical development of the games* who the victims were and why they were chosen* how the Romans disposed of the thousands of resulting corpses* the complex religious and ritual aspects of institutionalised violence* the particularly savage treatment given to defiant Christians.T