L’anfiteatro romano di Londinium

L'anfiteatro era un edificio importante di epoca romana. Le rovine sono state scoperte solo nel 1988, quando costruttori stavano effettuando scavi per la nuova galleria d'arte. Gli archeologi hanno a lungo sospettato che la città romana di Londinium avesse un anfiteatro, ma come afferma Jenny Hall, curatrice del Museo di Londra "stavamo cercando al di fuori delle mura della città e questo anfiteatro, insolitamente, si trovava invece all'interno delle mura della città". le rovine della struttura sono stati ben conservate e musealizzate in situ, e si possono ancora vedere i resti delle mura originali, il sistema di drenaggio, e perfino la sabbia dell'arena.The amphitheatre was an important building in roman times. the ruins of the amphitheatre were only discovered in 1988, when builders were digging foundations for the new art gallery. Archaeologists had long suspected that the roman town of Londinium had an amphitheatre. but as Jenny Hall, Museum of London’s roman curator, explains, “we’d been looking outside the city wall and this amphitheatre, unusually, is inside the city wall”. the ruins of the structure have been well preserved and musealized in situ, and you can still see the remains of the original walls, drainage system, and even the sand that filled the arena

M. E. Muñoz Santos, Animales in Harena. Los animales exóticos en los espectáculos romanos, Antequera: Confluencias 2016 (155 pp.). ISBN: 978-84-946380-4-6

Obra ressenyada: M. E. MUÑOZ SANTOS, Animales in Harena. Los animales exóticos en los espectáculos romanos. Antequera: Confluencias 2016

Topographical reconstruction of ancient Palermo: a note on its buildings for public spectacles and their relation with the Roman-period civic planning

Topographical studies in the last decades have greatly improved our knowledge of Roman Panormus (modern day Palermo) but many aspects of its urban planning still remain obscure. It is very hard work to clearly understand a city that has been continuously inhabited from at least the Iron Age to the present. This long standing existence implies countless transformations of its urban aspect. In particular the Arab domination, in the Middle Ages, erased even the memory of the ancient place names, so the toponomastic source that is often a fundamental tool for the ancient topographer is almost useless. Using the typical sources of ancient topography and landscape archaeology and its multidisciplinary approach can be exceedingly useful in understanding the ancient aspect of a living city. We found an important lack of information about ancient Palermo: the location of buildings designed for public spectacles. The epigraphic sources prove that in Palermo there was a theatre and an amphitheatre; from a Late-Antique source we can assume that there was also a circus. This paper’s aim is to suggest concrete hypotheses to identify the locations of all three of these buildings, discuss their position and their relation to the civic plan of Panormus. These results are important in understanding this city in a more complete way but also for the protection of its archaeological heritage: these three areas lie outside the ancient walls of Palermo and have hitherto been considered “low-risk areas” for archaeology. manifestations

Animales exóticos como actores secundarios en las dramatizaciones mitológicas de la antigua Roma: verdugos en los espectáculos

Dentro del programa de un día de espectáculos en la antigua Roma no podía faltar la damnatio ad bestias de condenados. Aquellas personas que habían transgredido las leyes contra el Estado eran condenadas a muerte y, en algunos casos excepcionales, la ejecución se realizaba en público para escarmiento del reo y disfrute del público. El lugar del fatal desenlace era el edificio destinado a otros espectáculos como cacerías (venationes) o luchas de gladiadores (munera), es decir, los foros, circos y anfiteatros, durante las jornadas festivas. Además, tenían su propio espacio en la agenda de diversiones: el medio día, dando así oportunidad a los asistentes más aprensivos para volver a sus casas, comer y regresar por la tarde a ver las luchas de gladiadores. Si al principio se trataban de meras ejecuciones, con el tiempo pasaron a realizarse complejos espectáculos, denominados por algunos autores como «dramas mitológicos», en los que se escenificaba una obra teatral. El único objetivo de todo este montaje era la muerte final del reo. En estas representaciones eran necesarios básicamente tres elementos: la persona que iba a morir, la puesta en escena y, a modo de actor secundario, el animal que iba a realizar la ejecución, siendo la obra simplemente una excusa para llevar a cabo la pena de muerte.In ancient Rome, within the program of a day of shows, it could not miss the damnatio ad bestias of convicted. The people who had transgressed the laws committing crimes against the Roman state were sentenced to death and, in some exceptional cases, the execution was carried out in public as a warning against the defendant and public enjoyment. The place of the fatal outcome was the building used for other shows including hunting (venationes) or gladiatorial games (munera). In other words, they were forums, circuses and amphitheaters, during the festive days. The executions also had their own space on the agenda of amusements: at noon, giving to the most squeamish attendees the opportunity to return to their homes for eating, so they could return in the afternoon to see the gladiatorial games. If at first they were mere executions, eventually they became more complex shows, called by some authors ‘mythological dramas’, in which a play was staged. The only objective of this spectacle was the final death of the convict. There were necessary three elements in those representations: the person who was going to die, and, as a secondary actor, the animal which was going to perform the execution. The play was just an excuse to execute the death penalty

«(…) ut aeterna memoria nominis afficeretur» (Hyg., Astr., 2, 5): esempi di iscrizioni musive da alcune domus di Hadrumetum e Thysdrus (Bizacena)

Il testo e l’immagine. L’interazione di questi due fattori è fondamentale per la comunicazione di significati, nella prospettiva «attuale» della società antica così come nella prospettiva «attuale» degli studiosi. Lo dimostrano, ad esempio, alcuni mosaici con iscrizioni provenienti da Hadrumetum (Sousse, Tunisia): in un contesto dato da determinati soggetti rappresentati e da una certa collocazione del pavimento nella casa, la presenza di iscrizioni si rivela importante per la comprensione e la fissazione nel tempo di idee quali un interesse culturale o la gloria di gladiatori e cavalli vincitori.The text and the image. The interaction of these two factors is essential for the communication of meanings, from the «current» perspective of the ancient society as well as from the «current» point of view of the scholars. This is shown, for example, by some mosaics with inscriptions from Hadrumetum (Sousse, Tunisia): in a context given by certain subjects represented and a certain location of the floor in the house, the presence of inscriptions is important for understanding and fixing ideas like a cultural interest or the celebration of winning horses and gladiators

I ludi romani tra politica, società e diritto

L'importanza dei ludi romani alla luce della condizione giuridica dei gladiatores. Le donne gladiatric

Les esclaves et le divin chez Martial

En el presente artículo se analiza la relación de la divinidad y la esclavitud en Marcial tanto en el plano de los gobernantes del Imperio, en el caso concreto de Domiciano, como en el resto de la sociedad y sus formas de subyugación. La condición de dominus et deus de Domiciano lo vincula con el poder de los dioses a la vez que supone un correlato y afirmación de su posición como el mayor señor de esclavos del mundo romano. La relación entre lo divino y lo humano también se ejemplifica con la instrumentalización de otros mitos, como el de Ganímedes, como soporte ideológico de la realidad y, sobre todo, de sus formas de dependencia._____________________________Cet article presente une analyse de la relation entre le divin et le systéme esclavagiste chez Martial, autant au niveau des dirigeants de I'Empire, principalement Domitien, qu'au plan de la practique sociale et de ses formes de dépendance. Domitien, en tant que dominus (te-raruin) et dens est en relation directe avec te pouvoir des dieux. Il y a donc colrélation et affirmation de sa position come maitre supreme des esciaves de l'Empire romain, des terres et des hommes et, par sa dénomination de dominus, comme maitre esclavagiste. Ce lien entre divin et humain s'illustre á travers 1'instrumentalisation des mythes, tel celui de Ganyméde, comme support idéologique de la réalité et surtout, des formes de dépendance