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Bronze gladiator's helmet
Roman, 1st century AD
Said to be
from Pompeii, Campania, Italy
Height: 46 cm
Purchased with
the assistance of Miss H.R. Levy
Photo courtesy of The British
Museum
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Staff
Report
LONDON, 22 October
2000—Bread and circuses— panem et circenses— were what
Romans demanded of their emperors, if we are to believe the satirist
Lucian. For more than five hundred years spectacular events in
amphitheatres, circuses and theatres were the most important leisure
activities of the masses throughout the Roman empire.
Gladiatorial
games (munera) were originally performed at funerary rituals in the
Etruscan area of Italy and the Greek cities in the south. The shedding
of blood beside a dead man's grave is an ancient practice common to
many Mediterranean cultures. Gladitorial combat was brought to Rome in
the fourth century BC, and became a popular form of mass entertainment
throughout the Empire. Local notables would sponsor the huge costs of
the games to public acclaim and political benefits. Sound familiar?
On one occasion, the emperor Trajan held games for 123 days
and included 10,000 gladiators. Gladiators could be prisoners of war,
slaves, condemned criminals or even volunteers, who were trained under
the eye of their owner (lanista) in gladiatorial schools. The holder
of the games (editor) had to pay the lanista for use of the
gladiators. The editor decided the fate of the losing gladiator,
normally following the wishes of the crowd. Successful gladiators
could win large amounts of prize money and sometimes even freedom and
retirement. Some survived over 100 fights, though according to the
evidence of tombstones, most died before they were 30.
In
Rome itself public holidays, featuring magnificent and costly shows,
came to occupy more than half the year. Comedies, tragedies,
pantomimes and bawdy folk plays were staged in the theatres; in the
arena of the Colosseum, opened in AD 80, gladiators fought in pairs or
with wild animals to satisfy the blood lust of the crowd; and hundreds
of thousands of race-goers packed the stands of the Circus Maximus to
enjoy the thrills of chariot racing. These shows satisfied people's
need for excitement and hero-worship, just as for example football,
boxing and Formula One racing does today. Fan clubs developed, bets
were made, political issues were aired, the latest victories and
defeats were endlessly discussed, and brawling occasionally broke out.
The top gladiators, charioteers and actors were folk heroes,
and the power of their universal appeal was recognised and exploited
by politicians and emperors such as Julius Caesar, Augustus and Nero,
who used games to manipulate a sometimes volatile public, whether to
pacify or reassure at times of crisis or to achieve political ends.
Drawing on the British Museum's own collections and from
over twenty other museums throughout Europe, this exhibition attempts
to illustrate the power and attraction of spectacular mass
entertainment in the Roman world. The show is divided into the
following themes: the emperors, chariot races, theatrical
performances, animal fights, the amphitheatre, gladiatorial combat,
boxing and wrestling.
The exhibits range in size from a huge
stone relief showing gladiatorial combat to the tiny bone discharge
ticket which gave a gladiator his freedom. In between are bronze
models of chariots, gladiators' tombstones, bronze and pottery
figurines of gladiators and wrestlers, stone busts and statues of
boxers, theatre masks of pottery and stone, a floor mosaic with a pair
of gladiators, frescoes and stone reliefs showing scenes from plays
and a plate with a portrait of an actor.
Lavishly ornamented
gladiatorial weapons bring vividly to life the splendour and brutality
of the arena, while graffiti cut into wall-plaster celebrate long-dead
gladiators. Everyday objects such as oil-lamps and knife handles
decorated with images of gladiators, actors and charioteers remind us
that spectators then as today bought fan merchandise. The imagery of
chariot racing above all had an enduring popularity, partly because
the rewards and hazards of the race-course were seen as a metaphor for
life. Circus scenes are depicted on frescoes and other wall
decorations as well as on the sides of richly carved sarcophagi, while
a terracotta plaque records with terrifying reality the consequences
of a chariot crash.
The
British Museum
London, England
21 October 2000 - 21 January
2001
Tel: (44) 20 73 23 87 83
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Art and Archaeology Exhibitions