Some gladiatorial vocabulary:

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Some gladiatorial vocabulary

• tiro a gladiatorial recruit
• veteranus those gladiators who had fought at
  least once
• lanista a gladiatorial trainer
• armatura gladiatorial equipment
• myrmillo heavily-armed footman with a fish on
  his helmets
• Samnite heavily-armed footman
• secutor heavily-armed footman
• Thraex light-armed footman bearing a shield and
  reversed sickle
• retiarius unhelmeted footman armed with only
  tunic, net, trident and dagger
• essedarius chariot fighter
• familia a troop of gladiators
• ludus a place of residence and training of
  gladiators
• ludia female gladiator women associated with
  gladiators "a female slave attached to a
  gladiatorial ludus" (OLD)

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The VenatioA wild beast hunt or show
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The Historical Range of the Lion
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Capital Punishment
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Etruscan Origins
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Entertainment
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The Zliten Mosaicfrom Leptis Magna (Libya)
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Capital Punishment as Entertainment
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Christianity and Roman Sports
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St. Paul on Sports

• 2 Timothy 24-6
• 2 Timothy 47-9
• 1 Corithinians 925
• 1 Thessalonians 218-20
• Galatians 56-8

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2 Timothy 24-6

• 4No one serving as a soldier gets involved in
  civilian affairs--he wants to please his
  commanding officer. 5Similarly, if anyone
  competes as an athlete, he does not receive the
  victor's crown unless he competes according to
  the rules. 6The hardworking farmer should be the
  first to receive a share of the crops.

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2 Timothy 47-9

• 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished
  the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in
  store for me the crown of righteousness, which
  the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
  on that day--and not only to me, but also to all
  who have longed for his appearing.

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1 Corinthinians 925

• Everyone who competes in the games goes into
  strict training. They do it to get a crown that
  will not last but we do it to get a crown that
  will last forever.

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1 Thessalonians 218-20

• 18For we wanted to come to you--certainly I,
  Paul, did, again and again--but Satan stopped us.
  19For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in
  which we will glory in the presence of our Lord
  Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20Indeed, you
  are our glory and joy.

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Galatians 56-8

• 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
  uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
  counts is faith expressing itself through
  love.7You were running a good race. Who cut in on
  you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That
  kind of persuasion does not come from the one who
  calls you.

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Chronology of the Persecutions

• Neronian Persecution and the Great Fire of 64 CE
  (July 18-26) Christians as Scapegoats (see
  Tacitus, Annales, 15.44.3-8 Suetonius, Nero,
  16.2)
• Uncertain Policy Trajan and Pliny, 112 A.D. (see
  Pliny the Younger, Letters, 10.96-97)
• Second Century CE Sporadic Pogroms under
  Antoninus Pius (138-161) and Marcus Aurelius
  (161-180)

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The Great Persecutions

• The Decian Persecution (249-251) emperor Decius
  orders Christians to renounce their faith and
  restore pax deorum
• Persecution under Valerian, 257-259 relative
  tolerance from 260-303
• The Great Persecution of 303-311 under Diocletian
  (284-305) and Galerius (293-311)

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The Roman Government and Persecution of Christians

• Inconsistent
• Ill-Defined
• Sporadic

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Christians as Scapegoats

• Punishments were also inflicted on the
  Christians, a sect professing a new and
  mischievous religious belief.
• Suetonius, Nero 16

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Tacitus, Annals, 15.44
Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most
exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin,
suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators,
Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous
superstition, thus checked for the moment, again
broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of
the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the
world find their center and become popular.
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Christians as Disloyal to the Emperor

• We too are religious, and our religion is
  simple, and we swear by the Genius of our lord
  the emperor, and we pray for his welfare, as you
  also ought to do.
• Vigellius Saturninus, proconsul of
  Africa in 180 AD, to the Scillitan martyrs

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Uncertainty

• Dear Trajan
• It is my regular practice, my lord, to refer to
  you all matters about which I am in doubt for
  who can better guide me in my hesitation or
  instruct me in my ignorance? I have never dealt
  with investigations about Christians, and
  therefore I dont know what is usually punished
  or investigated, or to what extent.
• Pliny, governor of Bithynia, 111 A.D.

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The Emperor Replies
Dear PlinyIt is not possible to establish a
general law which will provide a fixed standard.
However, these people are not to be searched out.
If they should be brought before you and proved
guilty, they must be punished, with this proviso,
however, that anyone who denies that he is a
Christian and proves this by his action, that is,
by worshipping our gods, even if he has been
suspected in the past, should obtain pardon
because of his repentance.Pliny the Younger,
Letters, 10.96-97
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The Charges against Christians

• The Name and the Crimes (nomen et flagitia)
• Piety in the Roman Empire (pietas et communitas)
  civic religion. Tertullian (ca. 200 AD),
  Apologetica 10.1 You dont worship the gods,
  and you dont offer sacrifice to the emperor.
• Legal Formalities cognitio extra ordinem
  (extraordinary cases for criminal, not civil,
  law).

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The Punishment The Arena
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Quo Vadis?
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FELIKS NOWOWIEJSKIQUO VADIS (An Opera)
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Quo Vadis
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Peter Ustinov as Nero Patricia Laffan as
Messalina

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