Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

Although this book takes a general look at cultures and their treatment of sporting events, it also has a few sections specifically on gladiatorial games. Donald G. Kyle outlines the events that took place, the customs, equipment, how gladiatorial games changed over the years, and how Roman citizens viewed and treated these games.

At the beginning of his book, he theorizes about the origins of sports, postulating they may have come from hunts, rituals, or funerals (17-18). However, it isn't until much later in the book, he first speaks about the origins of gladiatorial games. Roman sports seemed to be influenced by those around the Mediterranean, cultures of Greece, Italy, and the near East.Kyle glosses an older theory of gladiatorial games stemming from the Etruscans as a form of funerary sacrifice, since blood was thought to sate the dead. However, he no longer seems to put much stock in this theory. Instead, he postulates that gladiatorial games began with prisoners of war who were forced to fight. At this time, they were untrained (269-270).  However, because these shows would one day be put on by elites for religious or political reasons, later, they would be trained in specific gladiatorial schools.

By the Republic, political leaders became concerned with creating more elaborate shows to curry political favor with the people. Because of this, they used every festival or honor as an excuse to put on grander or more elaborate shows. Because of the origins of gladiators as prisoners of war, and their use as entertainment, they had a "paradoxical symbolism" in the Republic (280). They represented both idealistic military honor in the way they fought, but they were also outsiders as prisoners of war. In fact, many of the fighting styles of gladiators were taken from cultures that the prisoners had come from, such as the Thracians, Samnites, and others, as well as their equipment. Because of their status, their deaths were also treated with less sympathy. Winners of these matches would have to keep fighting against other gladiators until they were killed.

During the empire, Augustus fully institutionalized gladiatorial games. Although there were laws against it, to completely stop political leaders from bribing the populace with games, he made it so only the imperial family could throw games. During the empire, the treatment of gladiators was changed, valued more as athletes rather than slaves. They no longer fought to death. Often, when a gladiator was  too hurt or tired to continue, they would signal by dropping his weapon and raising a finger. Although it was ultimately up to the trainer, or editor, to decide whether the defeated gladiator would be executed, swiftly with dignity, by his opponent, the trainer would often let the crowd decide. If a gladiator survived for 5 years, he would have likely been released. In the first century, the death rate was around 20%, but by the third century it had risen again, to 50% (316).

Kyle, Donald G. Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

The Eschatology of the Auto de fe

Other than to punish violators of the Catholic faith, Maureen Flynn stressed the purpose of the auto de fe to portray the eschatological sections of the Bible. Flynn cited a contemporary, Luis de Paramo, who claimed that the auto de fe represented the "tremendous drama of the Day of Judgment" and the sinners stood before the throne of God.  Flynn used Biblical texts, including St. Matthew's gospel account of the judgment and New Testament descriptions of the Second Coming, to explain the specific imagery associated with the auto de fe. Citing the scholar Paul Ricoeur's The Symbolism of Evil (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), Flynn stressed the transformative nature of the auto de fe. She described the auto de fe as "a pilgrimage to an eschatological judgment," but also serving a similar function as the confessional but on a public scene. Those who were deemed sinners had to repent because sincere repentance was essential in dealing with crimes of the soul rather than the law.

Flynn, Maureen. "Mimesis of the Last Judgment: The Spanish Auto de fe." The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 291-297.

Compiled pictures of the Auto de Fe

Adrian Schoonebench in Philip Van Limborch's Historia Inquisitionis (Amsterdam, 1692).

Adrian Schoonebech in Phillip Van Limorch's Historia Inqisitionis (Amsterdam 1692).

Engraving by Adrian Schoonebech

Engraving by Adrian Schoonebech in Philli Van Limborch, Histori Inquisitionis (Amsterdam, 1692). On the left is the Penitent in a sanbnita, while on the right flames pointed downward to indicate that the heretic had repented was to be strangled before being burnt. 

French engraving reproduced in Elias Amezaga, Auto defe en Valladolid (Buenos Aires, 1966).

Valladolid's 1559 auto defe of 1559. A contemporary Dutch print showing the private room under the stage for the repented sinners. 

The quemadero to which the condemned were taken for burning usually was outside the city walls. From Elias Amezaga, Auto de fe en Valladolid (Buenos Aires, 1966).

Francisco Rizi's Auto-da-fe on Plaza Mayor, Madrid (1683)

Prospectus

Introduction

A powerful tool of rulers was to use public punishment in order to discourage behavior and to reinforce society’s perception of these sovereigns as all-powerful. The scale of violence recorded by witnesses of gladiatorial games of ancient Rome and of the Spanish auto da fe are disturbing in extent of theatricality and entertainment. In both public events, many must wonder how the murder of men can become such a fascinating social event when the forms of punishment originate in religion. By studying these two social trends, from different points in time and where blood is used as entertainment, perhaps we might find some common point in their origins. If not origins, then perhaps in how both these rituals, learn more of the reasoning for the progression of punishment of some into entertainment for the masses. More importantly, or rather, more concretely, we might be able to understand how the bloodlust in these two societies changed the society involved and their perception of entertainment.

Review of Literature

We have only just started to delve into our project, so we have yet to completely read the sources detailing religious and social justifications of the gladiatorial games and the auto da fe.  Books such as Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome  and Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World by Donald G. Kyle, and Sport in the Cultures of the Ancient World edited by Zinon Papeakonstantinou offer an excellent starting point, for these books have information that trace the gladiatorial games back to the funeral games of the Etruscans and other Italian people.

We have explored the ritual of the auto da fe through Francisco Rizi’s visual record of the auto da fe and Francisco Bethencourt’s “The Auto da Fe: Ritual and Imagery," due to the focus the religious origins of the auto da fe, and its progression into a social event with justifiable reasons for mass-deaths. Bethencourt’s article focused on the societal implications of the auto da fe, along with the consequences of the increasing violence of the ritual.

Additional articles, including Victoria Grefer’s “Metatheater in El mágico prodigioso: Defending the Auto de fe?” and Helen Rawling’s “Representational Strategies of Inclusion and Exclusion in José del Olmo’s Narrative and Francisco Rizi’s Visual Record of the Madrid Auto de Fe of 1680,” emphasize the link to theater which progressed as a result of the increased social importance of the auto da fe. Rawlings compared Rizi’s 1683 rendition of an infamous auto da fe with a written account of the event by José del Olmo, an official chronicle for the Church.

Other sources that may be of use include Henry Kamen’s The Spanish Inquisition and Maureen Flynn’s “Mimesis of the Last Judgment: The Spanish Auto da Fe.”

Methodology

As of now, our main primary source is Francisco Rizi’s painting Auto da Fe en la Plaza Mayor de Madrid (1683), which illustrates the procession of the auto da fe. We will search for more primary sources (i.e. personal accounts from the event) through specialized databases and collections. We have several secondary sources analyzing the progression of the auto da fe in Spain, the theatricality of the event, and the art of the Auto da Fe in comparison with a first-hand account of the event.

 Our aim in conducting our research is to use the secondary sources we have thus far collected in coordination with primary source accounts of the practice of the auto da fe in Counter-Reformation Spain and the ancient gladiatorial games in the context of entertainment and the social implications thereof. We will take on the approach of a social critique by linking the phenomenon of brutal religious entertainment in the Counter-Reformation period back to pagan entertainment of the same kind in ancient society. 

Speak to the Resources

To achieve the goals of our project, our most useful resources will be Florida State University’s Strozier Library, along with online databases geared towards studies in medievalism and Counter-Reformation Europe.

The primary sources necessary for the project will most likely be in Spanish. We will overcome this obstacle by finding translated sources or referring to secondary sources. Special attention will be paid to accounts of individuals who witnessed the auto da fe, along with artwork including Francisco Rizi’s painting Auto da Fe en la Plaza Mayor de Madrid (1683). 

Conclusion

Looking forward, the objective of this project is to create an analysis of the social and religious atmosphere surrounding both the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome and the Spanish and Portuguese ritual of the auto da fe between the 15^th and 17^th centuries. We aim to look into the progression of the violence of the auto da fe as entertainment in Spain over the course of the 17th century, and link it to the violent entertainment of the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome. Primarily, the auto da fe served as religious punishment of the heretics and an expression of Church power. The auto da fe evolved into a social event and symbol of Catholic preeminence, in which Spaniards crowded to witness the theatricality similar to the excitement of gladiatorial games of ancient Rome. Use of violence and mass public death for public entertainment hearkens back to the brutal entertainment experienced by the society of ancient Rome during the gladiatorial games, but with a distinct religious justification.  The final product of this research project will be an in-depth analysis and commentary on this link between the Counter-Reformation and Roman antiquity. 

                                                                                                                                         

Theatricality and the Auto de fé

In Grefer's article, she discussed the ceremony of the auto de fé and its relationship with theater. Her particular focus was on a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barco (1600-1681), whose work is considered the culmination of Spanish Baroque theater. Although this may not be completely translatable to our project, the article is an interesting read and offers two potential sources: Henry Kamen's The Spanish Inquisition (New York: New American Library, 1965) and  Leslie Levin's Metaphors of Conversion in Seventeenth-Century Spanish Drama (London: Tamesis, 1999.)

There's a possibility that we could also look at the ties of theater and religion in Italy. For instance, Barbara Mujica's "Golden Age/Early Modern Theater: Comedia Studies at the End of the Century," Hisapnia, Vol. 82 No. 3 (September, 1999), pp. 397-407 discussed theater's reflection of societal values. There should be a connection between the dramas of Spanish Baroque and the dramas of antiquity, which can be tied broadly about the theatricality of gladiatorial games.

Grefer, Victoria. "Metatheater in El mágico prodigioso: Defending the Auto de fe?." Bulletin of the Comediantes, Vol. 64 No. 1 (January, 2012), pp. 75-87.



Rawlings compared one of the well-known paintings of the auto de fé, Francisco Rizi's 1683 rendition of the Madrid Plaza Mayor auto de fé on June 30, 1680, with a narrative piece by José del Olmo, who was responsible for writing the official chronicle of the event for the Church. This article gives great detail of the procession and theatricality of the auto de fé, also giving detail images of Rizi's painting. Rawlings concluded that the role of the auto de fé in society, by the end of the 17th century, served an exaggeration of the elite's political ambitions. Also by the end of the century, the auto de fé became redunant and replaced by autos particulares or autillos.

Rawlings, Helen. "Representational Strategies of Inclusion and Exclusion in José del Olmo's Narrative and Francisco Rizi's Visual record of the Madrid Auto de Fe of 1680." Romance Studies, Vol. 29 No. 4 (November, 2011), pp. 223-41

Research Direction and Sources

As of now, our group is doing research into the social implications of th Catholic practice of the Auto da Fe (Act of Faith) in Spain during the Counter-Reformation (Baroque) period.  We aim to look into the progression of the violence of the Auto da Fe as entertainment inSpain over the course of the 17th century, and link it to the violent entertainment of the gladiatorial games of Ancient Rome.  Beginning as a purely religious punishment of heretics, the Auto da Fe enveloped over time into a social event and symbol of Catholic power and superiority.  The event became a huge social event that the people of Spain looked forward to for entertainment purposes.  This use of violence and public death for public entertainment hearkens back to the brutal entertainment experienced by the society of Ancient Rome during the gladiatorial games, but with a distinct religious justification.  This religious justification for society indulging in such can be seen in the art depicting the Auto da Fe in Spain. 

Bethencourt, Francisco. "The Auto da Fe: Ritual and Imagery." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 55, 1992: 155-168. 
Link: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/stable/pdfplus/751421.pdf?acceptTC=true

This article tellls about the background of the medieval practice of the Auto da Fe, and how it changed later in Spain in the Counter-Reformation (Baroque) period.  He talks about how the rituals changed and it became more of a show of the triumph of the Catholic state and a social event than the smaller punishment that it was previously.  This article is really good for a background on the practice and for getting a clear progression of the change of the even in social context. 

Also, a really good source to look at is Francisco Rizi's painting Auto da Fe en la Plaza Mayor de Madrid (1683).  The painting depicts one of the largest and most severe Auto da Fe events in Spanish history. 
Link: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rizi/4autodaf.html

Welcome to Class

Welcome to Classically Classy Research!  We are a group of FSU undergraduates actively collaborating on research in our field.  This blog will serve as space to discuss, share, and present our research ideas and findings.  Enjoy the wealth of knowledge that is, no doubt, to be found here, and bask in the ingenious musings and insights of this group!  Stay classy, my friends.