Otium (Dec 2017)
Les dieux et les hommes face à la souillure de la mort et de la violence dans les amphithéâtres
Abstract
In Roman antiquity, gladiator fights reproduce a managed crisis: the spectators transfer the violence that could oppose each other onto the gladiator, rejecting it out on the community and channelling it against its opponent. Once the fight has ended, the spectators are once again united in the celebration of Victoria getting rid of the atrocity of death. Infames because touched by the taint of death and money, they are nonetheless fighters that provide catharsis. Moreover rites rule this act that breaks the taboo of violence within the area of the pomoerium. The arena for example is surrounded by herms delimiting the area of the games into a separate world, distinct from the one of the humans and the gods whose devoted statues and icons accompanies the spectators. Moreover civilizing gest of the gods and their myths are also staged in the arena, and their statues are brought into the amphitheatre during the inaugurating pompa. Trough the richness of this type of representations, romans show the strength of their institutions and the world order. The games are integrated within rites that renew the pax deorum and they guarantee the values and the domination of the romans using the divine assent. Gladiatoral fight like sacrifice is part of the self-regulating mechanisms, a collective transfer achieved through representations perceivable by everyone.
