Gender, Early Christian Martyrdom and Roman Spectacle
Early Christian martyrs played a significant role in changing the views on Roman spectacle. Some of the most familiar aspects of Roman spectacle are the gladiatorial games and public executions. The games “arose as celebrations of religious rites with sports or shows, acts of communal thanksgiving to the gods for military success or deliverance from crises.” 1 The games and executions were also an important demonstration of Roman power. 2 With the advent of Christianity, these public displays of spectacle were challenged.
The origins of gladiatorial games were in ancient ritual killings. 3 The purpose of these killings was to give a display of sacro-legal power over dysfunctional communities. Public killings were used to reassure the obedient of the government's prowess in handling internal conflict and to deter potential criminals. 4 This assertion of power served to masculinize the government in the eyes of the people in a culture where masculinity was seen as a characteristic of power. 5 The development of the games was also linked with the religious ceremonies of the Roman state. Roman holidays commemorating the Roman gods were established around the same time as the gladiatorial games. 6 While gladiatorial games came to commemorate military conquests, they were originally part of Roman funerary ritual. 7
Alongside the performances of gladiators for entertainment purposes, animals were also used in a variety of ways. Originally, animals were trained for the arena to do incredible tricks for the amusement of the Roman crowd. This traditional spectacle evolved into the slaughtering of animals for entertainment. As Rome's blood lust grew, these sport-slaughterings further evolved into the damnati ad bestias, or “condemned to the beasts” – the execution of criminals in the arena by animals. 8
These events were central to the Roman appetite for spectacle. As stated above, the Roman government sought to assert the validity of their power through public displays of spectacle through torture. These resulted in the popularity of the gladiatorial games and public executions. These events were “centered around a crushing assertion of the right order of society. Along with animals and professional gladiators, the [criminals] were put to an intentionally humiliating death for the entertainment of their social superiors.” 9 In death most of the criminals and gladiators wee just thrown in a nearby river, but some were mascalinized with proper burials and large monuments built to recognize the great spectacle they achieved in life.10
This humiliation also played a part in gendering the roles of the torturer and the tortured. The power that Rome displayed through these spectacles served to masculinize the state at the expense of the criminal's masculinity. In Rome, the man's attainment of masculinity was won at the expense of others – either militarially, sexually or any form of power dynamics. As author Kate Cooper explains, the power dynamics among Roman men at this time can be identified as the masculine gaze, a system of performative interactions in which men would assert their masculinity in the sight of their peers. One of the most effective means of asserting this power/masculinity would be by conducting or participating in the games and executions. 11
Roman dominance also extended to the assertion of their power through means of torture. The importance of torture in the Roman empire was to achieve an erosion of identity and self-understanding of the victim by a barrage of physical and verbal abuse. This creates in the victim the feeling that if he/she is self-assertive it will only lead to self-destruction.12 Torture was also used to determine truth. Often the person being tortured by the state was keeping a secret for a master or associate that if revealed at any other time would promise the retribution from said persons. When threatened with torture from the state the individual by giving up his/her secret would avoid not only physical pain, but also by receiving a deal from the state would be free from retribution.13
The origins of gladiatorial games were in ancient ritual killings. 3 The purpose of these killings was to give a display of sacro-legal power over dysfunctional communities. Public killings were used to reassure the obedient of the government's prowess in handling internal conflict and to deter potential criminals. 4 This assertion of power served to masculinize the government in the eyes of the people in a culture where masculinity was seen as a characteristic of power. 5 The development of the games was also linked with the religious ceremonies of the Roman state. Roman holidays commemorating the Roman gods were established around the same time as the gladiatorial games. 6 While gladiatorial games came to commemorate military conquests, they were originally part of Roman funerary ritual. 7
Alongside the performances of gladiators for entertainment purposes, animals were also used in a variety of ways. Originally, animals were trained for the arena to do incredible tricks for the amusement of the Roman crowd. This traditional spectacle evolved into the slaughtering of animals for entertainment. As Rome's blood lust grew, these sport-slaughterings further evolved into the damnati ad bestias, or “condemned to the beasts” – the execution of criminals in the arena by animals. 8
These events were central to the Roman appetite for spectacle. As stated above, the Roman government sought to assert the validity of their power through public displays of spectacle through torture. These resulted in the popularity of the gladiatorial games and public executions. These events were “centered around a crushing assertion of the right order of society. Along with animals and professional gladiators, the [criminals] were put to an intentionally humiliating death for the entertainment of their social superiors.” 9 In death most of the criminals and gladiators wee just thrown in a nearby river, but some were mascalinized with proper burials and large monuments built to recognize the great spectacle they achieved in life.10
This humiliation also played a part in gendering the roles of the torturer and the tortured. The power that Rome displayed through these spectacles served to masculinize the state at the expense of the criminal's masculinity. In Rome, the man's attainment of masculinity was won at the expense of others – either militarially, sexually or any form of power dynamics. As author Kate Cooper explains, the power dynamics among Roman men at this time can be identified as the masculine gaze, a system of performative interactions in which men would assert their masculinity in the sight of their peers. One of the most effective means of asserting this power/masculinity would be by conducting or participating in the games and executions. 11
Roman dominance also extended to the assertion of their power through means of torture. The importance of torture in the Roman empire was to achieve an erosion of identity and self-understanding of the victim by a barrage of physical and verbal abuse. This creates in the victim the feeling that if he/she is self-assertive it will only lead to self-destruction.12 Torture was also used to determine truth. Often the person being tortured by the state was keeping a secret for a master or associate that if revealed at any other time would promise the retribution from said persons. When threatened with torture from the state the individual by giving up his/her secret would avoid not only physical pain, but also by receiving a deal from the state would be free from retribution.13
This clip demonstrates how the gladiatorial games were fought to commemorate past battles and the Roman idea of spectacle. This clip also shows how gladiators can be immortalized if they fought well.
Christianity since it's early stages experienced large amounts of persecution and many were martyrs for their beliefs. The first obvious example is that of Christ himself who was crucified near Jerusalem, but the first martyr that the scriptures talk about apart from Christ is Stephen.14 Stephan's death was witnessed by a large group of people including Saul (later Paul) who was a Roman citazen. This event can be seen as the first Roman spectacle martyr and the first of many martyrs who died for his belief in Christ.15
Christians unlike the common Roman criminal didn't view dying in a negative light and in doing so turned the tables on Roman spectacle, on the contrary many saw the pain in dying for their beliefs as a connection to the death of Christ.16 This act mascalinized the martyr over the person lending a hand in their death. As stated earlier the Romans used torture as a means to find the truth and to erode the identity of the person being tortured. In torturing Christians these ideas were short-circuited because the martyrs would stand by their beliefs til death took a hold of them, therefore retaining their identity.17 Romans would try to reassert their masculinity by mocking the Christian belief in resurrection by completely destroying the bodies of dead Christians by first allowing them to rot for days and then burning the remains. This method shows that the Romans didn't attempt their hatred for Christian faith in treating their deceased corpses in a manner even lower than that of dead criminals and gladiators.18
One of the popular accounts of early martyrs is the account of Perpetua and Felicity who died in Carthage around 203 CE. 19 The account of Perpetua and Felicity is fascinating is the fact that they weren't just martyrs but a female ones, bringing the issue of gender to Roman spectacle and Christianity. Perpetua's account is known for it's several dream sequences, one that has her transforming into a man ans defeating her foe. This could represent her overcoming her Roman adversaries and in doing so overcoming Roman spectacle by making herself masculine.20 When she and Felicity are to be executed Felicity is dragged to the arena after recently giving birth, the text states “that the milk was still dripping from her breasts”.21 She then pins up her hair and hides her woman parts perhaps in defiance to the Roman spectacle22 The text makes a point of pointing out her femininity. Perpetua even challenges the Roman spectacle when she is faced with being killed by the sword she pulls herself onto it, in effect taking the power of spectacle into her own hands and out of the hands of the Roman observers.23
The cities of Lyons and Vienne were also locations where in 177 CE several Martyrs took place. These Christians were accused of incest and other terrible crimes that they did not commit. It was here that several martyrs defied the established Roman spectacle. Many martyrs wouldn't renounce their faith and even preached until their last breath.24 These martyrs viewed their struggle as one comparable to Christ's struggle against the devil and even welcomed the chance to overcome their adversary. Unlike in traditional Rome where Spectacle deterred people from acting a certain way these stories of martyrs became the foundations of many people's faith and converted the people who heard them.25
A female account that has gained notariety from this passage of history is the one of Blandia. She was tied to a stake and had wild beasts set upon her and much like the story of Daniel found in the Old Testement the beats did not touch her. This not only parallels the story of Daniel but relates her to his masculine figure. This also defied the established Roman spectacle by the beats not attacking her when in normal Roman spectacle the accused is torn apart.26
The Roman empire was indeed one of spectacles that lasted hundreds of years and penetrated many mediums. Spectacle was very much a part of Roman dominace and power that helped Rome rule for the large amount of time that it did. What Rome didn't expect was to challenged on the spectacle front, which the Chritians did to great success. It is this author's opinion that the Christians challanging spectacle may not have been the primary reason that the Roman empire fell, but it certainly sped things along and played its own essential part in the process.
Notes
1 Donald G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (London, Routledge: 1998), 41
2 Kyle, 40
3 Kyle, 41
4 Kyle, 40
5 Kate Cooper, “The Voice of the Victim,” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 80, (1998): 154
6 Allison Futrell, Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power (Austin, University of Texas Press: 1997), 20
7 Richard C. Beacham, Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome. (Yale, Yale University: 1999), 3
8 Futrell, 24
9 Cooper, 148
10 Kyle, 128
11 Cooper, 154
12 Cooper, 157
13 Cooper, 153
14 New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Matthew 27:33-34 (Oxford: Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, 1989), http://www.devotions.net/bible/00bible.htm.
15 Bible, Acts 6
16 Candida R. Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press: 2012), 109
17 Cooper, 151
18 Kyle, 251
19 Jan N Bremmer, ed., Perpetua's Passions: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis (Oxford, Oxford University Press: 2012), 55
20 Bremmer, 63
21 Herbert Musurillo, The acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1972), 129
22 Bremmer, 68
23 Musurillo, 131
24 Robert P. Russell, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (Washington DC, University of America Press: 2000), 177
25 Russell, 287
26 Moss, 114
Annotated Bibliography
Futrell, Allison. Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.
This book showcased the importance of spectacle in shaping roman society. The book addresses how the gladiatorial games originated from funeral rituals and executions by beasts. The funeral rites were known as munera and had gladiators fighting to honor the dead. Executions by animals were called venatio and originated by animals doing tricks for the crowd until the blood lust of the Romans became too great. I found both of this aspects equally fascinating and the author does a good job focusing on the social aspect of these items instead of the gore. The book also delved quite deeply into the construction of the different arenas and the people to whom there were dedicated. I enjoyed this part of the book but I didn't find it as useful as the information found at the beginning.
Kyle, Donald G. Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 1998.
Donald G. Kyle takes a somewhat different approach to the famous Roman bloodsport in this work. Instead of having the primary focus being on the matches themselves, he focuses on the removal of bodies from the arena. I found it quite fascinating how most bodies were thrown in the river, but a select few if they put on a great performance throughout their careers they received a proper burial, a few even had monuments dedicated to them. Christians were a different story, to mock their belief in resurrection they were left to decay and then burned. Sometimes christian martyrs were even fed to the beasts. He also relates human violent behavior of today to that of the past and how the Roman empire was as good of an example as any of humans at their most violent.
Cooper, Kate. “The Voice of the Victim.” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 80, (1998): 147 - 157.
the analogies in this work were of a great aide in putting together all my research. Kate Cooper has done great job of observing Roman society and how martyrs upset the social order. She starts by observing how a victim's messae is magnified when sealed by an act of violence. I found this to be quite an accurate observation. We as a society view death as final in many ways so when one chooses to die for a cause we all like to observe all the reasons why and weigh whether or not it was worth it. She relates a lot of her findings to the story of perpetua and to great effect. She talks about how Perpetua standing up for her beliefs didn't affect her but her whole family. Unlike a lot of confessions that just affect the individual. Cooper also brings up “the male gaze” and how Romans competed with each other for masculine standings. Christians refuses to denounce their beliefs even under torture unset the social order due to the fact that torture was ofter used to reveal truth. She talks about at great lengths Perpetua's gender changing dream.
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Oxford: Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, 1989. http://www.devotions.net/bible/00bible.htm.
In the book of Acts the stoning of Stephen is considered to be the first documented christian martyr besides Christ. He is stoned by a group of people being lead by who would later become the Prophet Paul. I remember growing up with this story and how it was always used as an example of a righteous person who was true to their faith. Stephen was someone to emulate and adore. The story was also used in the establishing the negative character Paul had before his conversion.
Castelli, Elizabeth A. Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
In this reference the research has an extended, encyclopedic overview of the related areas of the study: theory of collective memory, Roman views on Christians, nature of the Roman religion, function of Roman spectacles, history of Christian persecution in context of the general development of Later Empire. Elizabeth Castelli speaks on the subject of how the martyrs were able to wrestle the idea of spectacle out of the hands of the Romans and into their hands. I enjoyed this idea as it had been discussed about already to some length in class. The idea that the martyrs going through pain and death to receive a greater reward than that of their observers is quite a fascinating one. I found her relating martyrs to the events of Columbine high school to be not only a stretch but also one of poor taste.
Musurillo, Herbert. The acts of the Christian Martyrs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.
The apparent historical account of Perpetua and Felicity is quite an interesting one. I personally question it's validity like I do most early christian accounts due to the fact that I feel that they were used as propaganda for people to join the growing christian movement. The idea that Perpetua has dreams that directly associate with martyrdom almost encourage people to be martyrs, for example when she has the dream about the dragon where it doesn't hurt her, but then she ascends to a garden. She interprets this as martyrs will suffer but will be happy in the end. I interpret this as a someone who was writing the account being very aware of the readers love for martyrdom. I'll admit that there probably was a Perpetua and that she died a martyr, but the written account we have is fictionalized. The ideas of gender that are presented in the story are still quite intriguing, such as Perpetua being a man, the modesty that she portrays in being killed and how she forces herself upon her killers blade.
Bremmer, Jan N. Perpetua's Passions: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
This text breaks down the different gender aspects that can be found in Perpetua's tale. It breaks down the characters and the order they are introduced according to gender and even explains how much the masculine plural is used throughout the text. I found this aspect of the analysis to be a little much. I feel that there are important things one can gain from looking closely at a text, but there is a point where it goes too far. I did enjoy how Williams observed how right when the women were brought out to be executed the text focuses on their feminine aspects. I feel those insights were very helpful in understanding the text.
Russell, Robert P. The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000.
I found this historical account to be the most engaging accounts from the era and very easy to understand. The account tells of the several martyrs that took place in Lyons and Vienne. It describes the terrible ways in which they were killed and the attitudes of the faithful in accepting it and the people that had a hard time accepting the fact that they were to die. The way that Rome falsely accused the martyrs of incest to justify the slaying of them was quite barbaric. I also have somewhat of a personal connection to these accounts in that I lived in Lyon for three months in 2007 and saw the sites where these martyrs took place, of course I didn't appreciate it at the time.
Moss, Candida R. Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2012.
This piece analysed the martyrs that took place in Lyons and Vienne. It starts by telling the state Gaul was in before christianity came, saying that it was a barren outskirt town that had just started to florish culturally.I enjoyed learn the factthat there is no archigoical data to prove christianity existed in the area before Constatine. The work then analyzes a annonymous letter that proves christianity existed in the area. The letter describes martyrs and the state of christianity at that time. The work then talks about the torture of the believers and how the letter shows that they did not experience any pain since they were suffering for Christ.
Beacham, Richard C. Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome. Yale: Yale University, 1999.
Beacham provides an accurate narrative concerning the relationship between spectacle entertainment (e.g., chariot races, theatre, gladiator shows) and the reigns of several of Rome's most famous emperors, including Caesar, Caligula, and Nero. I thought that the way he traced the evoultion of the Roman Empire and its spectacle was well done, especially given the way our culture today embraces various kinds of spectacles. My biggest complaint of the book is that Beacham does not collect the material into some type of detailed conclusion. He presents the information in basically an emperor by emperor format, without really integrating the material as a whole. A final chapter that accomplished this task would have been nice to have in the book. I don't think that this book would be a good introduction to the topic. This book assumes that the reader has at least some knowledge.
Köhne, Eckart, Cornelia Ewigleben, and Ralph Jackson. Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome. Berkely: University of California Press, 2000.
The book shows in lush illustrations the different categories of gladiator, the weapons each was assigned, and the role they played in the games. It goes into the fates of those who were sentenced to the amphitheater; those sentenced to be torn by wild beasts had no chance, but there were others who were sentenced to gladiatorial school and could possibly gain freedom, money, and celebrity. Of course, they had to survive plenty of mortal combat to do so. The book tells repeatedly about how different Caesars used the games to defuse public anger about governmental conditions. The scholars are complimentary about _Ben Hur_: "Although there are a number of inaccuracies, the film as a whole thrillingly conveys the character and atmosphere, one might even say the quintessence, of such a sporting event, in a way that scholarly attention to detail could never have done on its own." I have always admired that film and know that it is famous for how many acedemy awards that it won.
"Spartacus: Blood and Sand - No Longer a Thracian." YouTube video, 1:32, from a performance televised by Starz on March 5, 2010. Posted by “Starz.” March 2, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUzsLZqDu50.
This clip is from the four season Starz series Spartacus. This clip shows how important Spectacle was to the Roman people. It shows that games were recreations of famous military conquests and to honor those who are dead. It shows how much the master of the gladitorial school wanted to win in the games to show off his male masculinity while he his viewed by his peers with their “male gaze.”
Christians unlike the common Roman criminal didn't view dying in a negative light and in doing so turned the tables on Roman spectacle, on the contrary many saw the pain in dying for their beliefs as a connection to the death of Christ.16 This act mascalinized the martyr over the person lending a hand in their death. As stated earlier the Romans used torture as a means to find the truth and to erode the identity of the person being tortured. In torturing Christians these ideas were short-circuited because the martyrs would stand by their beliefs til death took a hold of them, therefore retaining their identity.17 Romans would try to reassert their masculinity by mocking the Christian belief in resurrection by completely destroying the bodies of dead Christians by first allowing them to rot for days and then burning the remains. This method shows that the Romans didn't attempt their hatred for Christian faith in treating their deceased corpses in a manner even lower than that of dead criminals and gladiators.18
One of the popular accounts of early martyrs is the account of Perpetua and Felicity who died in Carthage around 203 CE. 19 The account of Perpetua and Felicity is fascinating is the fact that they weren't just martyrs but a female ones, bringing the issue of gender to Roman spectacle and Christianity. Perpetua's account is known for it's several dream sequences, one that has her transforming into a man ans defeating her foe. This could represent her overcoming her Roman adversaries and in doing so overcoming Roman spectacle by making herself masculine.20 When she and Felicity are to be executed Felicity is dragged to the arena after recently giving birth, the text states “that the milk was still dripping from her breasts”.21 She then pins up her hair and hides her woman parts perhaps in defiance to the Roman spectacle22 The text makes a point of pointing out her femininity. Perpetua even challenges the Roman spectacle when she is faced with being killed by the sword she pulls herself onto it, in effect taking the power of spectacle into her own hands and out of the hands of the Roman observers.23
The cities of Lyons and Vienne were also locations where in 177 CE several Martyrs took place. These Christians were accused of incest and other terrible crimes that they did not commit. It was here that several martyrs defied the established Roman spectacle. Many martyrs wouldn't renounce their faith and even preached until their last breath.24 These martyrs viewed their struggle as one comparable to Christ's struggle against the devil and even welcomed the chance to overcome their adversary. Unlike in traditional Rome where Spectacle deterred people from acting a certain way these stories of martyrs became the foundations of many people's faith and converted the people who heard them.25
A female account that has gained notariety from this passage of history is the one of Blandia. She was tied to a stake and had wild beasts set upon her and much like the story of Daniel found in the Old Testement the beats did not touch her. This not only parallels the story of Daniel but relates her to his masculine figure. This also defied the established Roman spectacle by the beats not attacking her when in normal Roman spectacle the accused is torn apart.26
The Roman empire was indeed one of spectacles that lasted hundreds of years and penetrated many mediums. Spectacle was very much a part of Roman dominace and power that helped Rome rule for the large amount of time that it did. What Rome didn't expect was to challenged on the spectacle front, which the Chritians did to great success. It is this author's opinion that the Christians challanging spectacle may not have been the primary reason that the Roman empire fell, but it certainly sped things along and played its own essential part in the process.
Notes
1 Donald G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (London, Routledge: 1998), 41
2 Kyle, 40
3 Kyle, 41
4 Kyle, 40
5 Kate Cooper, “The Voice of the Victim,” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 80, (1998): 154
6 Allison Futrell, Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power (Austin, University of Texas Press: 1997), 20
7 Richard C. Beacham, Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome. (Yale, Yale University: 1999), 3
8 Futrell, 24
9 Cooper, 148
10 Kyle, 128
11 Cooper, 154
12 Cooper, 157
13 Cooper, 153
14 New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Matthew 27:33-34 (Oxford: Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, 1989), http://www.devotions.net/bible/00bible.htm.
15 Bible, Acts 6
16 Candida R. Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press: 2012), 109
17 Cooper, 151
18 Kyle, 251
19 Jan N Bremmer, ed., Perpetua's Passions: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis (Oxford, Oxford University Press: 2012), 55
20 Bremmer, 63
21 Herbert Musurillo, The acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1972), 129
22 Bremmer, 68
23 Musurillo, 131
24 Robert P. Russell, The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (Washington DC, University of America Press: 2000), 177
25 Russell, 287
26 Moss, 114
Annotated Bibliography
Futrell, Allison. Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.
This book showcased the importance of spectacle in shaping roman society. The book addresses how the gladiatorial games originated from funeral rituals and executions by beasts. The funeral rites were known as munera and had gladiators fighting to honor the dead. Executions by animals were called venatio and originated by animals doing tricks for the crowd until the blood lust of the Romans became too great. I found both of this aspects equally fascinating and the author does a good job focusing on the social aspect of these items instead of the gore. The book also delved quite deeply into the construction of the different arenas and the people to whom there were dedicated. I enjoyed this part of the book but I didn't find it as useful as the information found at the beginning.
Kyle, Donald G. Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 1998.
Donald G. Kyle takes a somewhat different approach to the famous Roman bloodsport in this work. Instead of having the primary focus being on the matches themselves, he focuses on the removal of bodies from the arena. I found it quite fascinating how most bodies were thrown in the river, but a select few if they put on a great performance throughout their careers they received a proper burial, a few even had monuments dedicated to them. Christians were a different story, to mock their belief in resurrection they were left to decay and then burned. Sometimes christian martyrs were even fed to the beasts. He also relates human violent behavior of today to that of the past and how the Roman empire was as good of an example as any of humans at their most violent.
Cooper, Kate. “The Voice of the Victim.” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 80, (1998): 147 - 157.
the analogies in this work were of a great aide in putting together all my research. Kate Cooper has done great job of observing Roman society and how martyrs upset the social order. She starts by observing how a victim's messae is magnified when sealed by an act of violence. I found this to be quite an accurate observation. We as a society view death as final in many ways so when one chooses to die for a cause we all like to observe all the reasons why and weigh whether or not it was worth it. She relates a lot of her findings to the story of perpetua and to great effect. She talks about how Perpetua standing up for her beliefs didn't affect her but her whole family. Unlike a lot of confessions that just affect the individual. Cooper also brings up “the male gaze” and how Romans competed with each other for masculine standings. Christians refuses to denounce their beliefs even under torture unset the social order due to the fact that torture was ofter used to reveal truth. She talks about at great lengths Perpetua's gender changing dream.
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Oxford: Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, 1989. http://www.devotions.net/bible/00bible.htm.
In the book of Acts the stoning of Stephen is considered to be the first documented christian martyr besides Christ. He is stoned by a group of people being lead by who would later become the Prophet Paul. I remember growing up with this story and how it was always used as an example of a righteous person who was true to their faith. Stephen was someone to emulate and adore. The story was also used in the establishing the negative character Paul had before his conversion.
Castelli, Elizabeth A. Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
In this reference the research has an extended, encyclopedic overview of the related areas of the study: theory of collective memory, Roman views on Christians, nature of the Roman religion, function of Roman spectacles, history of Christian persecution in context of the general development of Later Empire. Elizabeth Castelli speaks on the subject of how the martyrs were able to wrestle the idea of spectacle out of the hands of the Romans and into their hands. I enjoyed this idea as it had been discussed about already to some length in class. The idea that the martyrs going through pain and death to receive a greater reward than that of their observers is quite a fascinating one. I found her relating martyrs to the events of Columbine high school to be not only a stretch but also one of poor taste.
Musurillo, Herbert. The acts of the Christian Martyrs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.
The apparent historical account of Perpetua and Felicity is quite an interesting one. I personally question it's validity like I do most early christian accounts due to the fact that I feel that they were used as propaganda for people to join the growing christian movement. The idea that Perpetua has dreams that directly associate with martyrdom almost encourage people to be martyrs, for example when she has the dream about the dragon where it doesn't hurt her, but then she ascends to a garden. She interprets this as martyrs will suffer but will be happy in the end. I interpret this as a someone who was writing the account being very aware of the readers love for martyrdom. I'll admit that there probably was a Perpetua and that she died a martyr, but the written account we have is fictionalized. The ideas of gender that are presented in the story are still quite intriguing, such as Perpetua being a man, the modesty that she portrays in being killed and how she forces herself upon her killers blade.
Bremmer, Jan N. Perpetua's Passions: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
This text breaks down the different gender aspects that can be found in Perpetua's tale. It breaks down the characters and the order they are introduced according to gender and even explains how much the masculine plural is used throughout the text. I found this aspect of the analysis to be a little much. I feel that there are important things one can gain from looking closely at a text, but there is a point where it goes too far. I did enjoy how Williams observed how right when the women were brought out to be executed the text focuses on their feminine aspects. I feel those insights were very helpful in understanding the text.
Russell, Robert P. The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000.
I found this historical account to be the most engaging accounts from the era and very easy to understand. The account tells of the several martyrs that took place in Lyons and Vienne. It describes the terrible ways in which they were killed and the attitudes of the faithful in accepting it and the people that had a hard time accepting the fact that they were to die. The way that Rome falsely accused the martyrs of incest to justify the slaying of them was quite barbaric. I also have somewhat of a personal connection to these accounts in that I lived in Lyon for three months in 2007 and saw the sites where these martyrs took place, of course I didn't appreciate it at the time.
Moss, Candida R. Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2012.
This piece analysed the martyrs that took place in Lyons and Vienne. It starts by telling the state Gaul was in before christianity came, saying that it was a barren outskirt town that had just started to florish culturally.I enjoyed learn the factthat there is no archigoical data to prove christianity existed in the area before Constatine. The work then analyzes a annonymous letter that proves christianity existed in the area. The letter describes martyrs and the state of christianity at that time. The work then talks about the torture of the believers and how the letter shows that they did not experience any pain since they were suffering for Christ.
Beacham, Richard C. Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome. Yale: Yale University, 1999.
Beacham provides an accurate narrative concerning the relationship between spectacle entertainment (e.g., chariot races, theatre, gladiator shows) and the reigns of several of Rome's most famous emperors, including Caesar, Caligula, and Nero. I thought that the way he traced the evoultion of the Roman Empire and its spectacle was well done, especially given the way our culture today embraces various kinds of spectacles. My biggest complaint of the book is that Beacham does not collect the material into some type of detailed conclusion. He presents the information in basically an emperor by emperor format, without really integrating the material as a whole. A final chapter that accomplished this task would have been nice to have in the book. I don't think that this book would be a good introduction to the topic. This book assumes that the reader has at least some knowledge.
Köhne, Eckart, Cornelia Ewigleben, and Ralph Jackson. Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome. Berkely: University of California Press, 2000.
The book shows in lush illustrations the different categories of gladiator, the weapons each was assigned, and the role they played in the games. It goes into the fates of those who were sentenced to the amphitheater; those sentenced to be torn by wild beasts had no chance, but there were others who were sentenced to gladiatorial school and could possibly gain freedom, money, and celebrity. Of course, they had to survive plenty of mortal combat to do so. The book tells repeatedly about how different Caesars used the games to defuse public anger about governmental conditions. The scholars are complimentary about _Ben Hur_: "Although there are a number of inaccuracies, the film as a whole thrillingly conveys the character and atmosphere, one might even say the quintessence, of such a sporting event, in a way that scholarly attention to detail could never have done on its own." I have always admired that film and know that it is famous for how many acedemy awards that it won.
"Spartacus: Blood and Sand - No Longer a Thracian." YouTube video, 1:32, from a performance televised by Starz on March 5, 2010. Posted by “Starz.” March 2, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUzsLZqDu50.
This clip is from the four season Starz series Spartacus. This clip shows how important Spectacle was to the Roman people. It shows that games were recreations of famous military conquests and to honor those who are dead. It shows how much the master of the gladitorial school wanted to win in the games to show off his male masculinity while he his viewed by his peers with their “male gaze.”