Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine

Zeev Weiss

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780674728011
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine introduces readers to the panoply of public entertainment that flourished in Palestine from the first century BCE to the sixth century CE. Drawing on a trove of original archaeological and textual evidence, Zeev Weiss reconstructs an ancient world where Romans, Jews, and Christians intermixed amid a heady brew of shouts, roars, and applause to watch a variety of typically pagan spectacles.Ancient Roman society reveled in many such spectacles—dramatic performances, chariot races, athletic competitions, and gladiatorial combats—that required elaborate public venues, often maintained at great expense. Wishing to ingratiate himself with Rome, Herod the Great built theaters, amphitheaters, and hippodromes to bring these forms of entertainment to Palestine. Weiss explores how the indigenous Jewish and Christian populations responded, as both spectators and performers, to these cultural imports. Perhaps predictably, the reactions of rabbinic and clerical elites did not differ greatly. But their dire warnings to shun pagan entertainment did little to dampen the popularity of these events.Herod's ambitious building projects left a lasting imprint on the region. His dream of transforming Palestine into a Roman enclave succeeded far beyond his rule, with games and spectacles continuing into the fifth century CE. By then, however, public entertainment in Palestine had become a cultural institution in decline, ultimately disappearing during Justinian's reign in the sixth century.

1

The Beginning: The Introduction of Public Spectacles and Competitions into Ancient Palestine

THE REIGN OF HEROD, the builder-king, is characterized by large-scale construction that dramatically changed the face of ancient Palestine. Appointed king of Judaea by the Roman Senate, Herod initiated, planned, and constructed the buildings in his realm. His edifices were commensurate with the ceremonial lifestyle in his palaces, as were the public buildings he constructed for the inhabitants of many cities in ancient Palestine, some of which he himself had founded. The king’s personal involvement in these projects stemmed from his particular interest in architecture, his strong ambition, and his need to establish a foothold for the royal dynasty at home and abroad as well as express loyalty to his patrons and friends in Rome. In turn, the monumental building projects in the kingdom undoubtedly broadened ancient Palestine’s horizons, introducing the local population to the innovative construction, planning, and decorations of the wealthy in Rome, and, first and foremost, influencing the lifestyle and daily habits of the local population—its cult, society, commerce, economy, and leisure culture.

The builder-king invested large sums of money, energy, and thought in monumentalizing his kingdom and also contributed from his own funds to the building of new structures or the renovation of old ones beyond his realm, in nearby cities and faraway places across the sea. In Tyre and Berytus he built halls, porticoes, temples, and marketplaces; in Byblos he renovated the city walls; and in Laodicea he constructed an aqueduct. His contributions even went as far as to help the people of Antioch, Rhodes, and Chios, as well as Nicopolis, which the emperor founded near Actium and in which Herod erected most of its public buildings.¹ The king’s deeds and generosity were recognized by many, including the emperor and Agrippa, and undoubtedly also had a profound effect on the recipients of his gifts. The historian Flavius Josephus remarked: “The extent of Herod’s realm was not equal to his magnanimity” (Ant. 16.141). The scope and grandeur of Herod’s building projects went far beyond those of any other client-king in his time; they were surpassed only by Augustus and probably equaled only by his friend Marcus Agrippa.

The king’s love of Graeco-Roman culture, together with his wish to integrate his kingdom politically, socially, and culturally into the Roman Empire, also led him to establish games and build structures to house performances, competitions, races, and other types of shows. During his various campaigns across the empire—in Alexandria, the cities of Asia Minor, and several Greek islands—and on several of his visits to Rome, Herod came into contact with Hellenic culture and was exposed to a variety of competitions—those held in the Greek format and others conforming to Roman tradition. Josephus’s descriptions and the archaeological finds corroborate that most of the king’s energies in this and other building projects were directed toward activities in his own kingdom. However, owing to his generosity and love of sports, Herod also constructed buildings and donated monies to fund games in other cities. In Tripoli, Damascus, and Ptolemais he built gymnasia, in Cos he funded the maintenance of the annual office of the gymnasiarch, in Sidon and Damascus he built theaters, and in Olympia he bestowed a large gift to revive the games that had declined owing to a lack of monies.² Among the Herodian building projects known outside of his kingdom, which are acknowledged in literary sources alone, are the fragmentary remains of the theater in Damascus south of the city, located on the Via Recta, not far from the temple of Jupiter that was constructed at the same time.³

In the Hellenistic East, from Alexander the Great until Pompey and down to Herod’s reign, only a few buildings were erected for competitions and spectacles. Ptolemy Lagus built a hippodrome in Alexandria known as the Lageion.⁴ Malalas informs us that Quintius Marcius Rex, proconsul of Cilicia, constructed a hippodrome in Antioch from his own funds in 67 BCE, and that slightly later Julius Caesar built a theater in the city.⁵ Josephus mentions a hippodrome in Damascus in the first century BCE.⁶ These are isolated instances of buildings for mass entertainment in their early stages that had no impact whatsoever on the cultural habits of the local population or on the building patterns or architectural landscape of the cities in ancient Palestine. Herod the Great should therefore be regarded as a pioneer who introduced large-scale public spectacles and competitions into the Roman East, revolutionizing the recreational habits of the indigenous populations while setting new trends in their physical and cultural environment.

The Literary and Archaeological Evidence

Information about the celebrations that Herod inaugurated in his kingdom, the buildings he erected, and the spectacles and competitions he instituted is culled primarily from the chronicles of Flavius Josephus. A native of ancient Palestine and one of the leaders of the revolt against Rome, Josephus crossed over to the Roman side after the fall of Iotapata in 67 CE; in 70 CE he moved to Rome, where he wrote his works under Flavian rule. The archaeological remains discovered at some sites also furnish important details about Herodian construction, some corroborating the historian’s accounts and others adding new information about the king’s projects and efforts to expose the local population of ancient Palestine to contemporary cultural patterns. Through his activities, Herod wished to express his loyalty to the emperor, integrate his kingdom into the Roman world, and aggrandize his name among his subjects, neighbors, and patrons. An analysis of the literary evidence and archaeological remains indicates that the king acted according to a well-thought-out program. In the course of his reign he erected a number of buildings in several locales, inaugurated celebrations in the emperor’s honor in some of them, and held games in them every few years. The new cultural environment took shape and established itself over time, but only at the end of the period, with Herod’s death in 4 BCE, were the scope and degree of his success to become revealed in their entirety.

Various types of spectacles and competitions were first held in a festival Herod established in Jerusalem in honor of Augustus, apparently in the spring or summer of 28 BCE. These events, which Josephus describes in detail, were held in several buildings that the king built within the city:

For in the first place he established athletic contests every fifth year in honor of Caesar, and he built a theatre in Jerusalem, and after that a very large amphitheatre in the plain, both being spectacularly lavish but foreign to Jewish custom, for the use of such buildings and the exhibition of such spectacles have not been traditional (with the Jews). Herod, however, celebrated the quinquennial festival in the most splendid way, sending notices of it to the neighboring peoples and inviting participants from the whole nation. Athletes and other classes of contestants were invited from every land, being attracted by the hope of winning the prizes offered and by the glory of victory. And the leading men in various fields were assembled, for Herod offered very great prizes not only for the winners in gymnastic games but also to those engaged in music and those who are called thymelikoi. And an effort was made to have all the most famous persons come to the contest. He also offered considerable gifts to drivers of four-horse and two-horse chariots and to those mounted on race-horses. And whatever costly or magnificent efforts had been made by others, all these did Herod imitate in his ambition to see his spectacle become famous. All around the theater were inscriptions concerning Caesar and trophies of the nations which he had won in war, all of them made for Herod of pure gold and silver. As for the serviceable objects, there was no valuable garment or vessel of precious stones which was not also on exhibition along the contests. There was also a supply of wild beasts, a great many lions and other animals having been brought together for him, such as were of extraordinary strength or of very rare kinds. When the practice began of involving them in combat with one another or setting condemned men to fight against them, foreigners were astonished at the expense and at the same time entertained by the dangerous spectacle, but for the natives, it meant an open break with the customs held in honor by them. For it seems glaring impiety to throw men to wild beasts for the pleasure of other men as spectators, and it seems a further impiety to change their established ways for foreign practices. (Ant. 15.268–275)

Josephus reports that Herod built an impressively beautiful theater and large amphitheater in Jerusalem in which he held spectacles and competitions of various types.⁷ Except for several stone seats belonging to the theater that stood in Jerusalem (whether of Herodian or Hadrianic date), these two buildings that Herod built have not yet been discovered in the city, and opinions are divided as to their location, if at all, within the urban layout.⁸

The games in Jerusalem were established, as Josephus reports, as a quinquennial festival, held every fifth year, or every four years by our reckoning. With the dedication of Caesarea in 10 BCE, in Herod’s twenty-eighth year of rule (which coincided with the 192nd Olympiad), the king also inaugurated games in that city.⁹ As in Jerusalem, he dedicated them to his patron Augustus in celebration of the emperor’s victory in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE. Josephus recounts the events in Caesarea in three places. In his War he mentions the buildings, the competitions, and the prizes given to the participants: “The rest of the buildings—amphitheatre, theatre, public places—were constructed in a style worthy of the name which the city bore. He further instituted quinquennial games, likewise named after Caesar, and inaugurated them himself, in the hundred and ninety-second Olympiad, offering prizes of the highest value; at these games not the victors only, but also those who obtained second and third places, participated in the royal bounty” (War 1.415).

Along with the description of Caesarea’s major projects, Josephus refers in his Antiquities to the buildings and their location within the city: “Herod also built a theatre of stone in the city, and on the south side of the harbor, farther back, an amphitheatre large enough to hold a large crowd of people and conveniently situated for a view of the sea” (Ant. 15.341). Later in his book he elaborates on the competitions Herod held in the city upon the completion of construction:

For he announced a contest in music and athletic exercises, and had prepared a great number of gladiators and wild beasts and also horse races and the very lavish shows that are to be seen at Rome and in the various other places. And this contest too he dedicated to Caesar, having arranged to celebrate it every fifth year. And Caesar, adding luster to his love and glory, from his own revenues sent all equipments needed for such games. On her own account Caesar’s wife Julia sent many of her greatest treasures from Rome, so that the entire sum was reckoned as no less than five hundred talents.” (Ant. 16.137–140)

The games and competitions held in honor of Augustus in Caesarea were organized in a format similar to the one in Jerusalem, every four years; however, in Caesarea there were also gladiatorial combats and, as Josephus notes, prizes awarded not only to the winners but also to those who finished in second and third places.

In Caesarea, remains of a theater and amphitheater were uncovered on the coast south of the harbor; however, the name “amphitheater” that Josephus used does not conform to the shape of the structure discovered on that spot (Figure 1.10). This incongruity, as well as the use of various terms to define a single building in a specific place, are also repeated elsewhere in his writings. We will return to the matter of terminology after presenting all the information we have about Herod’s building projects.

The theater in Caesarea was built south of the Herodian city, on the weste...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The Beginning: The Introduction of Public Spectacles and Competitions into Ancient Palestine
• 2. Shaping the City’s Landscape: Buildings for Mass Entertainment in Their Urban Context
• 3. Entertaining the Crowds: Performances, Competitions, and Shows
• 4. Financing, Organization, and Operation
• 5. Adopting a Novelty: Jewish Attitudes toward Roman Spectacles and Competitions
• 6. Public Spectacles and Sociocultural Behavior in Late Antique Palestine
• Epilogue
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Source Index
• Subject Index