Bestiarius

Last updated

Among Ancient Romans, bestiarii (singular bestiarius) were those who went into combat with beasts, or were exposed to them. It is conventional [1] to distinguish two categories of bestiarii: the first were those condemned to death via the beasts (see damnatio ad bestias ) and the second were those who faced them voluntarily, for pay or glory (see venatio ). [2] The latter are sometimes erroneously called "gladiators"; to their contemporaries, however, the Latin term gladiator referred specifically to one who fought other men. The contemporary term for those who made a career out of participating in arena "hunts" was venatores .

Contents

As a form of execution

As a means of torturous capital punishment, death by wild beasts was a punishment for enemies of the state, [3] a category which included those taken prisoner and slaves found guilty of a serious crime. These were sent to their deaths naked and unable to defend themselves against the beasts. Even if they succeeded in killing one, fresh animals were continually let loose on them, until the bestiarii were all dead. It is reported that it was seldom necessary for two beasts to be required to take down one man; on the contrary, one beast frequently dispatched several men. Cicero mentions a single lion which alone dispatched 200 bestiarii. [1]

Seneca relates that a German prisoner, rather than participate, killed himself by forcing a sponge used in the lavatory down his throat. [4] "What a brave fellow!", said Seneca, "He surely deserved to be allowed to choose his fate! How bravely he would have wielded a sword!". Another nodded as if asleep and, lowering his head, thrust it between the spokes of the cart wheel, breaking his neck. [5] Symmachus writes of twenty-nine Saxon prisoners strangling one another in their cells the night before they were to appear in the arena. [6]

Voluntary combat

Bestiarii, as reported by Seneca, [1] consisted of young men who, to become expert in managing their arms, fought sometimes against beasts, and sometimes against one another; and of bravos who, to show their courage and dexterity, exposed themselves to this dangerous combat. Augustus encouraged this practice in young men of the first rank; Nero exposed himself to it; and it was for killing beasts in the amphitheatre that Commodus acquired the title of the Roman Hercules. [1]

Vigenère adds two more types of bestiarii: [7] the first were those who made a trade of it, and fought for money. It appears that there were schools in Rome, in which people were trained to fight wild beasts (scholae bestiarum, or bestiariorum). [8] The second type was where several armed bestiarii were let loose at once against a number of beasts. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epistle to Titus</span> Book of the New Testament

The Epistle to Titus is one of the three pastoral epistles in the New Testament, historically attributed to Paul the Apostle. It is addressed to Saint Titus and describes the requirements and duties of presbyters/bishops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladiator</span> Roman combatant for entertainment

A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their lives and their legal and social standing by appearing in the arena. Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crucifixion</span> Inflicting death by nailing or tying a victim to a wooden cross

Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthaginians, and Romans, among others. Crucifixion has been used in some countries as recently as the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monster</span> Fearsome and/or grotesque fictional being

A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear, often in humans. Monsters usually resemble bizarre, deformed, otherworldly and/or mutated animals or entirely unique creatures of varying sizes, but may also take a human form, such as mutants, ghosts, spirits, zombies, or cannibals, among other things. They may or may not have supernatural powers, but are usually capable of killing or causing some form of destruction, threatening the social or moral order of the human world in the process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillory</span> Restraint used to hold and punish a person in a standing position

The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nephilim</span> Beings from the Hebrew Bible

The Nephilim are mysterious beings or people in the Bible traditionally imagined as being of great size and strength, or alternatively beings of great power and authority. The origins of the Nephilim are disputed. Some, including the author of the Book of Enoch, view them as the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Others view them as descendants of Seth and Cain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quintus Aurelius Symmachus</span> Roman senator, orator and author (345–402 CE)

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus sought to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy was converting to Christianity, and led an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Emperor Gratian's order to remove the Altar of Victory from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum. Two years later he made a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that was rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Symmachus's career was temporarily derailed when he supported the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he was rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul. After the death of Theodosius I, he became an ally of Stilicho, the guardian of emperor Honorius. In collaboration with Stilicho he was able to restore some of the legislative powers of the Senate. Much of his writing has survived: nine books of letters; a collection of Relationes or official dispatches; and fragments of various orations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Servile War</span> Major slave rebellion against the Roman Republic (73–71 BC)

The Third Servile War, also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic known as the Servile Wars. This third rebellion was the only one that directly threatened the Roman heartland of Italy. It was particularly alarming to Rome because its military seemed powerless to suppress it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venatio</span> Type of entertainment in Ancient Rome involving the hunting and killing of wild animals

Venatio was a type of entertainment in Roman amphitheaters involving the hunting and killing of wild animals.

<i>Retiarius</i> Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman

A retiarius was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a weighted net, a three-pointed trident, and a dagger (pugio). The retiarius was lightly armoured, wearing an arm guard (manica) and a shoulder guard (galerus). Typically, his clothing consisted only of a loincloth (subligaculum) held in place by a wide belt, or of a short tunic with light padding. He wore no head protection or footwear.

Aristo of Chios, also spelled Ariston, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and colleague of Zeno of Citium. He outlined a system of Stoic philosophy that was, in many ways, closer to earlier Cynic philosophy. He rejected the logical and physical sides of philosophy endorsed by Zeno and emphasized ethics. Although agreeing with Zeno that Virtue was the supreme good, he rejected the idea that morally indifferent things such as health and wealth could be ranked according to whether they are naturally preferred. An important philosopher in his day, his views were eventually marginalized by Zeno's successors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladiatrix</span> Female gladiator

The gladiatrix was a female gladiator of ancient Rome. Like their male counterparts, gladiatrices fought each other, or wild animals, to entertain audiences at games and festivals (ludi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in ancient Rome</span>

Slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the economy. Unskilled or low-skill slaves labored in the fields, mines, and mills with few opportunities for advancement and little chance of freedom. Skilled and educated slaves—including artisans, chefs, domestic staff and personal attendants, entertainers, business managers, accountants and bankers, educators at all levels, secretaries and librarians, civil servants, and physicians—occupied a more privileged tier of servitude and could hope to obtain freedom through one of several well-defined paths with protections under the law. The possibility of manumission and subsequent citizenship was a distinguishing feature of Rome's system of slavery, resulting in a significant and influential number of freedpersons in Roman society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inaugural games of the Colosseum</span> Roman games held in 80CE

The inaugural games were held, on the orders of the Roman Emperor Titus, to celebrate the completion in AD 80 of the Colosseum, then known as the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Quintus Sextius the Elder was a Roman philosopher, whose philosophy combined Pythagoreanism with Stoicism. Seneca frequently praised him.

<i>Damnatio ad bestias</i> Roman execution method

Damnatio ad bestias was a form of Roman capital punishment where the condemned person was killed by wild animals, usually lions or other big cats. This form of execution, which first appeared during the Roman Republic around the 2nd century BC, had been part of a wider class of blood sports called Bestiarii.

An essedarius was a type of gladiator in Ancient Rome who fought from a chariot. The word was used in Caesar's Gallic Wars to describe British charioteers, who were driven over the battlefield, throwing spears at the enemy, then dismounted to fight or launched themselves along the chariot yoke. There are few references to them in the literature. In Petronius' Satyricon, one fights to the accompaniment of a water-organ. Seneca remarks on the difficulty of recognising a dismounted essedarius; this has been taken to imply that their fighting from chariots was their most distinctive feature. Some, most, or all essedarii had drivers, and some chariot fighters may have been citizens; Suetonius describes Caligula's annoyance at tripping and falling, distracted by the applause of the crowd when a successful essedarius freed the slave who had driven him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Mount Vesuvius</span> 73 BCE conflict of the Third Servile War,battle

The Battle of Vesuvius was the first conflict of the Third Servile War which pitted the escaped slaves against a military force of militia specifically dispatched by Rome to deal with the rebellion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectacles in ancient Rome</span>

The spectacles in ancient Rome were numerous, open to all citizens and generally free of charge; some of them were distinguished by the grandeur of the stagings and cruelty.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Entry on Bestiarii at Chambers, Ephraim, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences , c. 1680-1740
  2. William Smith, "Bestiarii" from A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray: London, 1875. Public domain.
  3. The Bestiarius and the Ludus Matutinus
  4. Seneca. Epistles. LXX.20.
  5. Seneca. Epistles. LXX.23.
  6. Symmachus. Letters. II.46.
  7. Cyclopaedia, apparently referring to some one of Vigenère's French translations of Latin works, such as his translation of Caesar's Commentaries .
  8. Tertullian's Apologeticus , chapter 35; cited in Smith 1875.