A tunica molesta (Latin for "annoying shirt") was a tunic impregnated with pitch and other flammable substances such as naphtha or resin. [1] This was put upon the victim while the neck of the victim was fixed to a stake with an iron collar. It was then ignited, burning the victim alive. [2] : 17 [3]
It is also a form of a Shirt of Flame later used in death by burning as described in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
The origins of the tunica molesta are not agreed upon by scholars. Ben Hubbard believes that Nero invented the tunica molesta. This is probably not the case, since the tunica appears in literature of the centuries before Nero's reign. [4] : 174 The tunica molesta seems to have first appeared as an aspect of the gladiator games. [5] The origins of the gladiator games is more obscure. [6]
Roman tradition held that gladiator games were not of Roman origin. [7] Julia Shear traces their origin to Greek festivals now known as the Panathenian games. [8] : 4 These celebrations included 'dancers in arms' (Gr.:pyrrhichistai) who are often seen as the fore-runners of gladiators. Some Roman writers thought the gladiator games came from the Circus Maximus or the Circus Flaminus which had developed under the Etruscan kings from the sixth century BC. [7] The circus games were state occasions, presided over by a magistrate, and financed by the state, while the gladiatorial shows were later and did not originate as state occasions. [9]
It is most likely that the games began as a part of the "offerings" owed to important men at their deaths. The object was to broadcast their prestige and uplift the status of their family. [9] These Roman spectacles were a public display of power. [10] The importance of funerals as important occasions which heirs exploited for these reasons is well attested. [11] It is within this context that Roman gladiatorial contests are first recorded. [11]
In early societies, the violence of blood sports and the sacred are often linked together in sacred contexts such as funerals. [12] In Rome, these spectacles, called munera, might have included plays and chariot races as well as combat sports. [13]
The tunica molesta was commonly used to execute criminals; this was seen as holding special significance for arsonists. [14] Capital punishments usually took place during the gladiator games in the Amphitheatre, at lunchtime, when all forms of public executions, including death by crematio, were carried out. [4] : 54
Execution by burning was often part of a dramatic performance of Graeco-Roman mythology. [15] Dramas that contained conflict between good and evil were seen as morally uplifting, and public executions of convicted criminals were believed to doubly improve virtue by providing a real life deterrent. [16] By the second half of the first century, evidence for executions as public spectacle is particularly strong. [16] Afterwards, the charred corpse was dragged by a hook throughout the arena for spectators to see, although historian David Kyle writes that only the corpses of the hated and dangerous were treated this way. [2] : 17 [17]
Fire was a legal means of torture, abuse and execution in the empire. [17] It was used to induce testimony from slaves, in the arena to provoke men and beasts who were reluctant to fight, and to confirm death. [17]
It was certainly used to torture and kill Christians, and Nero did execute numbers of Christians in this manner; [18] partly this was because early Christians preferred to be buried, like Jesus, rather than being burned. [17] Tertullian wrote: "we are called 'faggot-fellows' and 'half-axle men' because we are tied to a half-axle post and faggots are piled around us, and we are burnt". [17] [19] Death was not swift; Kyle writes it was the torment of the 'slow-burn that was the norm. [17]
One of the great satirists of Roman Empire was Decimus Junius Juvenalis, who tells Tigellinus Sophoneus, a supporter of Nero's who encouraged Nero's worst passions, that he would, himself, soon "shine in that torch like tunic". [2] : 17
Thomas Wiedemann has written that, "An epigram in the Book of Spectacles refers to someone 'in matutina arena' playing the role 'Mucius Scaevola', the Roman hero who proved his bravery in the presence of the Etruscan king Lars Porsena [circa 500 BC] by thrusting his right hand into the flame; this is said to have been an alternative to the tunica molesta." [20] [21] Famous charades that re-enacted this event were sometimes fatal. [17]
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.
The Colosseum is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world, despite its age. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 72 and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir, Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian. The three emperors who were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius).
Libitina, also Libentina or Lubentina, is an ancient Roman goddess of funerals and burial. Her name was used as a metonymy for death, and undertakers were known as libitinarii. Libitina was associated with Venus, and the name appears in some authors as an epithet of Venus.
Lucius Junius Brutus was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman Republic, and traditionally one of its first consuls in 509 BC. He was reputedly responsible for the expulsion of his uncle the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus after the suicide of Lucretia, which led to the overthrow of the Roman monarchy. He was involved in the abdication of fellow consul Tarquinius Collatinus, and executed two of his sons for plotting the restoration of the Tarquins.
Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from a very early time. With the institution of formal races and permanent racetracks, chariot racing was adopted by many Greek states and their religious festivals. Horses and chariots were very costly. Their ownership was a preserve of the wealthiest aristocrats, whose reputations and status benefitted from offering such extravagant, exciting displays. Their successes could be further broadcast and celebrated through commissioned odes and other poetry.
Venatio was a type of entertainment in Roman amphitheaters involving the hunting and killing of wild animals.
The gens Junia was one of the most celebrated families of ancient Rome. The gens may originally have been patrician, and was already prominent in the last days of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus was the nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, and on the expulsion of Tarquin in 509 BC, he became one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic.
A cornu or cornum was an ancient Roman brass instrument about 3 m (9.8 ft) long in the shape of a letter 'G'. The instrument was braced by a crossbar that stiffened the structure and provided a means of supporting its weight on the player's shoulder. Some specimens survive in the archaeological record, two from the ruins of Pompeii.
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. Vespasian began construction of the amphitheatre around AD 70 and it was completed by his son Titus, who became emperor following Vespasian's death in AD 79. Titus' reign began with months of disasters – including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a fire in Rome, and an outbreak of plague – he inaugurated the completion of the structure with lavish games that lasted for more than one hundred days, perhaps in an attempt to appease the Roman public and the gods.
A Samnite was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a warrior from Samnium: a short sword (gladius), a rectangular shield (scutum), a greave (ocrea), and the helmet. Warriors armed in such a way were the earliest gladiators in the Roman games. They appeared in Rome shortly after the defeat of Samnium in the 4th century BC, apparently adopted from the victory celebrations of Rome's allies in Campania. By arming low-status gladiators in the manner of a defeated foe, Romans mocked the Samnites and appropriated martial elements of their culture.
Ludi were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people . Ludi were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the major feature of, Roman religious festivals, and were also presented as part of the cult of state.
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.
The gens Modia was a minor family at Ancient Rome, known from a small number of individuals.
In ancient Rome, the pompa circensis was the procession that preceded the official games (ludi) held in the circus as part of religious festivals and other occasions.
The gens Helvidia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the final decades of the Republic. A century later, the Helvidii distinguished themselves by what has been called their "earnest, but fruitless, patriotism."
The gens Mettia, also written Metia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens occur in history, and none attained the higher offices of the Roman state under the Republic. Several Mettii rose to prominence in imperial times, with at least three obtaining the consulship in the late first and early second century.
The gens Novia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear during the final century of the Republic, but the first of the Novii to obtain the consulship was Decimus Junius Novius Priscus in AD 78.
The phrase Shirt of Flame refers either to a specific form of the poison dress trope in folklore, or to a particular type of clothing given to people about to face burning at the stake.
The gens Scantinia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the third century BC, but few of them held positions of importance in the Roman state.