Eulalia, you remind me of a article
which is a scholarly paper, written in densest academse, and peppered with untranslated Latin and Greek. But it describes in some detail the reasons for and methods of executing criminals as part of public entertainments.
Dramas in which characters die bloodily and horribly are commonplace today, we call them slasher movies. There are also compilation videos of people actually getting killed. When actors are deliberately killed to make Friday 13th movies, then I’ll start getting worried about the current version of civilization.
Thanks for that, Apostate - yes it is a rather heavy, plodding survey of Roman punishments and executions, especially ones conducted as theatrical spectacles, but it's well-organised and argued, it certainly illustrates my point. Most of the Latin (and a little Greek) in the text is translated, except some short phrases, and where some writing has been summarised in the text, the original is given in full in footnotes. This passage (one of those ?you've higlighted) gives a taste:
[A] Pompeian inscription, CIL iv 9983a, ... includes a line advertising
criminals to be crucified in the amphitheatre during the regular munus: 'cruciarii
ven[atio] et vel[a] er[unt]'. An advantage of this attraction is that it does not
require prisoners to be trained. Crucifixion, however, involving a lingering death
that lasts hours if not days,does not offer the same spectacular appeal as the other
'aggravated' death penalties that were commonly imposed: burning and beasts. But
the actual moment of death may be relatively insignificant in relation to the
satisfaction spectators derived from witnessing preliminaries that culminated in the
hoisting of the body onto the cross. It is also possible that a combined penalty was
envisaged such as that suffered by the martyr Blandina, who was hung on a post as
bait for the animals in a posture that is explicitly likened to crucifixion.
Similarly the martyrdom of Pionius, who was nailed to a [xylon = wooden post],
raised, and burnt, combined crucifixion and crematio.'
As well as intensifying the punishment by doubling the pain, these
variations sustain interest by their novelty
An advantage of this attraction is that it does not
require prisoners to be trained.
That, typically rather humorless, line makes me imagine a board meeting
where the Emperor and his advisers are discussing more cost-efficient ways
of killing off people in public in ways that will please the punters!
), a group of naked folks (I presume slaves?) is chained up in the back of the Pit, where gladiators battle to the gruesome death. If I remember right, it’s a group of three naked men and one gorgeous, similarly naked woman.
