Transcript

The People's Arena with Alison Futrell

From ArchaeologyTV · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 8 min · 10,287 words · 74 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The People's Arena with Alison Futrell", an episode of ArchaeologyTV published November 13, 2025 (1 h 8 min, about 10,287 words). It mentions 21 people, works and ideas, including Le Cicero, Diodoris, Archaeology magazine, Crescens, Tom Lvodder.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Archaeology magazine, Age of Empires 4, Allison Futrell, American Journal of Archaeology
  2. – 20:00: Le Cicero
  3. – 30:00: Le Cicero
  4. – 50:00: Crescens
  5. – 1:00:00: Diodoris, Crescens, Fortinencis, Kilitus
  6. – 1:07:59: Austia, Hocarnasses, Le Cicero

Notable quotes from "The People's Arena with Alison Futrell"

  • Eastern. so hello everyone and welcome to the AIA Archaeology Hour. My name is Tom Lvodder. I am a professor in the department of Greek, Latin, and ancient Mediterranean…
    about Tom Lvodder · at
  • So the AIA supports publications in the form of Archaeology magazine with a readership of over 700,000 as well as the scholarly journal the American journal of archaeology which is the world's leading journal for.
    about Archaeology magazine · at
  • But I wanted to first just let people know that our next talk is in January with Danielle Means who will be speaking on who will be speaking on NAGPRA as a path to healing and…
    about Danielle Means · at
  • Expert in Colosseum, an eight-part series on the History Channel. She is the author of Blood in the Arena and Roman games and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Sport and…
    about Blood in the Arena · at
  • Of taking in everything they're told. they're talking back. and there's back talk going on as well. So Cicero gives us some clues about how this works. the ways in which people…
    about Le Cicero · at
  • Lot of people had access to. So that's where these come from. Crescens was a retiarius. this is his graffitito here. he talks about well Crescens is here expressed to be the…
    about Crescens · at
  • I would characterize this as kind of romantic in certain ways. so whether Crescens and Kilitus are writing it or not, it's very moody. It's the nighttime, it's it's the…
    about Kilitus · at
  • From way over on the eastern side of the Mediterranean the tombstone of Diodoris from Amisus which like that of Urbus is fairly expensive. There's an image there's a nicely engraved inscription here. some expenditure has been laid out to.
    about Diodoris · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Le Cicero — Person · 10 mentions · first at
  • Diodoris — Person · 5 mentions · first at
  • Crescens — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Tom Lvodder — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Danielle Means — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Allison Futrell — Person · 1 mention · first at
    So for our speaker tonight, I'm pleased to introduce Allison Futrell, who is professor of history at the University of Arizona. Her research is guided by her interest in the performance and imagery of power in the.
  • Kilitus — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Olympia — Person · 1 mention · first at
    His wife of seven years who set this up. talks about the two daughters they have together, Olympia and Fortinencis. you can see the tombstone also has a little dog standing next to this representation of Urbus in his secur paraphernalia and.
  • Fortinencis — Person · 1 mention · first at
    This up. talks about the two daughters they have together, Olympia and Fortinencis. you can see the tombstone also has a little dog standing next to this representation of…
  • Urbicus — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Not named in the inscription I will tell you. but it does refer to the amore of Urbicus, his avid fans, the lovers of Urbus who will join with the family in honoring the dead.…
  • Plenny — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Well. they wanted to see development through different phases of the combat as well. so Plenny talks a little bit about you know what is valuable about these kinds of spectators for Roman spectators.
  • Laia — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Archaeological Institute of America — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Am right now. and I am also the president of the Portland, Oregon Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. So before we get started with tonight's lecture, I just…

Products & tech

  • Age of Empires 4 — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Ancient World and co-creator of the University of Arizona Enhanced Experience for Age of Empires 4 the computer game.

Places & events

  • Hocarnasses — Place · 1 mention · first at
    We've got skimpy bits of pieces of evidence. We've got an amazing relief from Hocarnasses that actually shows a couple of female gladiators facing off against each other. And…
  • Austia — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Extended narratives in literary authors. there's u the remains of an inscription from Austia celebrating the success of a particular magistrate who was the first one to offer female combatants with the sword in that place.

Full transcript with timestamps

All right. Uh, I have it at precisely 5:00 PM my time at least, 8:00 PM Eastern. Uh, so hello everyone and welcome to the AIA Archaeology Hour. My name is Tom Lvodder. I am a professor in the department of Greek, Latin, and ancient Mediterranean studies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, uh, where I am right now. and I am also the president of the Portland, Oregon Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. So before we get started with tonight's lecture, I just want to do a little bit of a plug here for the AIA and for some upcoming uh programming. So, the Archaeological Institute of America, the AIA, uh is North America's largest and oldest archaeological organization with nearly 150,000 members worldwide, uh supporting professional archaeologists, educators, um as well as the general public uh who are interested in archaeology and our variety of publications uh and programs

will keep you up to date with things happening in the world of archaeology. Um so the AIA supports publications in the form of Archaeology magazine uh with a readership of over 700,000 as well as the scholarly journal the American journal of archaeology which is the world's leading journal for Mediterranean archaeology. Uh we also uh support uh our members by uh helping people uh spread the word for archaeology, participating in archaeology, both publishing by publishing an extensive list of excavations and fieldwork opportunities for students and other individuals. uh attending and providing lectures uh such as this one uh uh to uh get archaeologists out to the public to present their findings and uh supporting uh archaeological tours uh with AIA tours.

So, if you are interested in becoming a member, uh if you uh aren't already, uh you can scan here and join our community of professional archaeologists and archaeological enthusiasts, which I uh highly recommend. So with this you will receive a variety of benefits including a subscription to archaeology magazine and also uh the AJA if you are so inclined an affiliation with a local AIA society various discounts and grant fellowship and grant eligibility as well. So as a nonprofit organization we also rely on the generosity of all of our donors to support our mission. Um so your gift will help make archaeological research, site preservation and publications and programs possible.

So uh now on to uh tonight's program. So you are attending one of the AIA's uh AIA archaeology hour virtual lectures for this year. Uh this is our third lecture this uh third lecture in this uh in this program. Um, and I will introduce our speaker uh momentarily, but I wanted to first just let people know that our next talk is in January with Danielle Means uh who will be speaking on who will be speaking on NAGPRA as a path to healing and reciprocity uh which should prove a very interesting and important uh lecture.

So for our uh speaker tonight, I'm pleased to introduce uh Allison Futrell, who is professor of history at the University of Arizona. Her research is guided by her interest in the performance and imagery of power in the Roman Empire with particular focus on spectacle and gender. She is also fascinated by representations of the ancient Mediterranean in popular culture. She has appeared in a range of public-f facing media, including most recently uh for BBC uh History Extra, National Geographic, and is a featured expert in Colosseum, an eight-part series on the History Channel. She is the author of Blood in the Arena uh and Roman games and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World and co-creator of the University of Arizona Enhanced Experience for Age of Empires 4 uh the computer game.

So before we get started, uh just a few notes here that this is a live presentation that is being recorded by the AIA. Recording by attendees is strictly prohibited. Um so uh please we are recording the lecture and broadcasting but please uh do not make your own recording. And for uh Zoom uh setting tips here. So, uh, you can turn on and off automatic automated closed captions at any time. If you would like to mute the chat popups, uh, during tonight's lecture, you can click on the chat on your phone or tablet and in the top right corner, click on the icon of the bell and select mute. And on a computer, select the up arrow next to chat along the bottom of the screen and uncheck show chat previews if you just don't want to be bothered. uh type your questions however in the separate Q&A box not the chat and then we will try to get to as many questions as possible uh at the end. Uh so with that I'm going to

stop sharing my screen and I'm going to turn this over to Allison. Okay, let's see if I can share. Share. Let's share. Okay, and starting. There we go. Hi. Uh thank you so much for that introduction, Tom. And I'd like to thank the AIA as well uh for running its nationwide lecture series since 1895 uh and for creating archaeology hour to extend these liveaction connections even further. Uh so thanks and thanks for inviting me. I'm glad to to be here and I'm glad to talk about uh the arena. I spent a certain amount of my adult life obsessed with these kinds of things. So it's a good thing to share sometimes. Um for a long time uh the arena has been part of the the major stories that we in the modern world have been telling ourselves about Rome. Uh a central feature there um focusing on the arena and the violent spectacles that it housed. Uh this is imagined as the center of imperial power where tyrants

fed the mobs darker hungers to lull them into political complacency. Uh the arena like the bathous, the banquetss, the orgies all central to this popular possession perception of what Rome was all about. uh how it's devoted to these sophisticated appetites to personal pleasures and in some sense the perception is doomed by that decadence by that devotion. Well, it is absolutely true that the Romans did devote a huge amount of time and energy and money and attention to the arena. Politicians overspending themselves to provide games. urban centers giving over large amounts of public space and public funds for the construction of spectacle venues. Rome took the arena wherever Rome went and as I said I've expended years looking into this uh looking at the arena as a political center uh as an imperial node looking at it through the lenses of religion and economics and ideology and sex and gender. And today

I'd like to look at the people uh by which I mean not the elites, not the people in power who are organizing these events and have certain kinds of message that they want to transfer to convey to the people uh certain ways of organizing power that they want to use the arena uh to help them perfect and continue. Uh so I'd like to look at the people who attended the spectacles today and look at the people who performed in them. Uh so looking at those who were sitting in the stands and those who are uh on the sands themselves.

But first I thought I'd offer a little bit of background to you. Uh starting with the kind of juggernaut of imperial expansion in the late republic. uh when we really see some of these things getting going from the 2n century BC on is when it really uh takes off. Uh it's a time when the Romans are expanding in the Mediterranean. Uh politics is getting widespread and trickier too. Um and some of the leaders of Rome at this time uh focus on mass events more and more as a way to uh enhance their power to enhance their political success uh and talk about how the kinds of skills just kind of uh overlap in certain interesting ways. uh Amelius Palace who's one of the the major imperialists at this time uh talks about how the leadership skills that he uses in providing uh military success for the Roman armies transfer directly into organizing spectacle. It's the same kind of process and the same kind of skills

that are involved to secure these mass events. Uh and it's certainly true that Scipio Africanis uh hugely benefited from his capacity to organize spectacle as he's working his way up the political ladder. This is a time though when there's kind of a a change that's happening in Rome because of this imperial expansion. Politics in the city of Rome are getting a lot more competitive uh a lot more expensive. um the constituencies that individual politicians are relying on uh to support them and to secure them their place in power uh are getting more complicated too. Different constituencies have different things that they want, how to appeal to them, how to draw them in. Uh so more politicians are turning to spectacle as a way to kind of organize these connections and present themselves as certain kinds of leaders. It's interesting too though that there is discourse, there is communication. Uh

people have to be persuaded at these spectacles. Uh people are not just sort of taking in everything they're told. Uh they're talking back. Uh and there's back talk going on as well. So Cicero gives us some clues about how this works. uh the ways in which people at the shows convey their views, convey their opinions about their leaders through gesture, rude gesture, sometimes through glaring, through hissing, through booing. Uh they make their will known and sometimes it's negative wills. Uh they're also really good at chanting and these skills overlap with religion and so forth. Uh so they form clacks to uh chant in udeison uh to make more complicated opinions audible uh to their politicians. Uh they adapt phrases from prayers, from cheers, from songs, punchlines from comedies uh in order to convey their opinion uh to their leaders. Uh and Cicero talks about how we see at the shows the expression of

the true will of the people of Rome. Uh it's genuine political communication that's going on here. When the emperors take charge of Rome, uh some things change in certain ways. Uh the blood spectacles that I mainly focus on that are often hosted in amphitheaters, the gladiatorial combats and so forth get kind of standardized, right? There's a standard uh format program uh that the emperors organize with animal events, the venation taking place in the morning. Uh the dumnatones uh the the executions taking place at midday, capital offenses and so forth as also happened in the arena. Uh and the paired combats, the the moon as they're often called uh happening in the afternoon. It's still really important politically. uh it's a vital place for the emperors to create and to spread a certain kind of positive public image by having this sort of generosity thing by offering the spectacles to the people uh

by having exchanges with them by having communications. Um there's some things that sort of guide the communication though these are bigger spectacles uh and the emperors actually have larger venues to to offer them in. Um but the organization of the the seating is something that actually matters and that's what we're getting a hint of uh with this particular image here which is the theodocious monument. You see in the center the big biggest figure uh is the emperor. He's taller than everybody else. Uh and around him are his courters, his friends, his companions.

They're shorter than he is because they're not the emperor, right? Uh he's in the imperial box. Uh below him are the people, people who are not elite, and you can see they're scaled much smaller to indicate their social and political status. Uh and down in front are a bunch of performers in the arena. These are female dancers here. They're all individualized. Uh and they're much smaller than everyone else, but they're the ones who are actually on the sands. They're actually performing. Uh this is a sort of ideological representation uh in a circus, in an amphitheater. uh the people would actually be sitting farther away uh from the performance area, farther away from things that are happening. Uh and the emperor's box would definitely be down in front so he has a primo view of what's going on in the sands. So uh sitting by class uh changes the way communication happens a bit. um they're still giving their

efforts and they're working up ways in which they can make their views uh known and so forth and and gesture and and group screaming uh takes a a role here. Um but that's something that's actually encouraged uh during the time of the emperors. There's not a lot of voting going on and yet Rome is still ideally a republic. uh it's still the Senate and the people of Rome who own it as a possession. It's theirs. Um they should have some kind of recognition of that. Uh and that is something that is respected by the emperors providing this place where they're still airing their views. They are still making their wishes known. uh there is this sort of license this uh freedom to speak in the amphitheater that remains important an important kind of communication to the emperor. So again using some of the same techniques enhanced a bit more from the republic uh spontaneous engagement as well as planned expressions that they

want to do. One thing to keep in mind is that the emperor is obliged to listen. Uh all these eyes are on him and if he ignores them or refuses to pay attention, it's going to look bad for him. And it's also immediate and direct, right, to communicate with the emperor. Otherwise, you'd have to prepare a petition. You'd have to go through a bunch of cronies to to get to him, and he can easily ignore it. But here, he's on stage, too. he's trying to make a a positive impression on everyone. So listening to what people have to say is still important. So the stands matter.

The people on the stands matter. Um as I said, I spent a lot of time looking at Roman politics uh and the arena. um and looking today at you know other things that are going there uh other things that are happening that actively involve the the people um in the in the arena. [snorts] Okay. So what what are the people getting out of it? Uh they have this opportunity to express their political views, their will uh to the emperor. Um but what other things might they be getting out of these shows? One basic thing to keep in mind, uh, is that you don't have to pay for tickets to the spectacles. Uh, and you get food giveaways and door prizes, uh, sprinkles and missiles, uh, is kind of what they're they're called here. Uh, the distribution of food is something that had been done politically for a long time. It also has this function in Roman religion, too. Public banquetss and so forth. Um, the handouts here become part of the

show, too. We have some descriptions from the the first century uh talking about how spectators are being rained on from above uh with with cakes and sweet meats and fruits and nuts just kind of showering on them like like rain or or something like that. Uh others are being distributed through baskets, people moving among them with napkins and pouring wine for them, that kind of thing. Uh so you get some deluxe snacks. uh and you don't have to pay for your ticket and so forth. More than that, there are also little missiles raining down on you. These are these round wooden balls that are engraved that are kind of like vouchers for door prizes.

You can uh trade them in for other gifts after the the show. Uh and sometimes these are pretty impressive uh gifts as well, pretty expensive. An apartment in Rome uh kind of level. Uh so these are certainly things that people would be drawn to and see as a a positive aspect of the spectacle and you know a good thing that they're getting from the government. Another positive thing that that people might view too is sharing in uh decision-m and that is something that's going on in the arena as well. uh the person who's organizing the show. Uh in some cases, this is the imperial, you know, uh structure that's putting this together for Rome. Uh in distant parts, it's a a local politician, typically a local benefactor who's likewise working on behalf of the the Roman government there, uh to do this kind of thing. Um is the one who's actually making some important life and death decisions in the arena, too. Uh

and people who are in attendance weigh in on those decisions. Um and how this works is this. Uh when there's a set of paired combatants on the sands, uh they're doing their best. Uh they're working it. Uh the people are keeping close tabs on their their technical skill. Uh how they're wielding their weapons, uh their blades as well as their shields as well as other kinds of weapons depending on the kind of armature involved. And more than that too, uh these people are also working to get the crowd on their side. Uh so there's kind of a narrative I suspect that a lot of these performers are developing. Uh engaging the crowd to tell a kind of story about who they are, what kind of fighter they are, what kind of person they are. uh using gesture and movement and in some cases uh facial expression to tell a story about them and to to win over the the crowds in the stands. Uh so these have an impact as

well on how the decision will will work out. Typically in any paired combat there's a a moment where things change. Often it's associated with uh one of the competitors being disarmed uh losing his blade. Uh in this case, this fresco from Pompei, you can see he's lost his shield as well. And you can also see that he's wounded uh fairly significantly. There's blood loss going on here. Uh so he's decided to yield to his competitor. Uh so they have fought adjum uh to the finger. Uh so he's lifted his finger as a sign of his submission uh that he's yielding to his competitor as the victor in this and then the decision has to be made and typically there are people in the arena who are sort of separating the two uh waiting for the people to weigh in uh indicating how they view the the competition uh who they think of um uh what they think about the the paired combatants here uh and helping the the editor or the

emperor to to decide uh whether the person who's technically lost should also lose his life or whether he has performed s uh sufficiently well uh shown his skill won the crowd over done his best to succeed and impress people. uh which means that he could be receiving misio. He could uh receiving release without penalty uh to come back again some other day to continue to use uh his professional skills uh in the arena as a gladiator as a a combatant, right? Uh so uh there's the opportunity to share in these decisions and that's something as well uh that people likewise likely valued uh that they were being heard uh in some way.

We get some sense about these stories too from a few other clues uh about the moral value the the character uh information that's being transmitted through combat. Uh Cicero carried with him stories uh about a particular gladiator who was actually alive and uh fighting in the middle of the 2n century B.CE. A guy named Picidianis. Uh he was especially known for a certain grudge match against one of his uh continuing opponents, a guy named Aserinus. Uh so Cicero says that Picidianis was the best gladiator who had ever lived. Keep in mind that Picidianis in the mid-se century BC was doing all his stuff decades before Cicero was even born. And yet Cicero has this strong feeling about him. Uh and for him uh Picidianis is kind of a moral hero in some ways. Uh someone who kept his anger under control until exactly the right moment in this particular grudge match against Isineris. So uh this is something that

Cicero talks about in a letter to his brother. Likely the two boys together had learned about M Pitianis as children. Uh they carried that through to the time of their adults. They're still talking about it. Cicero refers to it in a few other writings of his too. Uh the same gladiator is mentioned by the poet Lucilus in the second century and then by Horus as well uh who's writing in the decades after the death of Cicero. So likewise much distance from the time that this guy was actually alive and fighting here. It's really interesting. Horus talks about uh visual representations of gladiators uh that attract the attention of men and he specifically says that these are gladiators sketched in red chalk or charcoal.

Uh so sort of ephemeral uh on the spot um at the moment drawings that are not meant to to endure the ages at all. Uh but still convey this sense of of power of reality as if these people are drawing from life as if they have just witnessed this kind of combat going on and they have the sense of the the dynamism of the fighters. Uh, and one of the specific gladiators Horse refers to is this guy, uh, Cicero's best gladiator who ever lived here, working, thrusting, defending with the blade as if they're right there. Uh, something that he finds dynamic and exciting.

It turns out that some of those charcoal sketches actually have survived. uh some recently located uh charcoal drawings from Pompei uh depicting um animal combats uh benatones and depicting gladiator showdowns that some specialists say seem to have been done by children. Uh and that's what we're looking at here. Um, it looks like children's drawings of humans, uh, with these sort of triangle heads here, uh, and the very long legs that have this very wide sort of triangular stance. And you can see a couple of gladiators. They sort of have, uh, squared off shields stuck to the end of their stick-like arms. Uh you can see as well um spotted rectangles that are meant to represent uh animals that also have this wide stance. Uh and over here we have a gladiator and the outline of the hand presumably of the five or sixyear-old who drew this stuff uh right there. So they're also participating in

these sort of spontaneous recreations of things that they have seen. And yes, five and sixyear-olds are uh they're watching the events too. Um being excited or or interested in them, interested perhaps in the the animals as well and what's going on here. Uh but again, sort of firsterson dynamic expressions and not being created by elites at all. These are, you know, five or six year olds, but still getting something from the arena that interests them, that catches their attention, uh, that engages them in certain way. Um, and I'd like to think back on Marcus and Quintis Cicero who likewise are learning about Picidianis as boys and carrying those stories, carrying those impressions uh, through the the decades until they themselves are adult men.

So uh identicification with individuals, identification with certain gladiators, seeing in them some kind of moral quality, lessons about strength and control and so forth. But sometimes people are identifying with nonhumans in the arena too. Uh those in the stands are sometimes rooting for the lion. So um and rooting for the lion in a couple of different ways. Uh there's a poem written by Stacius uh talking about an incident under the emperor dimmission. Uh so late in the first century CE or so uh there was one of the lions in the arena in Rome uh who was pretty well known uh known not as just a fierce lion but someone who has his own kind of discipline. Uh he's a professional. Uh he uses deadly force, but he also practices his training. Uh when he's told to let go of the prey, he lets go. Uh he returns to the cage. He does what he's supposed to do uh in the arena. He does his job uh in the events

and he's honored by his fellow felines, respected. He's been around for a while. Maybe he's the senior lion at this point in time. Um, and one day, uh, he gets mortally wounded by this newcomer lion who just shows up and was actually being chased by this particular lion. He was on the run. He was scared and just kind of swipes at him and ended up, you know, striking a a killing blow, as it turns out, uh, on this particular old lion. Apparently, the other lions are shocked at this. They're appalled uh to see uh the death uh of their beloved leader. Uh and it's not just the other lions too.

Stacious tells us how the people and the Senate groan aloud to see his death filled with sadness at it and a sense that it was wrong too. this respected, successful lion who is who's taken away by this accidental flailing sort of blow uh from this new guy, this newcomer. Uh it seems wrong. We are told that even the emperor sheds a tear. Um and we get some sense of this this connection to these other uh professionals in the arena with some of the the representations that we see here. uh the central mosaic with a lion being led off the sands. Uh let go the antelope head.

Set it down. Get back to your cage. Uh with the attendant with his, you know, guiding uh wand in his hand. Uh we also see this perhaps in the relief from Ephesus over on the right side of the screen. uh which originally had multiple phases of this tense face off uh between a ventor and a lion. Uh and you can see them. They're sort of numbered. The the second one is numbered here, the third one here. Uh and the last one, we're missing the the last actual uh visual scene here. U but the lion wins. I will just tell you there's an indication that uh the person fighting the lion uh is taken away for burial uh in the inscription here. You might also think perhaps a number of you know the stories about Andricles and the lion too. Uh and who was condemned to the beasts uh on capital charge but the lion who was released to do the deed actually refused. And it turns out that the lion and Andreles had met before

when Andrales had tended the injury of this particular beast. And the lion remembered uh remembered him or remembered his kindness. And so he rendered his own kind of judgment in the arena that Andricles should not die there. He was not going to kill him. And the people on the stands found out about this backstory. Uh they called for the release of Andriles from his sentence. and the emperor agreed. Uh so the lion's judgment prevailed and was validated by the emperor. Um this graffiti over here from Pompei has a ventor over here, Venustus, uh fighting against a lion. The two of them as sort of paired combatants. There's not a lot of detail on their faces there, but they're kind of, you know, it's like a staredown face to face uh in the arena space uh with their heads on the the level here uh as fellow professionals uh in the uh arena going eye to eye.

And it's not just lions either. Uh a number of horses uh are being cheered on vigorously uh by the audience. We have a lot of circus mosaics, a lot of circus narratives uh in which the the the reverence for the horses and interest in the horses is made very clear visually. Uh stories about horse races where suddenly the narrative shifts into the perspective of the lead horse especially uh their eye view of what's going on uh on the the track, what's going on with the chariot and and so forth. Uh so people were interested in those lead horses especially uh people were fans of pupilis here or amore uh who are working with the blue and green the major chariot faction circus factions in the Roman world. We see this as well in the lamp on the left where a particular victorious lion and his fans are celebrating his success. Uh so you can see the the lion around the the area of where you know the um the lab functions.

Uh you can see the the um palm branches and so forth. Uh you can see the fan sort of patting the the lion too. Uh you can see a sort of standard in front too that would have had originally in the live action scene. Uh the name of the the horse and his win record as well. Uh and now it's in some kind of souvenir that you can take home with you. uh you can join team amateur and celebrate that on a daily basis with this kind of small object which I'm about to talk about. We have a lot of ceramic lamps out there along with bowls and glasses and jars that carry meaning about the arena and the way that people interacted with it.

So, uh, these objects that depict events in the arena have been found across the Roman world. Lots of them. Lots and lots of them. Um, and what are they? So, I kind of suggested that these are sort of souvenirs or fan objects in certain ways. And maybe there's a a sense of that. Um maybe souvenirs of a specific event. Sometimes uh souvenirs the way that we would understand them uh that reflect specific events that took place at a certain time in a certain place. People in attendance had the opportunity to purchase an object that commemorated what happened.

And those sorts of things do exist. They're in the minority. But we do have things that seem to reflect a specific set of games, specific competitors, and what happened. And that's what's happening on the right. This is the the caviar medallion on the right, which seems to show a combat between aarius, a net guy here on the left, someone who's wielding a weighted net, and the secrettor, his standard uh competitor as well. uh this may be the crucial moment the the moment of decision uh with the attendants ready to to step in and to determine you know what kind of decision needs to to be made here we do get told up at the top of the particular plaque that both of them survived we can see stunt tazy here uh both of them walked away uh from this both were released standing able to return another day uh impressing the the local crowd and the the local sponsor uh with their success, their ability, their

strength, and their story apparently uh to get that kind of decision. Over on the left side, kind of a different thing that may represent different phases of a specific uh competition, a specific combat. Uh it doesn't have inscriptions on it. Uh so it could also be generic uh but different phases here here uh and then a very different outcome with one particular competitor uh face down on the sands of the arena uh with the blade in close proximity to his back. Uh so maybe something being remembered. Um but there's also a very good chance that that somebody's not necessarily specific to a certain event but are more generic.

the types of things that would happen in the arena, the types of combat, the types of standoff, uh, based on different armatururs, different competitors, and so forth, uh, that might be available in towns that actually have venues that would house these kinds of things. Uh, so people might be buying these when they visit and, you know, see the venue. Not necessarily anything going on there now, but but kind of intrigued by what's going on. uh the objects being removed to different locations spread information of course uh about the the venues. It might also signify to some people uh that they have a different kind of connection to to Roman culture and Roman practices. Uh so people in the provinces uh sort of deepening their connections in certain ways, experiencing even vicariously some of the things that um were very known about the Romans that were uh committed to uh by leaders in the Roman world and

expended things of worth uh on uh to to shape them, to organize, to uh to travel with these kinds of of practices here. So maybe there's a a kind of cultural decision, a kind of cultural alliance uh sort of um addition to identity that's being created by those who are purchasing uh this kind of material. Uh I think it's also interesting too to look at some of these images and uh trying to figure out you know does this represent something specific a specific action here? Uh what is happening and what is being remembered? What are people thinking about the story that they're seeing in these lamps? And this is just a a couple of examples over here on the left. Uh you can see that one person is ready for that decision to be made. Uh the yielding finger has been uh raised. Uh stop. Let's let's talk about this now. We can make a decision now. I give up. Uh he seems to be scrambling quickly to get away from his competitor

who's a a ths. He's got the the curved blade in his hand. he's still raring to go. And kind of a different story on the right uh where one of the competitors has fallen back uh to the the sands, you know, he is uh incapacitated in some way and his opponent is extending a hand to him. Maybe a helping hand, maybe a recognition that the time has come for a decision to be made, but sort of different impressions here. And what are people thinking about these who purchase these lamps? Are they telling themselves these kinds of stories? What are they finding memorable about this? What is being remembered? So, it may be something that's related to the images here. On the other hand, it could also be a memorial, a carrier of stories about their visit to this this special city that had an amphitheater and what they did there. Um, maybe they made a social connection there. Maybe they met somebody, maybe they uh participated in

business or did some networking or something like that. Uh objects retain memories for us. They become holders uh of the stories that we tell ourselves about our lives, about our past. And those stories could or could not be related to the images that we're seeing on these particular things. Uh some of them uh are more expensive than others. There are different price points that people are paying to invest in these kinds of of objects. And this might also tell us a little something more about the story that's being passed on about how the object is being regarded by the new owners, how they're using it. Is it becoming some kind of heirloom? And I think heirloom status may be what we're talking about uh with the object on the the left here uh which is the the Colchester vase. Some of you may have encountered this uh coming from Kamaladnam which is you know the the Roman name of of Colchester, a major

city prior to the coming of Romans to Britannia and after the the Romans invaded there. And this seems to be something that does reflect a specific incident because you can see that scratched quite neatly uh into the surface of this jar are names. Menon here who's a secutor sack here. Uh and Valentinos uh is this guy's name here who's a a radiarius uh weight uh weighted net wielder here. And you can see it's the crucial moment. You can see that Valentine's has his finger raised. Uh he's ready for a decision to be rendered here. All right. H you can also see that he's been disarmed. His trident, which is his major weapon, is down here. I don't see much sign of his net either.

So, he's aiming for survival here. But think too about, you know, the the customization of these things. Uh this is a high relief jar. Has some hints of of tint uh still remaining to it. Uh so, it must have been at one point in time colorful and dynamic and dramatic and so forth. when it was found archaeologically uh it was the holder for the cremated remains of an individual. Uh so it became something that was important and had meaning to the family and the survivors of this particular uh holder of the the vase too uh to perform this very special function uh into eternity uh to some extent. Uh so the story came to have meaning for them and maybe it was a story about uh that particular combat about things that happened at that set of games to this individual and again personal stories kind of overlapping with the story uh in the arena.

Another expensive object is the one on the right which is the bottom part of a fancy glass drinking vessel. Uh this is a gold glass where uh thin layers of gold and silver are creating the image here. Uh so you can see the the whiter silver areas um in the subloculum the little sort of you know abbreviated garment that the readyarius is wearing uh the fillets around his leg and the top part of his trident. We don't know his name. uh we are advised to uh drink and live with the pa zes uh down here at the bottom. So one could imagine this is a drinking vessel that is being used specifically to do that uh indicating the the tastes and the preferences and the interests of people with a little bit more uh money to expend on objects like this at this point in time. So drink as you live.

Uh speaking of the readyarius, uh this is something that I find interesting too and also indicative about the interests of the people as opposed uh to the interests of the elites who are arranging stuff. Uh, a number of our elite authors have things to say about the the Readiarius style of gladiatorial combat, about someone who's wielding the net, uh, who has the trident, uh, and a little sort of short uh, blade too, but mainly relying on the the net and the trident, uh, as their, um, their offensive um, paraphernalia and and techniques, right? A number of authors talk about them uh, as a different kind of gladiator. They talk about their nudity. Uh they talk about how they're um they're feminized, how they're not um masculine and vigorous and um warlike in a way that the other gladiators are. I suspect this is because uh their armature comes from uh not the military, not warrior traditions

in the the larger Mediterranean world, uh but rather from the the tools and the the weaponry of of a laborer, someone who's a fisherman, uh who's spearing fish and using the net uh to haul it in. So something that's much more um of a a workmanlike thing rather than prestigious in certain ways the way u military success is in the the Roman world. Uh that said despite the sort of uh nasty things and and uh scurless suggestions uh that some of our elite authors have to make about the readyaras they're clearly very popular and I hope you've gotten this impression from the objects we've been looking at. lots and lots of netmen uh in these more popular representations, these um humble uh easy to attain uh objects that call to mind the arena in certain ways. Uh and they're also available in in some fairly expensive representations too. uh like these two mosaics that we see here uh the one from Leisus Magna over here uh

with a pensive radiarius uh and the the boraci mosaic over on the right side and I hope you get a sense too of the power of the gaze the only thing that's naked about the radiarius is his face so he has the unique among a gladiators ability to use that face facial expression the look of the eyes you know the the mobility of the face uh to tell his story to to win over the crowds in the arena. Uh and the representations indicate they're doing just that. Uh the direct gaze of alumnus over there on the the right or the eye that this particular radiarius is given to his opponent here, the significant look. Um the the power of the gaze is clearly palpable in these representations and it must have been effective in the arena as well given the popularity. Yeah.

gone backwards. Speaking of retiari, uh we have some information about a specific radiarius uh from Pompei. Uh Pompei is a real resource in terms of graffiti. Uh we've looked at this a little bit already. uh with the you know the understanding that the graffiti is something that's done spontaneously uh that's not planned that's scraped on the surface of of walls and and other things uh to air the sort of um of the- moment views and impressions of the person who's actually doing the writing. We have some graffiti that comes from uh the later uh headquarters for the gladiators in Pompei uh the Ludus that's identified as associated with them in the last 10 years or so uh up until the explosion of Vubius uh as the place where they trained, the place where they lived, the place where they connected with each other uh and you know specific to them.

It wasn't necessarily a public space a lot of people had access to. So uh that's where these come from. Uh Crescens was a retiarius. Uh this is his graffitito here. Uh he talks about well Crescens is here uh expressed to be the healer, the medicus of girl toys in the nighttime. That's what we can take out of it. Another gladiator named Coladus also appears in this graffiti where he's described as the glory of the girls. Uh another one, one that appears on a lot of modern-day t-shirts. So you can get your own coladus uh t-shirt if you wish.

Uh talks about coladus uh as the susperium a sort of heavy breathing or gasping of the girls and then goes right on to say coladis three matches three wins. So um are these victories that are mentioned by coladis in the arena? Are they in the erotic arena, the competition of love right here? What does this tell us about these individuals, these specific gladiators? Are these things actually written by them? They're in third person, you know, so there's no sort of self declaration here in first person. Are they the ones who are actually making these claims about themselves? uh or their co-workers or at least being told about them by their fellow gladiators in this particular area.

Maybe it's their female fans who've been invited into the inner sanctum of the the gladiator place, their dimminionative female fans that are being discussed here, the girls and the girl toys. What strikes me about these is how they compare to um other sort of sexualized graffiti at Pompei. And we have a bunch of it. And this is different in certain kinds of qualities. U people talk about sexual action in Pompei pretty frankly uh pretty graphically. Um I did the deed. I'm being nice about it here. a very straightforward expression of pleasure and and success in accomplishing this, right? And this isn't that uh this is uh this is dancing around what's going on here. Uh this is I would characterize this as kind of romantic in certain ways. Uh so whether Crescens and Kilitus are writing it or not, uh it's very moody. It's the nighttime, it's it's the breathing, it's the girls, uh it's the healing that's going on. Some kind of,

you know, sexual therapy sort of thing perhaps going on here. Uh sighing here. I wonder whether there isn't a play on the the word Ludus. Uh which is the term for gladiatorial schools. Uh certainly, but Ludus also means play. Uh is this sort of love play going on here. Um, and in a way that, you know, there's some diminishment, I guess, in the sort of little girl toys and and the girls and so forth, but this seems to be kind of an imagined play context rather than um get in, get out, explicit release of sexual tensions that we find in in other uh graffiti Pompei. So, I've kind of come around to these graffiti and changed my mind about them over the years and it's like, oh, it's kind of sweet, really.

Other kinds of information that are coming from the the context from the the friends and associates as well of gladiators include a couple of tombstones that have gotten a lot of of scholarship and and airplane in recent years uh attention uh thoughtful attention to. Uh, one of these comes from Milan and talks about uh the death of Urbus. Uh, this particular guy who's a first rank, he's a a sector, so he's one who's going to be fighting the the uh netman. Uh, and he's very successful. Uh, it describes how he has had 13 combats. Uh, he's lived 22 years and then died and it's a fairly sudden death. Um, so the tombstone has a lot of the kind of information that you'd find on any tombstone. Uh, identification of of profession, uh, name, uh, age at death, uh, specific details about, uh, his working life, information as well about the people who set it up for him, who are his survivors, especially Laia,

uh, his wife of seven years who who set this up. uh talks about the two daughters they have together, Olympia and Fortinencis. Um you can see the the uh the tombstone also has a little dog standing next to this representation of Urbus in his secur um paraphernalia and and clothing and so forth. The dog is not named in the inscription I will tell you. Uh but it does refer to the amore of Urbicus, his avid fans, the the lovers of uh Urbus uh who will join with the family in honoring the dead. Um it's interesting that we often see lots of attention and expenditure on tombstones of those who have died young uh whose death is in some sense a shock and before the time and and so forth and and this has a sense of that I think as well. But the last part of the tombstone is very interesting too. uh and it's written in the first person and seems to be the voice of erbicus coming from beyond the grave uh giving us a certain

cautionary bit of advice saying I warn you to kill the one you defeat which is interesting. Now we have other tombstones in the Roman world who also you know uh offer information from beyond the grave in the the first person and and so forth. Uh but this particular thing here gives me ideas, right? Gives me hints. Uh kill the one you defeat. Uh in this context, suggesting that he didn't do that and maybe that's what got him into the grave, right? Not killing the one he defeats. And maybe it has to do with a critical moment and not necessarily being observed or not being recognized or something like that. Uh remember uh when the opponent is disarmed, is downed, is defeated. Uh there's supposed to be a moment where everyone yields to decisionm uh where the spectators have the opportunity to weigh in uh and the sponsor uh and together they make some sort of decision about what is to happen

next. Was there not a moment? Did he not press his advantage? Uh was his opponent able to scramble and to do something? Does Herbicus learn for something along the the model of Picidianis that Cicero talks about? You know, the best gladiator that ever lived who marshaled his anger in some sense to strike the killing blow when that was needful. Uh so not letting up ever but just keeping at it and not risking uh the decision-making moment. This in conjunction uh with one from way over on the eastern side of the Mediterranean uh the tombstone of Diodoris from Amisus uh which uh like that of Urbus is fairly expensive. There's an image there's a a nicely engraved inscription here. uh some expenditure has been laid out to present this this memorial this kind of memoir as it were uh of this particular gladiator uh and he tells his own arena story in the first person. So the inscription written in Greek here uh is

presented as if Diodoris is talking about himself. Uh we can see from the image that he's got this palm branch behind him or someone who's victorious. He also has two blades in his hand. both blades possibly that were active in this fatal duel. the final thing that he experienced in life. He says, "I lie here victorious Diodoris the wretched." So he's victorious, but he's also wretched at the same time. And he says something that's a little similar to to what was said was by Urbus. I did not kill him immediately. And he names his competitor.

But he says it wasn't necessarily just the competitor alone. It was deadly fate and the wrongful trick of the sumarus, the the ref, the the arena personnel that killed me, right? Uh so I do want to point out here it's the similar sort of warning, right? uh your opponent that's not necessarily under tight control could have an unexpected and deadly impact on you. Here there's a suggestion that the arena personnel are in part to blame too and one questions that uh he says that he disarmed him. He says that he broke him.

Uh Diodoris does. Did the referee then somehow decide, well, he's not really down, so everybody take your weapons up again and we'll start over or keep going or something like this? Was there not sufficient pause that is happening here? And then the the vigor of the statement that's being made by Diodoris and by you know, Herbicus before him too. And I do want to point out that these are unusual expressions for gladiatorial tombs. uh more typically there's an expression of respect uh for fellow fellow participants in the arena. Uh some have suggested that you know there's some kind of community among the the gladiators that even though they might fight each other in different ways they have respect for their their co-workers. Uh I guess um some have hinted that you know people who are in the same lutus maybe are working on ways of choreography choreographing these these fights you know uh to what to do next if you're met

with a certain kind of twist a certain kind of blow a certain kind of movement you know how do you counter that uh how do you work your story into what you're actually doing I think it would be difficult to determine on our side of things whether there's any sort of like uh arrangement in advance as to how things are going to end up any kind of long-term choreography that is that is sticking for these kinds of professionals and I also want to caution people you know uh it seems pretty clear to those of us who who look at these things that the arena was not thunderdome uh that it's not two men enter one man leaves that death is not the normal outcome of every match uh And that doesn't seem to be what people want either. Uh the people definitely wanted to see commitment. They wanted to see skill. They wanted to see self-control. Uh there was appreciation uh for discipline and for practice. Uh

and for, you know, giving it your all, right? Not holding back, not uh easing back on yourself or or your competitor or anything like that. that seems to be what people want to to see from the bits and pieces that we pick up uh from literature in the the Roman world and to some extent uh from representations kind of in this mode as well. Uh they wanted to see development through different phases of the combat as well. Um so Plenny talks a little bit about you know what is valuable about these kinds of spectators for Roman spectators.

uh he sees certain kinds of uh lessons that are being taught by these kinds of uh events. Um bear in mind that Clint is an elite so he has his way of putting this. Uh he says that indifference to wounds, uh contempt for death, uh the love of glory, the desire, vigorous desire for victory even in the bodies of slaves and criminals is good. It's valuable. It's important uh for the people of Rome. It's important for those who attend these spectacles. even that even is you know shading his own perspective here and we might think back on you know Cicero's stories about Picidianis um we've got clues that are carried through our objects that remain to us archaeologically uh that hint about the stories that are being told in the arena uh stories about human potential in everyone uh potential for discipline potential for self-control perseverance, stories that have powers, stories that have meaning. Objects that carry these

stories in reflections of the actions of the arena uh clearly seem to have had some um compelling connection uh to the people of the the Roman world and to us on an extended basis as well. So here's my uh slide with shameless self-promotion things that were mentioned by Tom uh at the outset, but I did want to thank you uh for your attention uh and thank you for the opportunity uh AIA uh for letting me talk to you this evening.

All right, thank you so much Allison for that lecture. Um we have time for just a couple questions here. Um, and I had a number of people um ask uh about female gladiators. Um, were there female gladiators? What is our evidence for them?

Yes, there were female gladiators. Uh, we've got skimpy bits of pieces of evidence. We've got an amazing relief from Hocarnasses that actually shows a couple of female gladiators facing off against each other. And we've got sort of uh incidental mentions in some of our extended narratives in um in literary authors. Uh there's u the remains of an inscription from Austia uh celebrating the success of a particular magistrate who was the first one to offer female combatants with the sword in that place. How often they were happening, who knows? It's difficult to tell about statistics. It's difficult to tell anything about women in the past really uh because other people who are picking up the story and passing it on to the next generation often are not necessarily interested in the activities of women whose activities defy their standards of what's appropriate and what is not.

Excellent. Um, uh, I had another group of people were interested in, uh, the naval battle question, which I'm sure you you've gotten like how exactly does is this is this is this real? How does it work?

Uh, and a couple of ways. All right. So, um, there was the possibility to have some water come into the the Flavian amphitheater, the the coliseum. Um but the actual space that would have been available with you know say a meter or so of water uh is not extensive. So if there are pseudo ships involved in some kind of recreation of a naval battle they have to be really scaled down to to work in the arena. At one point there's a much larger pool closer to the Tyber where it has access potentially to water and filling and so forth. uh that was active during the time uh of Augustus uh that had a much more extensive space that could be used uh for larger uh recreations of naval battles. We've got a couple of mentions of these things going on uh in the time of Julius Caesar, the the time of Augustus, um and one in association with the creation of the the coliseum. I'm just skeptical as to whether they could really maximize

the impact of this kind of event if they kept it in the coliseum. That's it. So, safely. No, no sharks. Allah. Gladiator 2 is what it was.

No sharks. Uh, yeah. At the time that Gladiator 2 came out, I talked with a number of people about what kind of Dennis of the Deep might they have had. uh and they knew about something called sharks, but they suggested that they're they're like a 100 ft long and they're out of control. They do know about uh dolphins and porpuses and occasionally they site orca too. So there's a story about an orca that made its way into the Mediterranean, I think in the the first or second century and made its way to uh as far as as Italy. Um, so are they actually training these beasts? Not that I can tell, but you know, interested in the way that that dolphins and porpuses act and certainly knew that they were interested too in humans and followed ships and that kind of thing.

Uh, and la last question here because I um I know we're coming up on time. Uh but I had I had a couple people ask it was like was there any evidence for gladatorial matches to maybe go the way of uh professional wrestling or is it sort of are they staged? Are they fixed or is it uh or is is that common or is there do we not know or is it all like actually you know real?

Well they're definitely using edged weapons. Okay. So that is a little bit different maybe from from wrestling. But you know the the kind of um building with the crowd uh characterization that they're they're creating uh that I believe that they're creating definitely has parallels with modern-day wrestling. Uh and whether they're, you know, taking on a good character or a bad character, you know, uh which one is going to be the evil one and and that kind of thing. Maybe. Maybe. Um but whether they're actually rigging events, I I don't know. Uh certainly there's a lot of tension because it's expensive to to train these people up to a certain level of of exquisite skill.

Um and contracts are being drawn up and you know interest in protecting their investment would definitely be there for those people who are actually running uh the the ludy of the gladiators. So, I would be surprised if there isn't some hints of that. And people within the same school, of course, are learning each other's ticks. They're practicing with each other. They're learning how to defend best against them and can probably put together uh something very exciting and interesting because of that experience.

All right. Um well, thank you so much, Allison. Uh I know we have a lot more questions, but I know we're coming up on time. So, thank you everyone for attending. Um, and do keep a lookout for the next uh archaeology hour in January. And um, yes, if everybody could just give our speaker one more, I guess, virtual round of applause. So, thank you so much, uh, Allison. You

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "The People's Arena with Alison Futrell"?

In order: 0:00 Archaeology magazine, Age of Empires 4, Allison Futrell, American Journal of Archaeology; 10:00 Le Cicero; 20:00 Le Cicero; 40:00 Crescens; 50:00 Diodoris, Crescens, Fortinencis, Kilitus; 1:00:00 Austia, Hocarnasses, Le Cicero.

What is mentioned in this ArchaeologyTV episode?

21 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Le Cicero, Diodoris, Archaeology magazine, Crescens, Tom Lvodder, Archaeological Institute of America. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The People's Arena with Alison Futrell"?

The episode runs 1 h 8 min; the transcript is about 10,287 words in 74 timestamped sections.

More from ArchaeologyTV

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.