92. AMUSEMENTS
ATHENIAN RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS
The Athenians celebrated many religious festivals. One of the most important was the Great Panathenaea, [15] held every fourth year in the month of July. Athletic contests and poetical recitations, sacrifices, feasts, and processions honored the goddess Athena, who presided over the Athenian city. Even more interesting, perhaps, were the dramatic performances held in midwinter and in spring, at the festivals of Dionysus. The tragedies and comedies composed for these entertainments took their place among the masterpieces of Greek literature.
[Illustration: THEATER OF DIONYSUS, ATHENS The theater of Dionysus where dramatic exhibitions were held lay close to the south eastern angle of the Acropolis. The audience at first sat upon wooden benches rising tier after tier on the adjacent hillside. About the middle of the fourth century B.C. these were replaced by the stone seats which are still to be seen. Sixteen thousand people could be accommodated in this open air theater.]
FEATURES OF A GREEK PLAY
There is very little likeness between the ancient and the modern drama. Greek plays were performed out of doors in the bright sunlight. Until late Roman times it is unlikely that a raised stage existed. The three actors and the members of the chorus appeared together in the dancing ring, or orchestra. The performers were all men. Each actor might play several parts. There was no elaborate scenery; the spectator had to rely chiefly on his own imagination for the setting of the piece. The actors indulged in few lively movements or gestures. They must have looked from a distance like a group of majestic statues. All wore elaborate costumes, and tragic actors, in addition, were made to appear larger than human with masks, padding, and thick-soled boots, or buskins. The performances occupied the three days of the Dionysiac festivals, beginning early in the morning and lasting till night. All this time was necessary because they formed contests for a prize which the people awarded to the poet and chorus whose presentation was judged of highest excellence.
[Illustration: A DANCING GIRL A Greek bronze statuette found in a sunken galley off the coast of Tunis. The galley had been wrecked while on its way to Rome carrying a load of art objects to decorate the villas of wealthy nobles. This statuette was doubtless a life-like copy of some well-known entertainer. The dancer's pose suggests the American "cakewalk" and her costume, the modern "hobble skirt.">[
PANTOMIME AND VAUDEVILLE AT ROME
Pantomimes formed the staple amusement of the Roman theater. In these performances a single dancer, by movements and gestures, represented mythological scenes and love stories. The actor took several characters in succession and a chorus accompanied him with songs. There were also "vaudeville" entertainments, with all manner of jugglers, ropedancers, acrobats, and clowns, to amuse a people who found no pleasure in the refined productions of the Greek stage.
CHARIOT RACES
Far more popular than even pantomime and vaudeville were the "games of the circus." At Rome these were held chiefly in the Circus Maximus. Chariot races formed the principal attraction of the circus. There were usually four horses to a chariot, though sometimes the drivers showed their skill by handling as many as six or seven horses. The contestants whirled seven times around the low wall, or spina, which divided the race course. The shortness of the stretches and the sharp turns about the spina must have prevented the attainment of great speed. A race, nevertheless, was a most exciting sport. What we should call "fouling" was permitted and even encouraged. The driver might turn his team against another or might endeavor to upset a rival's car. It was a very tame contest that did not have its accompaniment of broken chariots, fallen horses, and killed or injured drivers.
[Illustration: THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS (RESTORATION)]
ANIMAL BAITINGS
The Circus Maximus was often used for a variety of animal shows. Fierce wild beasts, brought from every quarter of the empire, were turned loose to slaughter one another, or to tear to pieces condemned criminals. [16] More popular still were the contests between savage animals and men. Such amusements did something to satisfy the lust for blood in the Roman populace—a lust which was more completely satisfied by the gladiatorial combats.
[Illustration: GLADIATORS From a stucco relief on the tomb of Scaurus, Pompeii. Beginning at the left are two fully armed horsemen fighting with lances. Behind them are two gladiators, one of whom is appealing to the people. Then follows a combat in which the defeated party raises his hand in supplication for mercy. The lower part of the relief represents fights with various wild beasts.]
GLADIATORIAL SHOWS
Exhibitions of gladiators were known in Italy long before they became popular at Rome. The combats probably started from the savage practice of sacrificing prisoners or slaves at the funeral of their master. Then the custom arose of allowing the victims a chance for their lives by having them fight one another, the conquerors being spared for future battles. From this it was but a step to keeping trained slaves as gladiators. During the imperial epoch the number of such exhibitions increased greatly. The emperor Trajan, for example, to celebrate his victories over the Dacians, [17] exhibited no less than ten thousand men within the space of four months. The gladiators belonged to various classes, according to the defensive armor they wore and the style of fighting they employed. When a man was wounded and unable to continue the struggle, he might appeal to the spectators. He lifted his finger to plead for release; if he had fought well, the people indicated their willingness to spare him by waving their handkerchiefs. If the spectators were in a cruel mood, they turned down their thumbs as the signal for his deathblow. These hideous exhibitions continued in different parts of the Roman Empire until the fifth century of our era.
"BREAD AND THE GAMES OF THE CIRCUS."
Gladiatorial combats, chariot races, and dramatic shows were free performances. For the lower classes in the Roman city they became the chief pleasure of life. The days of their celebration were public holidays, which in the fourth century numbered no less than one hundred and seventy-five. The once-sovereign people of Rome became a lazy, worthless rabble, fed by the state and amused with the games. It was well said by an ancient satirist that the Romans wanted only two things to make them happy—"bread and the games of the circus." [18]