Communication Culture on a Mass Scale
Ancient Roman Games and Methods of Communicating with the Audience
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse sources on a verbal and written mass communication between the organisers of the games (editores) and the audience in ancient Rome. Methods established by the Romans as senders and recipients of the conveyed information gave a range of possibilities to communicate needs and preferences, as well as to express often extreme emotions. The model, the creation of which stemmed from the necessity to inform the audience about the upcoming arena events (by the organiser) and to communicate the experienced emotions (by spectators), became over time the distinctive culture of communication, applied before the games but also throughout the event and after it ended. This communicative social construct typical of ancient Rome was necessary for the efficient distribution of oral and textual messages. The preserved sources allow us to state that the communication model included:
1) verbal/oral information conveyed to the public by the games organisers (via the announcements made by heralds); people’s cheers and chants (including both criticism and praise);
2) written information conveyed by the organisers (edicta munerum advertising the games before the event and announcements presented on placards distributed around the theatres and amphitheatres throughout the event); acclamationes and graffiti, painted and inscribed accordingly, by the audience after the spactacula. This article is to define the individual types of ancient methods of oral and written communication, to determine their function depending on their context, and to establish their effectiveness in the discourse carried out on a mass scale in ancient Rome.
References
AE = L’Année Epigraphique
CIL IV = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Liber IV, Inscriptiones parietariae Pompeianae Herculanenses Stabianae
Aelian Nat. Anim. = De Natura Animalium
Aulus Gellius [Au. Gell.] NA = Noctes Atticae
Cassius Dio Cocceianus [Dio]
Cornelius Tacitus [Tac.]
Ann. = Annales
Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis [Iuv.] Sat. = Saturae
Eusebius of Caesarea [Euseb.] Hist. Eccl. = Historia Ecclesiastica
Gaius Petronius Arbiter [Petr.] Sat. = Satyricon liber
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus [Plin.] Pan. = Panegyricus Traiani
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus [Suet.] Aug. = Augustus Cal. = Caligula Claud. = Claudius Dom. = Domitian Iul. = Divus Iulius Nero = Nero Tib. = Tiberius Tit. = Titus Vit. = Vitellius
Lucius Annaeus Seneca Maior [Sen.] Contr. = Controversiae
Lucius Anneus Seneca Minor [Sen.] Epist. = Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Marcus Tullius Cicero [Cic.] Att. = Epistulae ad Atticum Fam. = Epistulae ad familiars Phil. = Philippicae
Marcus Valerius Martialis [Mart.] Spect. = Liber spectaculorum Martyrium Polycarpi [Mart. Poly.]
P. Ovidius Naso [Ovid] Ars am. = Ars amatoria
Passio sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis [Pass. Perp. et. Feli.]
Publius Papinius Statius [Stat.] Silv. = Silvae
Publius Vergilius Maro [Verg.] Aen. = Aeneid
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus [Symma.] Epist. = Epistulae
Strabo Geogr. = Geographica hypomnemata
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