Gladiators and Animals. New Pictorial Graffiti from Aphrodisias and their Contexts

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 4, 31 - 54, 11.12.2018

Angelos Chaniotis , Peter D. De Staebler

Öz

The authors present pictorial and textual graffiti from Aphrodisias that can be associated with munera and study their spatial context (ca. 3rd-6th cent. CE). Gladiatorial events and beast hunts certainly took place in the Stadium of Aphrodisias, where an oval Arena was construc-ted in the late fourth to early fifth century CE. Graffiti recorded in 1997–2008, mostly in the city’s Urban Park (‘South Agora’), show gladiators and exotic animals (lions, ostriches, an an-telope). Pictorial and textual graffiti (peacocks, other birds, athletes, acclamations), found in their vicinity, are unrelated to gladiatorial events and venationes but provide important evi-dence for the spatial context. The concentration in the Urban Park of both acclamations and graffiti connected with the world of shows in the late Empire may suggests that this public spa-ce was used as a place of gatherings and possibly as the location of the clubs of the supporters of the circus factions.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Aphrodisias, graffiti, gladiators, animals, public space, clubs, circus factions

Gladyatörler ve Hayvanlar. Aphrodisias’tan Yeni Resimsel Graffitiler ve Bağlamları

Öz

Yazarlar, Aphrodisias'tan munera (kamusal
gösteriler) ile ilişkilendirilebilecek resimli ve metinli grafitiler tanıtmakta
ve bunların mekânsal bağlamlarını incelemektedir (yak. İS 3.-6. yüzyıl).
Gladyatör müsabakaları ve vahşi hayvan avları şüphesiz Aphrodisias’ın İS 4.
yüzyılın sonları ile 5. yüzyılın başlarında oval bir arenanın inşa edildiği
stadion’unda vuku bulmaktaydı. Büyük kısmı Kent Parkı’nda (‘Güney Agora’) olmak
üzere 1997–2008 yılları arasında kayda geçirilen grafitiler gladyatörleri ve egzotik
hayvanları (aslanlar, devekuşları, bir antilop) resmetmektedirler. Yakın
çevrelerinde bulunan re-simli ve metinli grafitiler (tavus kuşları, diğer
kuşlar, atletler, övgüler) gladyatör müsabakaları ve avlarla ilgili
değildirler, ancak mekânsal bağlam açısından önemli kanıtlar sağlamaktadırlar.
Geç İmparatorluk Dönem’de gösteri dünyasıyla bağlantılı övgü ve grafitilerin
Kent Parkı’nda yoğunlaşmış olması, bu kamusal mekânın bir toplanma yeri ve
muhtemelen arena grupları taraftar kulüplerinin mekânı olarak kullanıldığını
düşündürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Aphrodisias, grafiti, gladyatörler, havyanlar, kamusal mekan, kulüpler, arena grubları

Kaynakça

• Adam-Veleni 2013 P. Adam-Veleni, Εἰκονογραφημένη πρόσκληση σὲ μονομαχικοὺς ἀγῶνες ἀπὸ τὴν Ἀγορὰ τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης καὶ ρωμαϊκὰ θεάματα στὴ Μακεδονία, in: M. Tiverios – P. Nigdelis – P. Adam-Veleni (eds.), Θρεπτήρια. Μελέτες γιὰ τὴν ἀρχαία Μακεδονία, Thessaloniki 2013, 280–315.
• Aphrodisias Papers 4 C. Ratté – R. R. R. Smith (eds.), Aphrodisias Papers 4. New Research on the City and its Monuments (JRA Suppl. 70), Portsmouth, R.I. 2008.
• Aphrodisias Papers 5 R. R. R. Smith – J. Lenaghan – A. Sokolicek – K. Welch (eds.), Aphrodisias Papers 5. Excavation and Research at Aphrodisias, 2006–2012 (JRA Suppl. 103), Portsmouth, R.I. 2016.
• Aurigemma 1926 E. Aurigemma, I mosaici di Zliten, Rome – Milan 1926.
• Aydaş 2006 M. Aydaş, Gladiatorial Inscriptions from Stratonikeia in Caria, Epigraphica Anatolica, 39, 2006, 105–110.
• Bagnall et alii 2016 R. S. Bagnall – R. Casagrande-Kim – A. Ersoy – C. Tanrıver, Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna, New York 2016.
• Benefiel – Coleman 2013 R. B. Benefiel – K. M. Coleman, The Graffiti, in: W. Aylward (ed.), Exca-vations at Zeugma Conducted by Oxford Archaeology, Los Altos, CA 2013, 178–191.
• Benefiel – Keagan (eds.) 2017 R. B. Benefiel – P. Keagan (eds.), Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World, Leiden 2017.
• Berns – Ekinci 2015 C. Berns – H. A. Ekinci, Gladiatorial games in the Greek East: a complex of reliefs from Cibyra, Anatolian Studies 65, 2015, 143–179.
• Bouley 2001 E. Bouley, Jeux romains dans les provinces balkano–danubiennes du IIe siècle av. J.–C. à la fin du IIIe siècle après J.-C., Paris 2001.
• Cameron 1976 A. Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium, Oxford 1976.
• Carter 2010 M. J. Carter, Gladiators and Monomachoi: Greek Attitudes to a Roman «Cultural Performance», in: Z. Papakonstantinou (ed.), Sport in the Cul-tures of the Ancient World, London 2010, 150–174.
• Chaisemartin – Lemaire 1996 N. de Chaisemartin – A. Lemaire, Le Portique de Tibère: recherches sur son architecture et sa fonction, in C. Roueché and R. R. R. Smith (eds.), Aphro-disias Papers 3 (JRA Suppl 20) Ann Arbor, MI 1996, 149–172.
• Chaniotis 2005 A. Chaniotis, Macht und Volk in den kaiserzeitlichen Inschriften von Aph-rodisias, in G. Urso (ed.), Popolo e potere nel mondo antico, Pisa 2005, 47–61.
• Chaniotis 2009 A. Chaniotis, Graffiti and Social History of Aphrodisias, in: R. R. R. Smith – J. Lenaghan (eds.), Roman Portraits from Aphrodisias, Istanbul 2009, 201–215.
• Chaniotis 2011 A. Chaniotis, Graffiti in Aphrodisias: Images, Texts, Contexts, in: J. Baird – C. Taylor (eds.), Ancient Graffiti in Context, London 2011, 191–207.
• Chaniotis 2018 A. Chaniotis, Alltagsskizzen aus Aphrodisias, in: P. Lohmann (ed.), Histori-sche Graffiti, Stuttgart (forthcoming).
• Coleman 2008 K. M. Coleman, Exchanging Gladiators for an Aqueduct at Aphrodisias (SEG 50.1096), Acta Classica 51, 31–46.
• Commito – Rojas 2012 A. Commito – F. Rojas, Aqueducts, in: C. Ratté – P. D. De Staebler (eds.) Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey, Mainz 2012, 239–308.
• De Staebler 2008 P. D. De Staebler, The City Wall and the Making of a Late Antique Provin-cial Capital, in: Aphrodisias Papers 4, 284–318.
• Dittmann-Schöne 2001 I. Dittmann-Schöne, Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens, Regensburg 2001.
• Funari – Garrafoni 2009 P. P. A. Funari – R. S. Garrafoni, Reading Pompeii’s Walls: a Social Ar-chaeological Approach to Gladiatorial Graffiti, in: T. Wilmott (ed.), Roman Amphitheatres and Spectacula: a 21st-Century Perspective. Papers from an International Conference Held at Chester, 16th–18th February 2007, Oxford 2009, 185–194.
• Hillgruber 2000 M. Hillgruber, Homer im Dienste des Mimus, ZPE 132, 2000, 63–72.
• Hrychuk Kontokosta 2008 A. Hrychuk Kontokosta, Gladiatorial Reliefs and Élite Funerary Monu-ments, in: Aphrodisias Papers 4, 190–229.
• Köhne – Ewigleben 2000 E. Köhne – C. Ewigleben (eds.), Caesaren und Gladiatoren. Die Macht der Unterhaltung im antiken Rom, Mainz 2000.
• Langner 2001 M. Langner, Antike Graffitizeichnungen. Motive, Gestaltung und Bedeu-tung, Wiesbaden 2001.
• Mann 2010 C. Mann, Gladiators in the Greek East: A Case Study of Romanization, in: Z. Papakonstantinou (ed.), Sport in the Cultures of the Ancient World, London 2010, 124–149.
• Mann 2011 C. Mann, «Um keinen Kranz, um das Leben kämpfen wir». Gladiatoren im Osten des römischen Reiches und die Frage der Romanisierung, Berlin 2011.
• Pennacchietti 1966/67 L. A. Pennacchietti, Nuove iscrizioni di Hierapolis, Atti della Reale Acca-demia delle scienze di Torino 101, 1966/67, 287–328.
• Ratté 2001 C. Ratté, New Research on the Urban Development of Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity, in: D. Parrish (ed.), Urbanism in Western Asia Minor. New Stud-ies on Aphrodisias, Ephesos, Hierapolis, Pergamon, Perge and Xanthos (JRA Suppl. 45) Portsmouth, R.I. 2001, 116–147.
• Ratté 2002 C. Ratté, The Urban Development of Aphrodisias in the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial Periods, in: C. Berns et alii (eds.), Patris und Imperium. Kulturelle und politische Identität in den Städten der römischen Provinzen Kleinasiens in der frühen Kaiserzeit. Kolloquium Köln, November 1998, Leuven – Paris – Dudley, MA. 2002, 5–32.
• Ratté 2008 C. Ratté, The Founding of Aphrodisias, in: Aphrodisias Papers 4, 7–36.
• Ratté 2012 C. Ratté, Introduction, in: C. Ratté – P. D. De Staebler (eds.), Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey, Mainz 2012, 1–38.
• Reynolds 2000 J. Reynolds, New Letters from Hadrian to Aphrodisias: Trials, Taxes, Glad-iators, and an Aqueduct, JRA 13, 2000, 5–20.
• Ritti – Yilmaz 1998 T. Ritti – S. Yilmaz, Gladiatori e venationes a Hierapolis di Frigia, MemLinc 10, 1998, 443–542.
• Robert 1937 L. Robert, Ἀρχαιολόγος, REG 49, 1937, 235–254 [Opera Minora Selecta I, Amsterdam 1969, 671–690].
• Robert 1940 L. Robert, Les gladiateuts dans l’Orient grec, Limoges 1940.
• Robert 1980 L. Robert, A travers l’Asie Mineure, Paris 1980.
• Robinson 2016 M. Robinson, The Environmental Archaeology of the Pool, in: Aphrodisias Papers 5, 91–99.
• Roueché 1989 C. Roueché, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity, London 1989.
• Roueché 1993 C. Roueché, Performers and Partisans at Aphrodisias, London 1993.
• Roueché 2002 C. Roueché, Texts and Stones: Reading the Past at Aphrodisias in Caria, in: Greek Archaeology without Frontiers, Athens 2002, 47–66.
• Roueché 2007 C. Roueché, Late Roman and Byzantine Game Boards at Aphrodisias, in: I. Finkel (ed.), Ancient Board Games in Perspective, London 2007, 100–105.
• Rumscheid – Rumscheid 2001 J. Rumscheid – F. Rumscheid, Gladiatoren in Mylasa, Archäologischer An-zeiger 2001, 115–136.
• Saraçoğlu – Çekilmez 2010 A. Saraçoğlu – M. Çekilmez, A Gladiator Stele from Tralleis, Epigraphica Anatolica, 43, 2010, 57–58.
• Smith et alii 2006 R. R. R. Smith – S. Dillon – C. H. Hallett – J. Lenaghan – J. Van Voorhis, Aphrodisias II. Roman Portrait Sculpture from Aphrodisias, Mainz 2006.
• Smith – Ratté 2002 R. R. R. Smith – C. Ratté, Archaeological Research at Aphrodisias in Caria, 1997 and 1998, AJA 104, 2002, 221–253.
• Staab 2007 G. Staab, Zu den neuen Gladiatorenmonumenten aus Stratonikeia in Ka-rien, ZPE 161, 2007, 35–46.
• Tataki 2009 A. B. Tataki, Nemesis, Nemeseis, and the Gladiatorial Games at Smyrna, Mnemosyne 62, 2009, 639–648.
• Wilson 2016 A. Wilson, Water, Nymphs, and a Palm Grove: Monumental Water Display at Aphrodisias, in: Aphrodisias Papers 5, 100–135.
• Wilson et alii 2016 A. Wilson – B. Russell – A. Ward, Excavations in an Urban Park («South Agora»), in: Aphrodisias Papers 5, 77–90.
• Zimmermann 2002 C. Zimmermann, Handwerkervereine im griechischen Osten des Imperium Romanum, Mainz 2002.