FYS 251

Spectacles of Blood

Discussion Questions

Homework Assignments: Assignments are listed on the night you should do them. The material listed will be covered in the next class. E.g. The readings listed under Week 1, Class 1 will be read in class on Week 1, Class 2.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

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Week 1:

No classes

Week 2:

Questions for Class 2
- Assignment: Martial, On the Spectacles I-XXXIII, s
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific poems].
  1. What can we learn about what happened in the Colosseum (and a few other venues) from Martial?
    - What types of events occured there?
    - For each type of event, who participated in them?
    - In what roles or functions?
    - Doing and/or using what?
  2. How does Martial use the arena and what happens in it to characterize Caesar?
  3. How does Martial use the Colosseum to describe Rome's internal or domestic politics?
  4. How does Martial use the Colosseum to describe Rome's place in the larger geopolitical world?
  5. What place did the people who participate in events in the Colosseum have in Roman society?
  6. What use does Martial make of Greco-Roman mythology in his poems?
    - What does this tell us about Martial?
    - What does this tell us about his audience?
Questions for Class 3
- Martial wrote poetry. We have studied his poems to learn about Roman society and culture. Does poetry present a different set of challenges to the cultural historian than the literary critic? Why or why not?
- What others kinds of information would you like to have about Martial, Rome, or any other topic to study these poems? Would the literary critic want different information than the cultural historian? Would the literary critic use the information differently than the cultural historian?
- Write a one paragraph thesis statement that you can use for your paper on Martial and bring it to class.

Week 3:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment: Primary sources on gladiators
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  1. What are fifferent ways we could organize and categorize these sources in order to better analyze them? Try different organizational schemes and see if doing so raises different questions for you.
  2. Do the authors share a common social situation that might affect the perspectives they offer? How would we find this out? How would finding this out affect our analysis of what they have to say.
  3. What range of attitudes towards the games do the authors articulate?
  4. What range of attitudes towards gladiators do the authors articulate?
  5. Are these attitudes comparable to or different from Martial's?
  6. I there a difference or even tension between the attitudes of these authors toards the games and twoards gladiators? If so, why?
  7. Based on these sources, what place did the games hold in the Roman imagination?
  8. Based on these sources, what place did the gladiator hold in the Roman imagination?
Questions for Class 2
- see Class 1 qs
Questions for Class 3
- see Class 1 qs

Week 4:

Questions for Class 1
- see, Week 3 Class 1 qs
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment: Roman Emperors
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  1. Did the games play a different role in the politics of Cicero's age [late republic] than it did during the imperial age? If so, describe some of the differences.
  2. Why did Nero compel equestrians and senators to fight in the arena?
  3. Why did some emperors like to participate in gladiatorial combat?
  4. Why did their senatorial contemporaries criticize them for this?
  5. What do you think ordinary citizens thought about emperors
    - who didn't like to attend games (like Tiberius)
    - who enjoyed attending games (like Augustus)
    - who participated in games (Domitian, Commodus)
  6. What do the accounts of emperors who liked to appear in public spectacles have in common? What do these commonalities suggest to you.
Questions for Class 3
- see Class 2 qs

Week 5:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment: Tertullian, de Spectaculis, 1-11
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  1. Tertullian begins his critique of spectacles by condemning them as a type of pleasure that corrupts the mind (C.1.1-2). How is this criticism different than that offered by Seneca the Younger [Epistle 7].
  2. Is Tertullian characterizing the arguments of christians or pagans in defense of spectacles in C.1.3? Does this tell us anything about his intended audience?
  3. Why does Tertullian reject the argument that renounciation of pleasure makes a Christian more ready for death? What does this rejected argument tell us about how T's contemporaries perceived Christians?
  4. Why does Tertullian reject the argument that the arena is part of god's creation? [C.2] Who has made the argument.. On what premises does his argument depend?
  5. In C.3, Tertullian rejects another other argument in favor of the games. Who has offered this argument? What is the argument and why does he reject it? On what assumptions does Tertullian's argument rest?
  6. In C.4, Tertullian offers another reason to reject the argument offered in C.3. What is his new argument and on what assumptions does it rest?
  7. in C.5-6, Tertullian begins his history of the games. What games is he talking about? For the purposes of his argument, what are the salient features of the games? Does it matter what the content of the games is for this argument?
  8. In C.7-8, Tertullian appears to argue that the games held in the Circus (athletic) competition are worse than other types of spectacles. Why? Does Tertullianbelieve that the Circus is inherently evil? If not, why should Christians avoid it?
  9. If riding a horse is not inherently evil, as Tertullian argues in C.9, why are horse races in the Circus evil?
  10. In c.10, Tertullian argues against the theatre. On what bases? Is Tertullian's association of Venus and Baccus convincing? Why does he want to make this association? Why and on what basis does Tertullian attack the arts in general?
  11. What are the spectacles that Tertullian condemns in C.11? On what basis does he condemn them?
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].

Week 6:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment:
  - Gunderson, The Ideology of the Arena
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  1. What is Gunderson's criticism about prior scholarship on the Games?
  2. What theoretical models does Gunderson used to support his analysis of the Games?
  3. How does Gunderson define "ideology?"
  4. What are ISA's and SA's? Give examples from your own social experience.
  5. What is the difference between an individual and a "subject" according to Gunderson?
  6. What is "interpellation" according to Gunderson?
  7. What is Gunderson's thesis?
  8. What evidence and analyses of evidence does Gunderson use to support this thesis?
  9. According to Gunderson, "Like ideology, the arena has no outside." [p. 140]. What does he mean by this statement?
  10. Can Gunderson's analysis explain Tertullian?
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages]. (do it over break)

Week 7:

OCTOBER BREAK !

Week 8:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment:
  - The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity
  - Read the text through once. Then reread the text answering the questions below.
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  1. The Prologue (Par. 1 -2) of the text sets forth the reasons for its writing. What do these reasons tell us about the identity and beliefs of the author of the Prologue.
  2. The Prologue identifies a group of individuals arrested by Roman authorities on account of their Christian belief. What can we determine about the social and legal status of each member of the group based on this description?
  3. What is the significance of the fact that Par. 3ff are described by the Prologue's author as "written with her own hand and in her own words"? Does the significance differ for a modern audience and Perpetua's contemporaries?
  4. Par 3. How does Perpetua characterize her religious belief?
  5. Par 4. How do you interpret Perpetua's vision? How does this vision compare with her vision/dream in par. 7-8 and the vision in par. 10. What are different methods we could use to interpret these visions?
  6. Par 1-9. Describe Perpetua's relationship with her family members?
  7. What does Perpetua's account (par. 1-9) and the narrative of martyrdom (par. 16-17) suggest about the administration of prison's in the Roman world?
  8. Par 11 - 13: How does Saturus' vision compare to those of Perpetua?
  9. Par. 14 - 21: Who is the author of this portion of the text? What does the multiplicity of authors suggest about the text?
  10. Par. 15: Who was Felicity? What do we know about her? How does her story compare to that of Perpetua?
  11. Par. 16: How does this description and characterization of Perpetua compare to her self-representation in par. 1-9?
  12. How do Christian and non-Christian respond to each other (par. 16-17.)?
  13. What do the Christians feel about the Games? What do they understand their role in them to be? How do they characterize themselves (par. 16 ff.)?
  14. How do the administrators of the games treat the Christians (par. 19ff)? Why?
  15. How do Christian and non-Christian respond to each other (par. 20 ff.)?

Week 9:

Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
  - Eusebius, Martyrs of Lyon and Vienne
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
  - Introduction - What does the introduction tell us about the text we are going to read as a historical source?
  - Chapter 1 -
    - What can we learn about the organization of the early Church?
    - Where are Lyons, Vienne [see also Vienne for a virtual tour of Roman Vienne], Asia (Minor) and Phrygia. (If you don't know, find out.)
    - How does the Church of Lyon characterize the action of the non-Christian authorities against them?
    - Do the Christians in Lyons distinguish between the attitudes and conduct of pagan officials and ordinary citizens who are pagan? If so, what is the difference? Was there any difference between the response of the Christians to their neighbors and to the government?
    - The text describes a number of activities involved in the persecution of Christians. What were they? Can you infer an order for them from the text?
    - What can the text tell us about the administration of Roman provinces?
    - Who was Vettius Epagathus and what do pagans and Christians of Lyons think of him?
    - How did Maturus, Attalus, Pothinus, Ponticus, Blandina and Sanctus respond to torture? How did the crowd respond to them?
    - Compare the description of the punishment of of Maturus, Attalus, Blandina and Sanctus at the games to that described in the Passion of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity. What factual similarities do the accounts share? What narrative or literary similarities do the accounts share?
  - Chapter 2 and 3
    - What was the controversy in Lyon about the title, "witness" about?
    - Does controversy recall tohers we have read about in the early Church?
  - Chapter 3
    - How is the vision of Attalus like and different than the visions we have read in the Passion of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity?

Week 10:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].

Week 11:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages]. (do over Thanksgiving break)

Week 12:

Thanksgiving Break !

Week 13:

Questions for Class 1
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 2
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].
Questions for Class 3
- Assignment:
- Discussion Questions: [Please be prepared to cite and discuss specific passages].

Week 14:

Imber's Homepage / Course Home Page

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