Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine

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Harvard University Press, Mar 24, 2014 - Architecture - 361 pages
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Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine introduces readers to the panoply of public entertainment that flourished in Palestine from the first century BCE to the sixth century CE. Drawing on a trove of original archaeological and textual evidence, Zeev Weiss reconstructs an ancient world where Romans, Jews, and Christians intermixed amid a heady brew of shouts, roars, and applause to watch a variety of typically pagan spectacles.

Ancient Roman society reveled in many such spectacles--dramatic performances, chariot races, athletic competitions, and gladiatorial combats--that required elaborate public venues, often maintained at great expense. Wishing to ingratiate himself with Rome, Herod the Great built theaters, amphitheaters, and hippodromes to bring these forms of entertainment to Palestine. Weiss explores how the indigenous Jewish and Christian populations responded, as both spectators and performers, to these cultural imports. Perhaps predictably, the reactions of rabbinic and clerical elites did not differ greatly. But their dire warnings to shun pagan entertainment did little to dampen the popularity of these events.

Herod's ambitious building projects left a lasting imprint on the region. His dream of transforming Palestine into a Roman enclave succeeded far beyond his rule, with games and spectacles continuing into the fifth century CE. By then, however, public entertainment in Palestine had become a cultural institution in decline, ultimately disappearing during Justinian's reign in the sixth century.

 

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Contents

Preface
Introduction
The Introduction of Public Spectacles and Competitions into Ancient Palestine
Buildings for Mass Entertainment in Their Urban Context
Performances Competitions and Shows
4 Financing Organization and Operation
Jewish Attitudes toward Roman Spectacles and Competitions
6 Public Spectacles and Sociocultural Behavior in Late Antique Palestine
Epilogue
Abbreviations
Notes
Source Index
Subject Index
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine
Zeev Weiss
Limited preview - 2014

Common terms and phrases

actors Agrippa amphitheater ancient Palestine Arabia archaeological architectural arena athletic competitions Bostra buildings for mass built Byzantine Caesarea Maritima Cambridge carceres cavea chariot races Choricius Christian circus cities of ancient city’s construction contests cultural Decapolis Eleutheropolis emperor Excavations festivals Figure fourth century Gadara games held Gaza Genesis Rabbah Gerasa gladiatorial combats gladiators Graeco-Roman Greek Harvard University Press Hebrew Herod Herodian Herodium hippo hippo-stadium hippodrome honor inJerusalem Inscriptions Israel Jerusalem Jewish Jews Josephus king’s late antique late antique Palestine mass entertainment mentioned mime monumental mosaic Nabataean Neapolis northern theater orchestra Oxford pantomime Patrich performances held Petra podium population Porath public entertainment public spectacles rabbis region Roman East Roman Empire Roman Palestine Roman public Roman Theater Roman world Rome Samaria Saul Lieberman Scythopolis seats second century Sepphoris sermon shows sixth century society sources stadium stage structures Studies Talmud theatrical theJewish theJews third century Tiberias tion urban Zeev Weiss

About the author (2014)

Zeev Weiss is Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Public Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine
TitlePublic Spectacles in Roman and Late Antique Palestine
Volume 21 of Revealing Antiquity, ISSN 1052-0422
AuthorZeev Weiss
EditorZeev Weiss
Editionillustrated
PublisherHarvard University Press, 2014
ISBN0674048318, 9780674048317
Length361 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Architecture / History / Ancient & Classical
History / Ancient / General
History / Middle East / Israel & Palestine
History / Social History
Religion / Antiquities & Archaeology
  
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