López Vilar, Jordi (ed.): Tarraco Biennal. Actes del 3er Congrés Internacional d’Arqueologia i Món Antic. La glòria del circ: curses de carros i competicions circenses, 322 p., ISBN 978-84-697-6930-0 (ICAC, Tarragona 2017)

 
Compte rendu par Sinclair Bell, Northern Illinois University
 
Nombre de mots : 4323 mots
Publié en ligne le 2022-08-29
Citation: Histara les comptes rendus (ISSN 2100-0700).
Lien: http://histara.sorbonne.fr/cr.php?cr=3486
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        Studies of the Roman circus are now undergoing a renaissance, with a flood of articles[1] and monographs[2] appearing in the last few years and even a recent documentary, “Rome’s Chariot Superstar.”[3] But in a territory as expansive as the Roman empire, with more than 50 circuses now known, there will always be gaps in our evidence due to the accidents of preservation and the limited resources of local authorities to manage their own heritage. Roman Spain is no exception. As John Humphrey wrote in his authoritative study of the Roman circus: “The monumental circus at Tarragona, the capital of the province, is extremely important but presents considerable difficulties for the student because of scanty publication and lack of access to the most recent excavations. However, it is one of the best preserved in Spain.”[4]

        Much important work has been published on this structure and its surrounds since, most notably by the prominent Spanish archaeologist Xavier Dupré i Raventós, who led a series of innovative research and restoration projects at the circus and provincial forum at Tarragona since 1981 (among his other significant archaeological contributions) and to whose memory this collection is dedicated. But with the publication of this wide-ranging and generously-illustrated collection of essays, the circus at Tarragona at last receives its due. At the same time, this volume offers far more than a site-specific treatment, as its contributions range widely and consequently offer a series of brief but useful snapshots about the circus as an empire-wide phenomenon, with particular emphasis on sites and forms of evidence from Spain.

        The papers collected here originate from the third international congress on archaeology and the ancient world held at Tarragona in 2016. The original congress was organized around four themes, which are the same themes that loosely structure the 39 papers in this collection: the iconography of circus competitions, sociological aspects, the architecture of circuses, and the circus at Tarragona.[5]

        In “Ludi circenses en Hispania: tipologías monumentales y testimonios iconográficos” (11–26), Trinidad Nogales Bassarate, the leading authority on Spanish circuses, provides a thorough overview of our current knowledge of circus games in Hispania. The first part of her chapter reviews all circuses known by architectural remains, epigraphic references, etc., and includes a useful comparative table (fig. 1) and a gazeteer of sites (fig. 2).[6] The second part analyzes the career of the famed Lusitanian charioteer C. Appuleius Diocles as a case study. And the third part summarizes the production and procedures of the games and the different individuals and animals involved, drawing especially as evidence on the wide range of iconographic sources (mural paintings, mosaics, reliefs, etc.) that survive in Spain.

        In “Aspectos sociológicos de los ludi circenses durante la Antigüedad Tardía” (27–35), Juan Antonio Jiménez Sánchez treats the passion for the ludi circenses in late antiquity. His chapter efficiently summarizes well-trodden ground: the attachment to factions; the role of gambling as well astrology and magic; the figure of the charioteer as a popular idol and the fanaticism that his person could inspire amongst the populace[7] ; the relationship between Christianity and the ludi[8] ; and the decline and disappearance of the games.

        In “Editis circiensibus: el circo como espacio del evergetismo y la autorepresentación cívica de las elites hispanas” (37–41), Javier Andreu Pintado uses inscriptions to reconstruct individual acts of euergetism by local elite in financing the buildings and associated equipment necessary for producing the games. As the author notes, the impact of staging games upon the local elite deserves more extensive treatment as a monograph, so that not only individual acts of munificence but also wider patterns of behavior can be reconstructed.[9]

        In “Representacions de mim als circs: fonts literàries, documentals i iconogràfiques” (43–48), Víctor González Galera analyzes literary, papyrological, and iconographic sources (though none are illustrated) that attest to the performances of mimes within the context of the Roman circus, including at Tarragona.

        In “Magia et circenses” (49–54), Celia Sánchez Natalías briefly reviews the use of curse tablets within the circus as a prelude to discussing a new (possible) circus defixio that is preserved in the Museo Archeologico Civico in Bologna.[10]

        In “Animales exóticos en el circo. La representación de venationes en terracotta” (55–60), M. Engracia Muñoz Santos brings together representations of venationes on terracotta plaques to emphasize the importance of these hunts to Roman crowds as well.

        In “Caballos para el circo: acerca de su transporte en época romana” (61–66), Patricia Terrado and Ada Lasheras provide a unique and fascinating attempt to reconstruct the transport of circus horses. Using literary and iconographic evidence, they trace the origin and use of the specialized vessel (hippagōgo) that was employed, and the possible agents who would have participated in facilitating these sea voyages.[11]

        In “El mosaico del circo de Bell Lloc del Pla, Girona. Una interpretación global” (67–73), David Vivó Codina, Lluis Palahí Grimal, and Marc Lamuà Estanyol suggest a new interpretation of the well-known mosaic discovered in the late 19^th century. Their interpretation hinges on readings the circus imagery alongside that of the two mosaics that accompanied it, which depict the images of Bellerephon and Theseus and Ariadne, respectively (their argument is greatly assisted by their excellent Fig. 5, a virtual reconstruction of three mosaics together in their villa context). The suggest that the dominus of the house was a high magistrate with a direct connection to Rome.[12]

        In “La representación del circo en el mosaico de Noheda” (75–81), Miguel Ángel Valero Tévar advances an interpretation in which the unique figure of Scylla (?) is thought to signal a visual link to the hippodrome in Constantinople as well as to offer a firm chronology.[13]

        In “El Circo Máximo en las monedas y medallones romanos (s. II-III dC.)” (83–87), Marta Campo gives a dense and insightful summary of the state of our knowledge about the representation of circus architecture on coins and medallions, with a focus on the issuing of coins to celebrate building restorations or state celebrations.[14]

        In “Un contornat amb iconografia circense procedent de Can Solà del Racó (Matadepera,Vallès Occidental)” (89–94), Pere Canela Cafaro, Joaquim Folch Soler, and Lourdes Moret Pujol study a remarkably well-preserved and highly-detailed fourth-century contorniate discovered in context. The contorniate includes the depiction of the portrait head of a man inscribed HORATIVS on the obverse and that of an attendant standing with a horse named BALSAMVS on the reverse, which the authors situate against the background of the culture and traditions of pagan Rome at a time when they were transforming.

        In “Los ludi circenses de Calagurris a través de las cerámicas de Gayo Valerio Verdulo” (95–99), José Luís Cinca Martínez discusses the thin-walled ceramics bearing the seal of Gaius Valerius Verdulus, which provide evidence for circus ludi that took place in Calagurris during the second half of the first century. The author calls attention both to the vessels’ imagery, which is more typical of mosaics than other ceramics, and their inscriptions, which extraordinarily provide the names of the charioteers, their factions, and the local sponsoring magistrates as well as the dates on which the events took place.[15] These works, in short, appear to provide the closest equivalent to modern sports “souvenirs.”[16]

        In “Un molde cerámico con escena de ludi circenses hallado en el barrio del foro romano de Carthago Nova” (101–105), Jaime Vizcaíno Sánchez, José Miguel Noguera Celdrán, and María José Madrid Balanza investigate a bivalve ceramic mold with a circus race scene that was used in the mid-third century, presumably for making pastries.

        In “Unam diem in circo. Iconografía circense en la Colonia Iulia Ilici Augusta” (107–12), Ana M. Ronda Femenia and Mercedes Tendero Porras consider the iconography of a gemstone from a finger ring and fragmentary pastry molds as evidence of the role of ludi in daily life.

        In “Omnium agitatorum eminentissimus. L’iconografia dell’auriga vittorioso su una matrice da Agrigento” (113–18), Valentina Caminneci treats the remains of a circular terracotta mold fragment which depicts a triumphant charioteer beside prize cylinders and which was found in the area of the forum at Agrigento (ca. fourth century CE). Despite the vessel’s highly fragmentary condition, the author offers a robust reconstruction of this object category, which is generally thought to have been used for producing loaves of bread or sweets, especially for special events such as circus games.

        The papers now shift from iconography and the study of individual objects to circuses around the empire. In “Relazione preliminare sulle nuove acquisizioni sul Circo Massimo: indagini archeologiche 2009–2016” (119–26), Marialetizia Buonfiglio summarizes the results of the excavations by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina di Roma in the hemicycle of​​the Circus Maximus.[17] This work has clarified the evidence of some of the archways and the area before the arch of Titus, which she illustrates through floor plans and a virtual reconstruction. She also discusses phases of occupation during the late antique and medieval periods.

        In “La decorazione architettonica e scultorea dell’arco di Tito al Circo Massimo” (127–36), Stefania Pergola and Andrea Coletta also discuss the recent excavations in the area of ​​the hemicycle of the Circus Maximus, with a focus here on the Arch of Titus. Like modern detectives, they use architectural and decorative elements from both previous interventions and new work to piece together a new graphic reconstruction of the arch, which they connect stylistically to contemporary Flavian monuments.[18]

        In “The Circus Maximus: Actual Results after the Last Surveys, using Advanced Instruments and Technologies” (137–45), Domenica Dininno employs photogrammetry, 3D modelling, and a relational database to outline her plans for creating a new research tool, “a digital product that contains the collected historical data of the ruins in one accessible informatics system.”

        In “Edificios de espectáculos en Calagurris (Calahorra, La Rioja): el circo” (147–53), José Luís Cinca Martínez investigates the architectural evidence of a circus at Calagurris, which he estimates measured 365 x 86 m and, with four to five rows in the cavea, could seat 7,000–9,000 spectators.

        In “Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento del circo romano de Sagunto y su entorno monumental” (155–60), José Manuel Melchor Monserrat, Josep Benedito Nuez, Juan José Ferrer Maestro, Francisco García García, and Fernando Fco. Buchón Moragues sift through the scanty evidence (including archival war photographs) for the Roman circus to reconstruct it as part of a monumental complex dating to the second century CE.[19]

        In “Vidas paralelas: los circos de Saguntum y Valentia. Nuevos datos sobre su disposición en la trama urbana” (161–66), Mirella Machancoses López and José Luis Jiménez Salvador trace parallel developments in the circuses of Saguntum and Valentia, which both date to the first half of the second century CE and which would have required “enormous economic output” as part of their respective urban armatures.

        In “El circo romano de Segobriga (Saelices, Cuenca). Carreras sobre las lápidas” (167–73), Rosario Cebrián, Ignacio Hortelano, and Joaquin Ruiz de Arbulo look at the circus in the small municipality of Segobriga within the context of its urban life as a large mining metropolis during the second century CE.

        In “¿Existió un circo romano en la antigua Consabura (Consuegra, Toledo)?” (175–82), Juan F.Palencia García and Francisco J. Giles Pacheco review ancient historical sources and modern documentation, including excavation records, which appear to confirm the existence of a circus in Consuegra (Castilla-LaStain).

        In “El circo de la Colonia Augusta Firma Astigi (Écija, Sevilla)” (183–90), Inmaculada Carrasco Gómez and Alejandro Jiménez Hernández combine evidence from excavations of foundations with a variety of other sources (epigraphic, curse tablets, iconographic) to suggest the presence of a circus in the northern sector of the city and the taste of its residents for such shows.

        In “Acerca de un circo romano en Carteia (San Roque, Cádiz)” (191–97), Manuel Jaén Candón, Alejandro Jiménez Hernández, José Peña Ruano, Teresa Teixidó Ullod, and Inmaculada Carrasco Gómez document the evidence for an intramural circus 93m in length, which was first hypothesized from archival aerial photographs, reinterpreted using GIS, and subsequently confirmed with a geophysical survey.[20]

        In “El urbanismo romano en torno al circo de Augusta Emerita” (199–204), M. Victoria Rosique Rodríguez, Pedro Mateos Cruz, and Oliva Rodríguez Gutiérrez concentrate on the relationship between the circus and its surrounding structures, domestic, industrial, and funerary. 

        In “Arquitectura auxiliar y periférica del circo romano de Mérida” (205–11), Francisco Javier Heras Mora also considers the relationship of the circus to its surrounding structures within the city, especially the urban renovations that would have been necessary to accommodate the needs of the chariot races (e.g., waiting areas for the horses) since the circus was built decades after the colony itself was founded.

        In “O circo romano de Miróbriga, Santiago do Cacém, Portugal” (213–18) Rui Fragoso reviews the evidence of the circus and the opportunities it presents for educating the wider populace and appealing to tourists.

        In “El circ, un edifici d’espectacles com a element vertebrad de l’urbanisme de Tàrraco: 35 anys de recerques” (219–30), M. Teresa Miró provides a detailed summary of and bibliographical essay about of the remarkably long (1981–2016) and detailed program of excavation and restoration at Tarragona.

        In “El circ de Tàrraco i l’arqueologia de la Illustració (1762–1813)” (231–39), Jaume Massó Carballido offers a fascinating historiographical survey related to the later history of Tarragona, especially the area of the circus.

        In “Xavier Dupré, impulsor de la investigación y la recuperación urbana del circo de Tarraco” (241–49), Xavier Aquilué celebrates the many significant contributions of the volume’s honorand to the research and patrimony of the circus at Tarragona.

        In “Materials i tècniques constructives emprades en l’edificació del circ de Tàrraco” (251–60), Moisés Díaz, Lluís Piñol, and Imma Teixell explore theories and evidence of building construction, spectator circulation, and the placement of the imperial cult, among others.

        In “El circ de Tàrraco durant el període tardoantic: l’amortització dels accessos a la summa cavea” (261–66), Moisés Díaz, Lluís Piñol, and Imma Teixell looks at the later phases of the building’s occupation.

        In “Resultats preliminars de les excavacions a la graderia del circ, carrer Ferrers 23–27 (any 2016)” (267–76), Josep Francesc Roig, Joan Menchon, Imma Teixell also trace the evolution of parts of the circus structure through their later reuse.

        In “Caballos en el circo de Tarraco. Una reflexión arquitectónica y arqueozoológica” (277–83), Lídia Colominas and Joaquin Ruiz de Arbulo detail the discovery of part of the structure of the carceres in the basement of the Tarragona town hall. In light of the narrowness of the passageway (in comparison with the measurements from the Circus of Maxentius), however, doubts were raised concerning the ability of a quadriga to fit inside. The authors creatively seek to reconcile this issue through the architectural study of carceres across the empire and an osteometric study of racehorses.

        In “La inscripción monumental del circo de Tarraco: primera hipótesis reconstructive” (285–92), Diana Gorostidi Pi and Julio César Ruiz Rodríguez uses five fragments of an inscription from the circus at Tarragona to link it to the emperor Domitian, a flamen, and local officials.

        In “Una figlina al subsòl del circ de Tàrraco: producció ceràmica intramurs de la ciutat en època julioclàudia” (293–99), Pere Gebellí Borràs considers local craft production.

        In “Certamina en el circo de Tarraco como espectáculos provincials” (301–306), Jesús Carruesco and Joaquín Ruiz de Arbulo situates the monumental architectural complex of the circus at Tarragona (evocatively visualized in their fig. 1) within the wider network of imperial cult buildings and ceremonies, including the Greek games (agones). The authors effectively draw parallels between the structure and ceremonies at Tarragona with others across the empire (e.g., Ancyra, Narbo, Lugdunum).

        In “Estratègies didàctiques per al coneixement del circ de Tàrraco” (307–12), Núria Montardit Bofarull, Marta Panedès Manresa, Núria Roig Font, Jordi Tortosa Giménez, and Montse Veses Ferrer chronicle their “innovative pedagogical techniques” employed for youth visiting the circus.

        It seems appropriate that this well-edited and beautifully-produced collection should end with a contribution about educating youth in order to assist them in appreciating their local heritage, a heritage to which Dupré i Raventós was clearly so deeply committed. Many of the contributors warmly recall not only his groundbreaking scientific accomplishments but also his personal commitment to diffusing the results so that they could reach the widest possible audience (“la socialización de la arqueología” [245]), making this volume a scholarly monument equivalent to the remarkable sculpture which was created by the Italian artist Beátrice Bizot and erected in the late archaeologist’s honor – fittingly – in the Tarragona circus itself.[21]

Éditeurs : Lorenz E. Baumer, Université de Genève ; Jan Blanc, Université de Genève ; Christian Heck, Université Lille III ; François Queyrel, École pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
Site conçu par Lorenz Baumer et François Queyrel et réalisé par Lorenz Baumer, 2006/7