In an earlier post, we dispelled some of the popular myths surrounding gladiators in the Roman era. This time our focus is on a Latin phrase that is almost invariably included in TV shows and movies depicting the infamous Roman arena:
Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant
(“Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you”)
The original Gladiator (2000) film, directed by Ridley Scott, included it twice. Firstly, by the fighters having entered the arena before they re-enact the Battle of Carthage in Rome’s Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium), and secondly it is quoted by the former gladiator Tigris the Gaul (played by Sven-Ole Thorsen) who had been brought out of retirement to kill the film’s hero, Maximus (Russell Crowe) in the same location. Even though the author must confess he has the very same phrase printed on a tee-shirt that depicts two gladiators, there is little to no evidence it was routinely uttered in the arena.
Origin story The phrase originates during an event on Lake Fucinus in AD 52 where, in the presence of Emperor Claudius, naumachiarii - captives and criminals – were to fight a mock naval encounter (naumachia, pl. naumachiae). In the world of the Roman emperors, the term naumachia referred to both the staging of naval battles as mass entertainment and the basin or building in which this took place. The phrase is first recorded in De vita Caesarum (“The Lives of the Caesars”) penned by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus [1] who wrote:
...quín [Claudius] et émissúrus Fúcinum lacum naumachiam ante commísit. Sed cum próclámantibus naumachiáriís: "Have imperátor, moritúrí té salútant!" respondisset: "Aut nón," neque post hanc vócem quasi veniá datá quisquam dímicáre vellet, diú cúnctátus an omnés igní ferróque absúmeret, tandem é séde suá prósiluit ac per ambitum lacús nón sine foedá vacillátióne discurréns partim minandó partim adhortandó ad pugnam compulit. Hóc spectáculó classis Sicula et Rhodia concurrérunt, duodénárum trirémium singulae...
“Before allowing the waters to escape from Lake Fucinus, he [Claudius] arranged to have a sham sea-fight on it; but when the gladiators shouted, “Hail, Caesar, we who are about to die salute you!”, he replied, “Or not [Aut nón], as the case may be.” They took him up on this and refused to fight, insisting that his words amounted to a pardon. Claudius grew so angry that he was on the point of sending troops to massacre them or burn them all in their ships. However, he changed his mind, jumped from his seat and hobbled ridiculously down to the lakeside, threatened and coaxed the gladiators into battle. Twelve Rhodian triremes then engaged twelve Sicilian ones…” (Graves, 2007, 192-193)
Suetonius is not alone in recording the events of AD 52, however. He is one of three Roman historians all of whom were, notably, born after the fact. Not being actual eyewitnesses to the incident means we must accept at face value the accuracy of what the three men claim. Importantly, to our knowledge there are currently no surviving contemporary accounts from AD 52 to corroborate their story. Cautiously, therefore, we should bear in mind that all three versions of the events on Lake Fucinus are essentially hearsay but are the best we have with which to work. With the caveats in mind, the first to mention the naumachia was Tacitus [2] who was writing from around AD 98 to AD 117 but crucially does not quote the phrase. Next is Suetonius, quoted above, who was probably writing around AD 121 some 69 years after the events he describes. The third author is Cassius Dio [3] who records the same incident and includes the phrase, but his account was written even later than Suetonius probably sometime between AD 200 and AD 222. It is also suspected that Dio may have copied Suetonius’ earlier work which, if true, does limit Dio’s usefulness as a corroborating source.
Naumachia Public entertainments in the ancient Roman world varied from combat between just two gladiators to large-scale events that potentially involved the deaths of thousands of combatants. The naumachia (also called navalia proelia by the Romans) was one of the latter: a large-scale and bloody combat spectacular taking place on many ships and held in large lakes or flooded arenas. Those tasked with enacting these deadly naval battles were prisoners of war and criminals already condemned to die. Those selected were known as naumachiarii.
Unlike gladiatorial combats, naumachiae were not at all common. They almost exclusively only celebrated notable events. Gaius Julius Caesar, for example, celebrated his fourth victory to be honoured by triumph with an event involving 6,000 naumachiarii in the lesser Codeta, a marshy area by the River Tiber. Cassius Dio records two naumachiae that Emperor Titus staged during the inaugural games of the Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome, now popularly known as the Coliseum. One included 3,000 men re-enacting a battle between the Athenians and the Syracusans. Dio also reports that Titus’ brother Domitian held a naumachia in which “practically all the combatants and many of the spectators as well perished”.
Emperor Claudius’ naumachia celebrated the completion of a drainage work and agricultural land reclamation project at Lake Fucino, Italy's largest inland lake. Located in the Central Apennine mountain range about 80 km (50 miles) from Rome, this lake is 19 km (11 miles) long making it an ideal venue for a staged naval combat. According to Tacitus’ “The Annals of Imperial Rome”:
“A tunnel through the mountain between Lake Fucinus and the river Liris had now been completed. To enable a large crowd to see this impressive achievement, a naval battle was staged on the lake itself, like the exhibition given by Augustus on his artificial lake adjoining the Tiber, though his ships and combatants had been fewer. Claudius equipped nineteen thousand combatants, surrounding them with a circle of rafts to prevent their escape. Enough space in the middle, however, was left for energetic rowing, skilful steering, charging, and all the incidents of a sea-battle. On the rafts were stationed double companies of the Guard and other units, behind ramparts from which they could shoot catapults and stone-throwers. The rest of the lake was covered with the decked ships of the marines.
The coasts, the slopes, and the hill-tops were thronged like a theatre by innumerable spectators, who had come from the neighbouring towns and even from Rome itself – to see the show or pay respects to the emperor. Claudius presided in a splendid military cloak, with Agrippina in a mantle of cloth of gold. Though the fighters were criminals, they fought like brave men. After much blood-letting, they were spared extermination.” (Grant, 1996, 277)
In Michael Grant’s translation of Tacitus’ Annals, the supposed salutation is clearly not present and despite its popularisation in later times, the phrase is not recorded elsewhere in Roman history. Today historians question whether “Avē Imperātor, moritūrī tē salūtant” was ever heard in the many arenas across the Roman world. It seems far more likely that the phrase, as recorded by Suetonius and repeated by Cassius Dio, was an isolated appeal by desperate captives and criminals condemned to die. It was perhaps only noteworthy to these two Roman historians simply because, as a literary device, it set the conditions to explain the unusual mass reprieve granted by Emperor Claudius to the survivors. Bon appétit!
References:
Grant, M, (1956), “Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome”, London: Penguin Classics (revised 1996).
Graves, R. (1957), “Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars”, “Divus Claudius”, London: Penguin Classics (revised 2007).
Endnotes:
1. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (commonly referred to as Suetonius; c. AD 69-75 to after AD 130) was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is De vita Caesarum (“The Lives of the Caesars”; commonly known in English as “The Twelve Caesars”) a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Domitian. ▲
2. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. AD 56 – c. AD 120) was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works, the Annals (Latin: Annales) and the Histories (Latin: Historiae), examine the reigns of the emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). Together these two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the death of Domitian in AD 96, although there are substantial gaps in what survives. ▲
3. Lucius Cassius Dio (c. 165 – c. 235), also known as Dio Cassius, was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes on the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the subsequent founding of Rome in 753 BC, the formation of the Republic (509 BC), and the creation of the Empire (27 BC) up until AD 229, during the reign of Severus Alexander. Written in Ancient Greek over 22 years, Dio's work covers approximately 1,000 years of history. ▲
Yorumlar