In memoriam
Paola Ciancio Rossetto
INTRODUCTION
Entertainment in the Roman world is one of the topics from antiquity that arouses the greatest interest among researchers. Over the last roughly ten years, following the appearance of numerous important publications in the watershed year of 2014,Footnote 1 research on entertainment venues and forms of entertainment in Roman times has continued to develop at a brisk pace. This review seeks to take stock of the work of the past decade as well as developing trends.
The integration of archaeological excavations, architectural analysis, digital technologies and interdisciplinary approaches has led to significant progress in our understanding of monuments and in reconstructing the social, political and cultural role of entertainment and the buildings designed for it. Amphitheatres, theatres, circuses, odeons and stadiums are now studied not only as monumental structures but also as spaces for collective interaction, with increasingly documented architectural types and local variations. There has also been renewed interest in the protagonists of the shows (e.g. gladiators, actors etc.), who are analysed as subjects within complex networks, settings and systems.
Finally, there has been a notable shift in focus from the structures to the manifold ways in which everyday Romans experienced the sponsored events: the gladiatorial combats and chariot races that filled monumental buildings in imperial Rome and around the empire were much more than ceremonial events or scripted diversions for ‘entertaining the public’. They were events that could play a highly significant role in the way in which Romans at all levels of society structured their private experiences, both inside and outside these spaces (e.g. through play and games).Footnote 2 As scholars have asked (and sought to answer) in several recent volumes: who were these spectators, and how did their experiences vary across space and time? We chose J.E. Lenepveu’s painting Amphithéâtre de Pompéi (1849) as an illustration to accompany this Profile [Figure 1 ] because it appears to echo these questions through its depiction of an arena visitor as a transparent apparition: the figure’s general form is visible, but its precise identity is unclear. The ancient public is also a shadowy figure in our sources – or, to be more precise, the ancient publics.Footnote 3
Jules E. Lenepveu, Amphithéâtre de Pompéi (1849) © Musées d’Angers.
Figure 1 Long description
The painting by Jules E. Lenepveu, titled Amphithéâtre de Pompéi, created in 1849, showcases the Pompeii amphitheatre. The scene includes a transparent outline of a visitor, adding a modern touch to the historical setting. The amphitheatre is depicted with its characteristic stone architecture and tiered seating, capturing the grandeur and scale of the ancient structure. The painting highlights the everyday experiences of Romans, emphasizing the significance of gladiatorial combats and chariot races in their lives. The transparent outline suggests a contemporary perspective, blending past and present.
This Profile, by five subject specialists, is divided into five further parts: four central sections organised according to the original language of the source publications (Italian, Spanish, French and English, without implying any hierarchy or priority) and a brief conclusion. Each author’s contribution canvasses publications in this order: general studies, amphitheatre, theatre, circus, stadium and other areas (e.g. music, spectators). In adopting this approach, we hope that readers will be exposed to research that they might not otherwise have encountered and will in turn make connections across these different linguistic and cultural traditions. Generally speaking, there are strong commonalities developing across these linguistic traditions, which is at least partly the result of the high degree of international research collaboration now taking place (e.g. the ERC-funded project ‘Locus Ludi: The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity’Footnote 4 and the CHOROS project). While the Profile makes no claims of exhaustiveness (e.g. we are unable to include German scholarship for reasons of spaceFootnote 5 ) and, unfortunately, has to overlook many other kinds of research and publishing initiatives of considerable importance and innovation, we hope that its contents will give readers a sense of the field’s thriving nature as well as its broad and ever-expanding scope.
ITALIAN
P. Arena, Gladiatori, carri e navi. Gli spettacoli nell’antica Roma (2020), offers a reconstruction of the main forms of Roman entertainment (chariot races, gladiatorial combats, venationes and naumachiae) in the context of public ludi and munera, with a focus on audience perception and the careers of gladiators and charioteers. I. Fargnoli, Lo stadio, il circo, l’arena. Aspetti del fenomeno sportivo in diritto romano (2025), addresses the study of various forms of entertainment from a regulatory and institutional perspective.
There is a wealth of studies on buildings, beginning with their interpretation in the humanistic-Renaissance period with an antiquarian approach, as in the work by P. Ligorio, Delle antichità di Roma. Circhi, teatri, anfiteatri e paradossi, newly edited by M.E. Garcia Barraco (2017). V. Tiné (ed.), L’Arena e gli altri. Teatri e anfiteatri romani tra ricerca, tutela e valorizzazione (2024), includes contributions ranging from archaeology to issues of conservation and enhancement. The volume edited by M. Buonfiglio, G. Pisani Sartorio and R. Volpe, Gli edifici dello spettacolo a Roma. Atti della giornata di studio in ricordo di Paola Ciancio Rossetto (2025), contains updates on a range of entertainment buildings in their topographical context.
Although limited to the Adriatic regions and North Africa, respectively, the following works are worth mentioning. First, the volume Architetture e sistemi costruttivi dei teatri e degli anfiteatri antichi in area adriatica (2025), edited by J. Bonetto, A.R. Ghiotto and B. Marchet, features specialised contributions on architecture, construction techniques, restoration and new research on theatres and amphitheatres in cities along the Adriatic coast. In addition, there are recent studies dedicated to the amphitheatres of proconsular Africa, with particular attention to those of Sabratha (G. Montali, L’anfiteatro di Sabratha e gli anfiteatri dell’Africa Proconsulare [2015]) and Carthage (H. Ben Romdhane et al., ‘Cartagine. L’anfiteatro e i quartieri nord-occidentali. Risultati preliminari di un nuovo progetto di ricerca’, in: J. Carlsen and J. Lund [edd.], Roman Carthage: A Reappraisal [2024], pp. 93–104), including hypotheses regarding its early phase and subsequent interventions during the Imperial era.
Gladiators and gladiatorial spectacles dominate the field of research on Roman spectacles, and it is necessary to make a selection, omitting for reasons of space studies that are more popular in nature, even if of good quality, or narrative in form (e.g. A. Franchini, Gladiatori [2016]; G. Concilio, Sangue e arena. Gladiatori e spettacoli nell’Antica Roma [2024]; L. Fezzi and M. Rocco, Morituri. La vera storia dei gladiatori [2024]; P. Serra, Historia gladiatoria. La grande storia dei gladiatori [2025]).
S. Pastor, Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell’Occidente Romano IX (2017), compiles an epigraphic catalogue of gladiatorial inscriptions from the Danubian provinces, revisiting the theme of the popularity of these spectacles in those regions in the volume Giochi di potere. I munera dalle origini alla romanizzazione delle province alpine e balcanico-danubiane (2020). C. Mann’s I gladiatori (2014; trans. Die Gladiatoren, 2013) provides a general analysis of the gladiatorial phenomenon within the Roman entertainment system and its socio-cultural context. S. Rinaldi Tufi’s Gladiatori. Una giornata di spettacoli (2018) offers an accurate reconstruction of gladiatorial specializations, without neglecting the amphitheatres.
The catalogue of the exhibition Gladiatori (2020), edited by V. Sampaolo, contains a rich and useful selection of materials, accompanied by general essays, with a particular focus on Campania and Pompeii. Uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari. Studi e ricerche sul mondo dei gladiatori (2024), edited by A. Russo and F. Rinaldi, follows similar lines, but with a broader scope. One should also consult the contributions written by various specialists alongside the exhibition Gladiatori nell’Arena. Tra Colosseo e Ludus Magnus (2023), with studies of historical, legal, archaeological, literary, social and cultural aspects (to the bibliography cited by G.L. Gregori, in his essay in that volume on ‘Donne e arene’, pp. 117–33, one should add L. Castagneri, Gladiatrici. Appunti di ricerca sulla gladiatura femminile [2019], and A. Gatti, ‘Munera Gladiatoria and Female Gladiators in the Ancient World’, Gremium 16 [2022], 23–43).
Among recent studies focusing on individual provinces, the work by A. Ibba and A. Teatini deserves mention: ‘Figure di gladiatori nell’Africa romana: il contributo dell’epigrafia e dei mosaici con iscrizione’, in: D. Artizzu, A.M. Corda, M.-Y. Perrin (edd.), Spatha, spada, épée. Ideologia e prassi (2024), pp. 95–120, highlights the rarity of mosaic depictions of gladiators in African provinces, only three cases (from Thuburbo Maius, Cercina and Hadrumetum), in comparison with a large number of hunting scenes, as well as inscriptions referring to gladiatorial games (a total of twelve, from nine locations).
A recent line of research shifts the focus to the spectators. One can find in the graffiti gladiatorii a reflection of the public’s perception of the shows, as discussed by G.L. Gregori and F. Mancuso, ‘La percezione degli spettacoli gladiatori nei graffiti di Pompei ed Efeso’, in: Bell, Berlan-Gallant and Forichon (edd.) (2024), pp. 321–48. In addition, P. Arena, pp. 27–58, addresses the identity of the audience of gladiatorial spectacles between the late Republic and early Principate.
An interdisciplinary overview is provided by the catalogue of the exhibition held at the Ara Pacis in Rome and edited by O. Rossini, S. Monda and L. Spagnuolo, Teatro. Autori, attori e pubblico nell’antica Roma (2024), with specialist contributions on Roman theatre, but also on actors, authors and spectators, in line with previous, similar initiatives. Regarding the theatres of Rome, in addition to the volume by Buonfiglio, Pisani Sartorio and Volpe, the monograph edited by the late P. Ciancio Rossetto and G. Pisani Sartorio, Theatrum Marcelli (2017), surveys history, structure, construction techniques and decorative elements of the building. In addition, there is a study of the recent discovery of the remains attributed to Nero’s private theatre in the area of the Horti Agrippinae, hitherto known only to ancient authors: A. De Cristofaro, ‘Il theatrum Neronis ritrovato’, RPARA (2023–24), 26–70. N. Savarese, Teatri romani. Gli spettacoli nell’antica Roma (2015), contains an in-depth analysis of the Roman theatre, the ludi scaenici and their relationship with entertainment, politics, society, architecture and theatrical functions in Rome, with sections dedicated to the genesis of theatrical forms, the genres represented, the actors and the socio-cultural dynamics of Roman theatre. Finally, V. Blasi, Teatri greco-romani in Italia (2019), provides an archaeological guide to the theatres of ancient Italy, with extensive coverage of Roman and Graeco-Roman structures, their relationship with the urban landscape and the society that built them. As for the protagonists of the theatrical scene, the epigraphic and literary documentation on pantomimes is now analysed by S. Evangelisti, I pantomimi nelle città dell’Italia romana (2021), with a catalogue of inscriptions, prosopographical records and considerations on these individuals’ professional and itinerant role.
Regarding the Circus Maximus there has also been a renewed interest both in the structure of the building and in its spectacles and audiences. Of particular interest is the hypothesis put forward by G. Mulas (Bull. Com. 126 [2025], 181–90) that the monumental fragment published in AE (1997, 150) and preserved in the Parco Archeologico del Celio refers to the restoration of the Circus Maximus under Caracalla. In addition to the Atti della Giornata di Studi on 9 May 2016 (Rome, Auditorium dell’Ara Pacis), published as ‘Il Circo Massimo: scavi, indagini e ricostruzioni (2009–2016)’ in Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 119 (2018), there are the volume edited by Buonfiglio, Pisani Sartorio and Volpe as well as M.E. Garcia Barraco, Circus Maximus. Il Circo Massimo e le strutture adiacenti. Guida archeologica (2016), and Garcia Barraco, Equus Funalis. Cavalli, corse, fazioni e aurighi in epoca romana (2023). M. Buonfiglio, ‘Davanti agli occhi: alcune considerazioni sulla percezione visiva e l’accessibilità al Circo Massimo’, in Bell, Berlan-Gallant and Forichon (edd.) (2024), pp. 219–52, focuses on public accessibility to circus spaces and aspects of their use.
Overall, Italian scholarship has devoted less attention to the world of athletics over the last ten years. After the collective volume edited by J.-F. Bernard, dedicated to the Stadium of Domitian on a general level (Piazza Navona, ou Place Navone, la plus belle & la plus grande. Du stade de Domitien à la place moderne: histoire d’une évolution urbaine [2014], with numerous contributions in Italian as well as French), there is the work of N. Cecconi (‘Ingressi monumentali negli stadi di età romana: regesto, morfologia e funzioni’, BABesch 98 [2023], 101–24), with a catalogue and interpretative proposal about the monumental entrances to the stadiums of the imperial age. Regarding the building in Puteoli, see M. Terracciano, ‘Lo Stadio romano di Antonino Pio a Pozzuoli: un palinsesto archeologico ed architettonico da conoscere e valorizzare’, in: A. Longhi (ed.), Città che si adattano? Vol. 3: Processi urbani di adattamento e resilienza tra permanenza e precarietà (2024), pp. 138–48, with a reconstruction of the history, stratigraphy and enhancement of the Roman stadium built by Antoninus Pius.
Regarding Greek-style sporting competitions, S. Ugolini’s L’agonistica greca in età romana (2015) offers an epigraphic study of the spread of competitions in the West. L. Urciuoli, Gli agoni olimpici dalla Grecia antica a Roma (2016) analyses the continuity and transformations of athletic competitions over time. Finally, F. Rausa (ed.), Essere sempre il migliore. Concorsi e gare nella Napoli antica (2022), looks at the case of the Sebastà in Naples and the wealth of information on the winners of the competitions that has come down to us through epigraphy (see also the contributions dedicated to the catalogues of winners by E. Miranda in that and other publications).
SPANISH
Much of the research in Spain has focused on the study of the buildings that housed the various spectacles throughout Hispania. For a discussion of entertainment venues in Hispania, see these overviews: S. Marcos, ‘Los edificios de espectáculos, indicadores sintomáticos de las relaciones urbanas’, in: S. Panzram (ed.), Oppidum-Civitas-Urbs: Städteforschung auf der Iberischen Halbinsel zwischen Rom und al-Andalus (2017); D. Romero, ‘Edificios de espectáculos en la Hispania del siglo II d. C.: un análisis sincrónico’, Lucentum 39 (2020), 247–68. Buildings attested in Lusitania have been published by T. Nogales, ‘Edificios romanos de espectáculo en Lusitania’, Revista Scaena 6 (2024), 16–41.
Amphitheatres have been a major focus of research: see the article by A. Pizzo, P. Mateos and V. Mayoral, ‘El anfiteatro de Contributa Iulia Ugultunia. Identificación y primer análisis arqueológico’, Archivo Español de Arqueología 89 (2016), 249–327; and A. Jiménez Hernández, El anfiteatro romano de Carmona (2017). More recent publications address military-type amphitheatres: J.J. Palao, ‘Anfiteatros y campamentos durante el Imperio Romano’, Anas 36 (2023), 23–48; Palao, ‘Anfiteatros y ejército romano durante el Principado’, in: T. Nogales and A. Castellano (edd.), ¡Hispano! Gladiadores en el Imperio Romano (2025), pp. 40–65. Regarding that at Augusta Emerita, see the chapter by T. Nogales and J.M. Álvarez Martínez, ‘Anfiteatro de Augusta Emerita: del anfiteatro augusteo de madera al gran anfiteatro flavio’, in: Nogales and Castellano (edd.) (2025), pp. 185–205. See also the summary of the Spanish amphitheatres, again by T. Nogales, ‘Anfiteatros en Hispania’, in Nogales and Castellano (edd.) (2025), pp. 94–115.
In recent years arenas have garnered the most attention through major exhibitions on the subject. ‘Gladiadores. Héroes del Coliseo’, a travelling exhibition curated by Rossella Rea was on display from April to October 2022 at the Archaeological Museum of Alicante, with an accompanying catalogue featuring seven studies published in 2023. And more recently, ¡Hispano! Gladiadores en el Imperio Romano, exhibited from March to September 2025 at the Archaeological and Paleontological Museum of the Community of Madrid, led to a conventional catalogue of the artefacts and a volume edited by the curators T. Nogales and Á. Castellano. In addition to those mentioned, among the sixteen studies included are some on the origins of gladiatorial combat (A. Varone); the deities associated with the amphitheatre (J. Beltrán); epigraphy, with details on the lives of gladiators (J. Edmonson); depictions on mosaics throughout the Empire, following the established order of events, animal fights, the venationes and entertainment fights in the morning – with a section dedicated to the stratagems, capture and transport of wild beasts during the morning session –, the damnatio ad bestias at noon and the munera gladiatoria in the afternoon (L. Neira); and the decline and end of gladiatorial combat (R. González).
Regarding theatres, one should highlight the collaborative work by R. Mar and J. Arce, ‘Los teatros romanos de Hispania: un estado de la cuestión y nuevas perspectivas’, in: Panzram (ed.) (2017), pp. 157–76; as well as studies on aspects related to conservation, restoration and enhancement, topics of the conference at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2015 and its subsequent publication, edited by J.F. Noguera, J. M. Songel and V. Navalón (edd.), Teatros romanos de Hispania, conservación, restauración y puesta en valor (2016), focusing on the theatres of Italica, Clunia, Acci, Zaragoza, Bilbilis, Cartagena and Medellín; and the hypothesis for the reconstruction of the theatre at Baelo Claudia by M. Bustamante et al., ‘El teatro de Baelo Claudia: hacia una restitución’, Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 47 (2017), 121–31, and for the sculptural programme of the theatre at Metellinum by T. Nogales and M.J. Merchán, ‘Teatro romano de Metellinum: programa escultórico-decorativo’, in: C. Márquez and D. Ojeda (edd.), Escultura romana en Hispania, VIII (2018), pp. 527–52. In the same year, the theatre of Augusta Emerita was the focus of another volume edited by P. Mateos (ed.), La ‘scaenae frons’ del teatro romano de Mérida (2018), which presents an update on the hypotheses regarding one of the best-preserved Roman theatres of the Empire.
Likewise, the circus has been the subject of several studies over the past decade, notably various contributions in Spanish in J. López Vilar (ed.), Tarraco Biennal. Actes del 3er. Congrés Internacional d’Arqueologia i Món Antic: la glòria del circ: curses de carros i competicions circenses (2017), which was held in 2016 in Tarragona. The volume focuses on the Circus Maximus as a model to be emulated by provincial circuses as well as on that of Tarraco, though it also includes studies of other Hispanic circuses. Furthermore, this interesting volume includes works that go beyond the circus as a building. Other circuses have also attracted attention; see, for example, J.L. Cinca, ‘El circo de Calagurris Iulia (Calahorra, La Rioja). Una aproximación’, in M.J. Castillo and P. Iguácel (edd.), Studia Historica in Honorem Prof. Urbano Espinosa Ruiz (2018), pp. 251–88.
Regarding the various spectacles, alongside the works cited on ludi circenses, it is necessary to mention the inclusion of the well-known emblemata originating from Rome, which, from the collection of cardinal Camillo Massimo, are preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, in a recent article by I. Mañas, ‘Los emblemata en la península Ibérica: un análisis preliminar’, Mosaïque Antique. Bulletin de l’AIEMA 27 (2025). In this regard, texts and inscriptions from Hispania that mention munera or refer to individuals participating in them were studied by M. Pastor, ‘Munera gladiatoria en Hispania’, Florentia Iliberritana 27 (2016), 141–82.
Regarding the ludi scaenici – among which mime and pantomime stood out – the large mosaic from the villa at Noheda – initially excavated by D. Fdez. Galiano – sheds significant light on the prevalence and rise of these spectacles in Hispania at the end of the fourth century ce, being the focus of attention in several publications by L. Neira.
Finally, regarding the ludi athletarum or certamina Graeca, though not as popular as the previous areas of interest, research since M.L. Caldelli’s studies has shown a greater degree of representativeness than traditionally attributed to them. This includes the aforementioned work by J. Carruesco and J. Ruiz de Arbulo (2017) and, based on a paper on the wall mosaic of the pugilists from the villa of Silin (Tripolitania) presented at the XII Colloque de l’AIEMA in Venice, which was published in English (2015), the study by L. Neira on agones in mosaics – ‘Representaciones de agones o certamina graeca en los mosaicos romanos de la pars occidentalis’, in: J.M. Álvarez and L. Neira (edd.), Estudios sobre mosaicos romanos. Dimas Fernández Galiano in memoriam (2018), pp. 281–312, where one can see the significant prominence of these ludi into late antiquity, the formats of which would not have required specific buildings for their celebration.
Other studies address specific aspects of the spectacles, common to all of them in one way or another, across the vast territory of the Empire. L. Neira’s Música y danza en el mundo romano. Convivia y espectáculos (s. I a.C.–VI d.C.) (2021) analyses the written and visual sources related to male and female musicians and the various instruments they played, whether as part of the pompa at the start of each event or during the trophy presentation at the ludi circenses, performances in the arena of the amphitheatre or at the certamina Graeca, where they could also compete, particularly in the performing arts, playing a central role in the staging of a pantomime-style performance. Some mosaics depicting ludi circenses, such as the one at Bell-Lloc, as well as mime, pantomime and certamina Graeca at Noheda – the latter also found at Santa Vitória do Ameixial – have been analysed as a reflection of life in the Hispanic villae: L. Neira, ‘A propósito de Noheda. Los mosaicos de las villae romanas tardoantiguas de Hispania como fuente documental para el estudio de las elites en la Antigüedad Tardía’, in: S. Panzram et al. (edd.) (2024), pp. 201–13.
Finally, regarding spectators, the contribution by J.A. Jiménez Sánchez is extremely interesting: ‘Excusatio non petita: las réplicas de los feligreses a las críticas eclesiásticas por la asistencia a los espectáculos (siglos III–VI)’, Arys: Antiquity: Religions and Societies 15 (2017), 247–60. The author analyses the testimonies first of Tertullian and Novatian, then of John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo, and finally of Severus of Antioch and Jacob of Serugh, who reproduced the excuses and arguments of Christians – and who, like most of the contemporary population, were regular attendees of spectacles – in order to rebuke them and reproach their attitude.
FRENCH
Since 2015 numerous scientific publications in French have been devoted to public spectacles in Roman antiquity and/or the venues where they took place.
In the fields of archaeology and architecture a few studies have focused specifically on particular types of buildings: J.-C. Golvin, ‘Machines et principes de fonctionnement du sous-sol d’un grand amphithéâtre’, in: P. Fleury, C. Jacquemard and S. Madeleine (edd.), La technologie gréco-romaine: transmission, restitution et médiation (2015), pp. 23–41; J.-C. Moretti, Les théâtres antiques et leurs entrées: parodos et aditus (2024). The integration of performance venues into urban planning has attracted particular interest, as evidenced by several doctoral dissertations: É. Letellier, Le théâtre dans la ville: recherches sur l’insertion urbaine des théâtres romains, Aix-Marseille Université (2015); L. Xavier de Silva, Urbanisme et topographie urbaine dans les provinces romaines de l’Épire et de la Macédoine: les théâtres, Université de Lyon (2019); and J. Capelle, Le théâtre en Ionie. Les monuments et leurs usages, de la fin de l’époque classique à l’Antiquité tardive, Université de Lyon (2021). In September 2023 a workshop on the perception and reappropriation of these buildings in the modern period was organised by M.-H. Garelli and S. Forichon in Toulouse: ‘Édifices de spectacle de l’Antiquité romaine et sociétés du XXIe siècle: Perception, représentation et médiation’ (published in Anabases 42 [2025], 75–176).
A great deal of work has also been done on the arena shows: for instance, C. Vismara compiles the documentation on gladiatorial combat in the essay ‘La gladiature africaine à l’ouest de la Tripolitaine’, in: A. Bouet et C. Petit-Aupert (edd.), Bibere, ridere, gaudere, studere, hoc est vivere: hommages à Francis Tassaux (2018), pp. 161–72. In the monograph Gladiateurs (2019) M. Ducros, B. Lopez and S. Poisson-Lopez combine historiography and experimental archaeology to reconstruct the lives of the gladiators. In Images, spectacles et pouvoir à Rome (2019) A. Berlan-Bajard examines the historical or mythological elements incorporated into the munera and their connections to imperial ideology (cf. CR 73 [2023], 226–8). She also analyses the mutual influences between these performances and the visual arts in ‘Iconographie et spectacles: les mises en scène mythologiques des munera impériaux’ (Neronia Electronica 5 [2018], 4–14) and in ‘Du thème iconographique au spectacle vivant: mythologie, culture visuelle et “culture populaire” dans le monde romain’, in: I. David, A. Piqueux and E. Prioux (edd.), Des arts visuels aux arts vivants, Empreintes des représentations figurées sur les spectacles antiques ou inspirés de l’Antiquité (2024), pp. 165–92. S. Forichon also published on this topic with ‘L’Égypte, le Nil et les Égyptiens dans les spectacles de la Rome ancienne’, Latomus 77 (2018), 99–129. In addition, with the approach of the 2024 Paris Olympics and growing public interest in circus and arena performances, several exhibitions on these topics were held in France in recent years: Gladiateurs, héros du Colisée (Musée de la Romanité de Nîmes, 2018); Gladiateur. L’exposition dont vous êtes le héros ou l’héroïne (Espace Mendès France, Poitiers, 2021–2022; Cap Sciences, Bordeaux, 2022); Spectaculaire! Le divertissement chez les Romains (Musée Lugdunum, Lyon, 2022–2023).
In the field of ancient theatre several publications have focused on the actor’s body: R. Webb, ‘Le ‘corps parlant’ du danseur antique : gestuelle, identité et perception’, in: C. Courtet et al. (edd.), Corps en scènes (2015), pp. 45–57; M. Soler, ‘Les corps des acteurs de l’arène: du rapport sensuel à l’objectivation’, Gaia 20 (2017), 123–40; M.-H. Delavaud-Roux (ed.), Corps et voix dans les danses du théâtre antique (2019). Other issues of staging have also been explored: J.-P. Aygon, ‘Ut scaena, sic vita’: mise en scène et dévoilement dans les œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques de Sénèque (2016) (cf. CR 67 [2017], 418–20); C. Candiard, Présence du fantastique dans les tragédies de Sénèque. Aspects génériques, esthétiques et sémantiques (2017); I. David and N. Lhostis, Codes dramaturgiques et normes morales dans la Comédie Nouvelle de Ménandre et de Plaute (2016); A. Narvaez, ‘La comédie plautinienne, pur spectacle?’, in: S. Dubouilh and P. Katuszewski (edd.), Observer le théâtre. Pour une nouvelle épistémologie des spectacles (2022), pp. 99–110; and I. David, La fabrique du personnage dans la comédie de Plaute: étude sur le masque et la gestuelle (2025). We should also mention several articles devoted to the passions in Latin theatre: I. David, ‘Le jeu des passions dans la comédie de Plaute : le cas du vieillard’, in: I. Boehm, J.-L. Ferrary and S. Franchet d’Espèrey (edd.), L’homme et ses passions (2016), pp. 417–34; P. Parey-Rey, ‘Les passions, les hommes et les dieux sur la scène tragique sénéquienne’, pp. 345–58; and C. Battistella, ‘La colère en scène. Quelques réflexions sur la Médée de Sénèque, entre dramaturgie et philosophie’, Latomus 77 (2018), 59–73.
Studies on the ludi circenses have included research on racehorses: M.T. Cam, ‘Fortifier les chevaux: trois recettes de poudre du quadrige chez Végèce, Mulom. 3, 13, 1–4’, Pallas 101 (2016), 189–204; J. Poucet, ‘Les chevaux du Circus Maximus de Rome (Jean d’Outremeuse, Myreur, I, p. 66–67); Martin d’Opava, la tradition des Mirabilia et le Virgile magicien’, Folia Electronica Classica 33 (2017); N. Abdelouahab, ‘Une nouvelle mosaïque à scènes de cirque découverte en Algérie’, in: V. Blanc-Bijon et al. (edd.), L’homme et l’animal au Maghreb, de la préhistoire au Moyen Âge : explorations d’une relation complexe (2021), pp. 279–88.
Several important publications on athletic competitions by J.-P. Thuillier include: ‘Sport grec, spectacle romain?’, JRA 28 (2015), 568–73; ‘Les jeux romains: des origines sacrées au sport-business’, in: T. Hufschmid (ed.), Theaterbauten als Teil monumentaler Heiligtümer in den nordwestlichen Provinzen des Imperium Romanum (2016), pp. 13–23; ‘Scène de boxe sur un bas-relief inédit de Gaule Narbonnaise: réflexions sur le ceste romain’, JRA 32 (2019), 495–504.
Finally, research over the past decade has focused particularly on ancient audiences. First, there was the symposium Spectateurs grecs et romains: corps, régimes de présence, modalités d’attention, organised by E. Valette and S. Wyler in Paris in November 2016, with the papers published in 2023. The audience at the Roman circus is the focus of a monograph by S. Forichon (2020). Finally, we should mention the anthology co-edited by Bell, Berlan-Gallant and Forichon (2024). Other publications address a specific aspect of the topic: J.-P. Thuillier, ‘Circensia 3. Les supporters des factions du cirque romain’, REA 121 (2019), 455–61; S. Forichon, ‘Le comportement du prince lors des spectacles de la Rome impériale’, in: P. Le Doze (ed.), Le costume de Prince. Vivre et se conduire en souverain dans la Rome antique d’Auguste à Constantin (2021), pp. 391–412. Particular attention has been paid to the sensory perceptions and emotions of these audiences: S. Forichon, ‘Essai de restitution des paysages olfactifs des édifices de spectacles de la Rome ancienne’, in: V. Mehl and L. Péaud (edd.), Paysages sensoriels: approches pluridisciplinaires (2019), pp. 147–57; idem, ‘Étude de quelques cas d’émotions de foule lors des spectacles de l’Antiquité romaine’, in: D. Boquet, P. Nagy and L.L. Zanetti Domingues (edd.), Histoire des émotions collectives: Epistémologie, émergences, expériences (2022), pp. 109–32; and M. Vespa, ‘Fin de partie: les larmes des éléphants et la rupture du pacte ludique chez Pline, Histoire naturelle, VIII, 20–21’, Kentron 36 (2021), 157–82. In addition, there was a study day ‘Émotions fortes de spectateurs dans l’Antiquité gréco-romaine’, organised by A. Berlan-Gallant, S. Forichon, A.-S. Noel and P. Paré-Rey, at the Musée Lugdunum (May 2023). Finally, many scholars who work on Roman audiences have come together to prepare the project CHOROS (Caveae: Hiérarchisation et Organisation, à Rome et dans l’Occident romain, des publics des Spectacles) which received funding from the ANR (France) in June 2025 (https://choros.huma-num.fr/).
ENGLISH
On ancient sport and spectacle more broadly three important volumes appeared: T. Scanlon and A.R. Futrell (edd.), The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (2021); P. Christesen and C.H. Stocking (edd.), A Cultural History of Sport in Greco-Roman Antiquity (c. 800 bce –600 ce) (2022); and P.J. Miller, Sport. Antiquity and Its Legacy (2023) (cf. CR 74 [2024], 632–4). There were also a number of monographs that approach spectacles through a range of types of visual and material evidence: K.M.D. Dunbabin, Theater and Spectacle in the Art of the Roman Empire (2016); K. Cassibry, Destinations in Mind: Portraying Places on the Roman Empire’s Souvenirs (2021); M. Popkin, Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome (2022) (cf. CR 73 [2023], 654–6); and R. Morgan, Spectacle Benefaction and the Politics of Appreciation: Case Studies from Italy, Gallia Narbonensis and Africa Proconsularis (2025) (cf. CR 76 [2026], forthcoming). Synthetic articles in this area include: M.J. Carter and J. Edmondson, ‘Spectacle in Rome, Italy, and the Provinces’, in: C. Bruun and J. Edmondson (edd.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015), pp. 537–58; Edmondson, ‘The Spatial, Social and Political Landscape of Public Spectacle from Augustus to Severus Alexander’, in: M.L. Caldelli and C. Ricci (edd.), City of Encounters: Public Spaces and Social Interaction in Ancient Rome (2020), pp. 149–96; and J. Bartz, ‘A Measure of Economy? The Organisation of Public Games in the City of Rome and the Development of the Urban Cityscape’, in: A. Lopez Garcia (ed.), Running Rome and its Empire. The Places of Roman Governance (2023), pp. 251–69.
In work on arenas several important monographs were published: T. Wilmott and D. Gardner, The Roman Amphitheatre of Chester. Vol. 1: The Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology (2018); D.L. Bomgardner, The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre (20212) (cf. CR 72 [2022], 281–3); and A. Miączewska, Edicta munerum: Advertising and Promotion of Gladiatorial Games in Ancient Pompeii (2025) (cf. CR 76 [2026], 282–4). New article-length studies of arenas and combats include: J. Rossiter, ‘In ampitζatru Carthaginis: The Carthage Amphitheatre and Its Uses’, JRA 29 (2016), 239–58; D.L. Bomgardner, ‘Plotting a Course through the “Arab Spring”: Restudying the Sabratha Amphitheatre in the Context of those of Africa Proconsularis’, JRA 31 (2018), 859–75; M. Notarian, ‘An Urban Image in an Urbanized Landscape: Measuring the Visual Impact of Tibur’s Amphitheater’, JRA 37 (2024), 53–88; and M. Karambinis, ‘St. Demetrios, the Gladiatorial Combats, and the Stadium of Thessaloniki’, Hesperia 95 (2026), 143–66. In terms of the social, cultural and economic significance of the arena games J. Edmondson has published several studies of great importance: ‘Rituals of Reciprocity: Staging Gladiatorial munera in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses’, in: A. Keith and J. Edmondson (edd.), Roman Literary Cultures: Domestic Politics, Revolutionary Poetics, Civic Spectacle (2016), pp. 278–309; ‘Investing in Death: Gladiators as Investment and Currency in Late Republican Rome’, in: H. Beck, M. Jehne and J. Serrati (edd.), Money and Power in the Roman Republic (2016), pp. 37–52; and ‘The Linguistic Lure of the Arena in Apuleius’ Golden Ass’, in: L.L. Brice, A. Gatzke and M. Trundle (edd.), People and Institutions in the Roman Empire: Essays in Memory of Garrett G. Fagan (2020), pp. 160–82. Finally, there has been a critical surge of new work about the visual and material culture of gladiatorial games: K. Coleman, ‘Defeat in the Arena’, G&R 66 (2019), 1–36; J. Pearce, G. Speed and N.J. Cooper, ‘At Death’s Door: A Scene of Damnatio ad Bestias on a Key Handle from Leicester’, Britannia 52 (2021), 327–42; M.L. Popkin, ‘Roman Gladiator Knives: Objectification, Mascotting, and the Material Culture of Sport in Ancient Rome’, The Art Bulletin 105 (2023), 36–61; and G.J.C. Davis et al., ‘Gladiators at Roman Colchester: Re-Interpreting the Colchester Vase’, Britannia 55 (2024), 3–24.
On the Roman theatre, a long-awaited monograph on the buildings’ afterlives has appeared: G.A. Mahler, Monumental Transformations: Reuse, Adaptation and the Evolution of Rome’s Theaters after Antiquity (2024). A highly valuable study on theatre seating by F. Sear is of special note: ‘Discrimina ordinum in Theatres. The Archaeological Evidence’, in: M. Eisenberg and A. Ovadiah (edd.), Cornucopia. Studies in honor of Arthur Segal (2019), pp. 31–46. Other work of interest includes: J.K. Tan, ‘The Ambitions of Scipio Nasica and the Destruction of the Stone Theatre’, Antichthon 50 (2016), 70–9; G. Pavlovski, ‘Designing the Cavea of the Theatre at Stobi’, JRA 31 (2018), 406–25; M. Erasmo, ‘The Theatre of Pompey: Staging the Self through Roman Architecture’, MAAR 65 (2020), 43–69; and F. Muecke, ‘The Fama of the Theatre of Pompey between Antiquity and Antiquarianism’, Antichthon 57 (2023), 158–80.
On the Roman circus, see the unusual structure analysed by A.A. Ostrasz and I. Kehrberg-Ostrasz, The Hippodrome of Gerasa: A Provincial Roman Circus (2020). For a recent overview of the state of the field on circus studies (with full bibliography) see: S.W. Bell, ‘Horse-Racing in Imperial Rome: Athletic Competition, Equine Performance, and Urban Spectacle’, in: S.W. Bell, C. Jaser and C. Mann (edd.), The Running Centaur: Horse-Racing in Global-Historical Perspective (2021), pp. 28–77. Finally, on the visual and epigraphic evidence related to chariot racing, see M.L. Popkin, ‘Representing the Circus Maximus Outside Italy: Images between Popular Culture and Politics’, MAAR 69 (2024), 300–53; P.L. Tucci, ‘The Forgotten Graffiti of the Templum Pacis in Rome’, Archäologischer Anzeiger (2024), 1–34; and S.W. Bell and F. Dövener, ‘Foreign Entertainers in the Roman Empire: African Charioteers in the Visual and Epigraphic Record’, in: C. Ricci and D. Massimo (edd.), City of Foreigners: Archaeological and Epigraphic Perspectives on Ancient Rome (2025) [2026], pp. 95–141.
CONCLUSION
Overall, scientific publications over the last decade have been characterised by a shift away from an exclusively monumental view of entertainment buildings in favour of an interpretation that considers them as central spaces of social, political and cultural interaction. Despite the different languages according to which this Profile is organised, a substantial consonance and similar research developments emerge. The various forms of entertainment – from gladiatorial combat to theatre, from chariot races to athletic competitions – are now analysed as integral components of Roman public life, capable of reflecting values, hierarchies and collective identities. This interdisciplinary approach represents one of the most significant contributions of recent studies to the understanding of entertainment culture in the ancient world and paves the way for promising future research.
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