This workshop addresses the tensions arising between traditional public spectacles and the new values of a Christian society. Based on archaeological, epigraphical, and literary sources, it will include discussions of social, political and ideological aspects of the changing attitude towards the theatre and games. In particular it addresses the question of “intrinsic” vs. “circumstantial” factors both in the negative attitude toward and in the eventual disappearance of traditional spectacula. Was the Christian critique concerned with the essence of spectacularity (as recently argued by L. Lugaresi 2008), or was it to some extent a mere byproduct of the search for a specifically Christian identity (a view defended by Ruth Webb 2008 and Alan Cameron 2011)? Was the decline of the shows the result of the Christian critique, or did it largely have political or economic reasons? What are the factors that account for the persistence of the shows in the face of ongoing critique? The papers work from the assumption that it is necessary to look at spectacula as a cultural phenomenon in the widest sense, but also that new insights can come only from detailed case studies.
The single contributions focus on the following topics:
– the problem of truth vs. falsehood in theatrical performances (Leonardo Lugaresi, Italy: “Ratio veritatis. The new Christian perspective on theatre and theatricality in Tertullian's De spectaculis”)
– the secularisation of the shows, their flexibility and adaptability in terms of contents, and the theatre as “heterotopy”, i.e. a space for relaxation (Alexander Puk, Germany: “A success story – Why did the late ancient theatre continue?”)
– the impact of conventional literary strategies, in particular ekphrasis, on the shape of the arguments used in the debate concerning public shows (Karin Schlapbach, Canada: “Ekphrasis and the critique of spectacula: The case of Paulinus of Nola and his contemporaries)
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