The Cost of Gladiatorial Events in the Black Sea (original) (raw)

Gladiatorial shows were complex events, requiring elaborate preparations and costs that could bankrupt the publishers.1 A good example, in this case, is Caesar, exaggerated so much in the organization of the shows that he accumulated huge debts.2 No documents are preserved that relate to the cost of organizing philotimia in the Roman Pontic provinces, Moesia Inferior, Thrace, Bithynia et Pontus, and Cappadocia. The inscriptions that do tell us about the gladiator fights do not specify any amount of money invested, but describe the event, noting that the performances were magnificent. This leads us to think that they required significant budgets. Such an event consists of a series of organizational aspects, each demanding substantial expenses and raising the cost of philotimia to considerable sums, being comparable to a fortune.3 In order to arrange a spectacle of gladiators, the organizer had to pass through certain stages. The first concern of an organizer was the acquisition of the μονομάχοι. In the second half of the 2 nd century AD, the lowest contract of a gladiator for participation in fights was between 1,000 and 3,000 sesterces. At the same time, a 1 st Class gladiator who participated in a show, whose budget ranged between 30,000 and 60,000 sesterces, could not be contracted with more than 5,000 sesterces. However, the price could increase to 15,000 sesterces if the show had a budget of 200,000 sesterces or more.4 There are instances in which the organizer of philotimia, in this case the great priests of the Imperial cult, pontarchs (magistrate and leader of the Pontic community, the Federation of Greek cities on the west coast of the Black Sea) and philotimoi, hired a φαμιλία μονομάχων from a lanista. The high priest of the Imperial cult, Marcus Antonius Rufus, pontarch in Neocaesarea5 in Bithynia et Pontus did the same thing. During the exercise of the priesthood, some had a φαμιλία, which they later sold to their successors in office.6 The cost of owning and maintaining a φαμιλία μονομάχων, including accommodation, food, auxiliary staff and many other needs of the gladiators, must have been quite large. On the other hand, renting one would have required much lower costs. Not all priests, especially those of small communities, could afford to rent a φαμιλία of gladiators and they certainly could not keep one during their term in the priesthood.7 In this case, the organizer uses the services of independent gladiators who went to fight wherever needed, such as the gladiator Flammeatis,8 a retiarius born in Pergamon who died in Philippopolis and Phylokynegos,9 or another retiarius, a native of Macedonia who died in Claudiopolis. No philotimia could consist only of gladiator fights. An equally important element in the economy of such an event was the hunting of wild animals, venationes, as well as the fights staged between animals and the display of exotic beasts. If the procurement of gladiators was affordable, especially if the pecuniary aspect of the philotimoi was not a problem, purchasing animals was a major problem. It required considerable effort, not necessarily financially, but depended on the relations to buy or capture the animals.