A glória atlética entre o desejo e a censura: spectaculum, conflito urbano e representação corporal do auriga na África Romana (Séc. III-IV)

Abstract

In the present study, we aim to compare socially constructed discourses and functions related to the body in the Roman ciuitates of Carthage and Hadrumetum, both from the North of Africa, during the third and fourth centuries. That is because we understand that the body is shaped by speeches and practices under historical, social and cultural contexts, in which the individual is inserted. Thus, the body serves as a mediator as well as an instrument of action and social practices – an object around which the cultural meanings of a society are organized. In the complex daily life of urban communities from the Ancient Mediterranean world, we believe that several of these speeches competed for legitimacy and, consequently, for establishing their language and power. This struggle is also related to construction, use and form of corporal dimension. Therefore, the present study intends to analyze two concomitant speeches – the traditional Roman urban identity, so-called pagan speech, and the opposing, contestatory and incipient, paleo-Christian speech. During our investigation, we looked into the sociocultural aspects of racing between aurigas and their horses in circuses and hippodromes, which will lead to the covetousness of victorious human characteristics and attributes among sports teams (factiones) and the resulting conflicts and social disorders. Concerning this first aspect of manifestation of the pagan identity, we studied the magical intervention inscribed in curse tablets, as one of the mechanisms used to reinstate the order in the city. However, in order to elucidate the constitution of the early Christian identity, we investigated the disciplinary work De spectaculis (On the Shows), written circa 202-206, by the apologist Tertullian (approx. 160-225). This work, in our view, expressed a counterpoint in relation to male athletic body by rejecting it. One of the reasons for this is based on its relation with public spectacles. In order to answer putative questions raised by the study object and hypothesis chosen here in the most satisfying way possible, the theoretical tools we used are mainly related to the concept of representation, from Roger Chartier, along with the perspective of identity, space and everyday life. These, in turn, are related to the body, leisure and city. We made sure to correlate these concepts with social conflict, speech and magic in order to facilitate the comprehension of the issues proposed. Seeking harmony between our theoretical option and our historical e archaeological corpora, we‘ve adopted a critical textual examination of the Content Analysis following the method proposed by Laurence Bardin