Imperialism and Identities at the Edges of the Roman World

28
Marko A. Jankov|c
Department of Archaeology
Faculty of Philosophy
University of Belgrade
Belgrade, Serbia
Among the ear||est names of g|ad|ator|a| combatants, ethnon|ms ||ke Ga||us, Samn|s and
Thraex are noted. Some of them, ||ke Thraex, rema|ned |n use unt|| the end of the Roman
era, and some of them were probab|y changed at the t|me of Augustus, when some other
terms ||ke myrm|||o, secutor or provocator took p|ace |nstead of the o|d ones. On the
other s|de, some other ethnon|ms re|ated to g|ad|ator|a| spectac|es were used |nd|rect|y,
such as |udus Dac|cus. The part|c|pat|on of war pr|soners from the fr|nges of the Roman
wor|d |n the Roman arenas -Jews, Dac|ans, Germans or Nub|ans, was very common
|n the po||t|ca| propaganda of the Roman lmper|a| power. Myr|ads of d|fferent peop|e
(and an|ma|s} from a|| over the wor|d were d|sp|ayed |n arenas to announce the Roman
strength and power over the rest of the wor|d. But, some of the c|ass|ca| texts test|fy
that the Thracian, Celtic or Dacian gladiators had little to do with the real image of the
Thrac|an, Oe|t|c and Dac|an warr|ors. The|r equ|pment, f|ght|ng sty|e, and even the|r ethn|c
or|g|ns were s|mp|y d|d not match the|r own percept|on, and |t was more an |mag|ned
Other than the rea| one. Neverthe|ess, those ethnon|ms were d|sp|ayed regu|ar|y |n the
Roman arenas, perform|ng |mag|ned ethn|c|t|es for the crowds. The quest|on |s how those
gladiators performed their roles in provincial contexts, where the Thracians, Dacians or
Oe|ts actua||y ||ved. ls that the rea| reason why the o|d ethnon|ms were rep|aced w|th more
neutra| terms - secutores, myrm|||o or provocatores?
Keywords: Ethn|c|ty, Romans, g|ad|ators, prov|nces, lmper|a||sm
Performing ethnicities:
ethnonims in gladiatorial spectacles