Lyon amphitheater

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Amphitheater of Lyon ( Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules )
place Lugdunum
( Gallia lugdunensis )
date 10–15 AD
External dimension 81 m × 60 m
extended to 105 m × 80 m
arena 67.6 m × 42 m
spectator 3,000 places
expanded to 26,000 places
renovation about 130 AD
Monument protection Monument historique (1961)
location
Coordinates: 45 ° 46 ′ 14 "  N , 4 ° 49 ′ 50"  E
Map: France
marker
Lyon​
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France

The amphitheater of Lyon (French Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules , German Amphitheater of the Three Gaul ), in Lugdunum (today's Lyon ) is a Roman amphitheater and in ancient times was part of the "Federal Shrine of the Three Gallic Provinces" ( Ara trium Galliarum ). The sanctuary was used for the veneration of the Roma and Augustus by the Gallic tribes, who were organized in three provinces ( Gallia Belgica , Gallia Aquitania , Gallia Lugdunensis ) and whose central place was Lugdunum. The building was probably built in the second decade of the 1st century AD and, together with the facilities of Ucubi and Emerita Augusta, is one of the oldest amphitheatres outside of today's Italy. Originally a comparatively small building, which was primarily intended for the upper class and the delegates of the Gallic tribes, it was expanded in the middle of the 2nd century into a significantly larger complex that offered space for the entire city population. The amphitheater is at the foot of the hill of La Croix-Rousse , where the rivers Rhône and Saône converged in ancient times .

First construction phase

Establishment

In February 1958, during the first professional excavations at the amphitheater, a building inscription was found, which was probably originally placed above an entrance to the building and consisted of three large limestone blocks . Of these, the two on the right have been preserved because they were reused to cover a fountain after the amphitheater was abandoned; but they themselves have broken through in the middle. The blocks have dimensions of 1.78 m × 80 cm × 27 cm; the letter height is 10-15 cm. The either still available or accessible text reads (reproduced according to the Leiden bracket system ): "[Pro salut] e Ti (beri) Caesaris Aug (usti) amphitheatr (um) / [--- cum] podio C (aius) Iul ( ius) C (ai) f (ilius) Rufus sacerdos Rom (ae) et Aug (usti) / [---] filii f (ilius) et nepos ex civitate Santon (um) d (e) s (ua) p ( ecunia) fecerunt ". This can be translated roughly as follows (by hiding the ambiguities by the missing third): “In honor of Tiberius Caesar Augustus , Gaius Iulius Rufus, son of Gaius, priest of the Roma and Augustus, and his son and his grandson, have members of the citizenship ( Civitas ) of the Santonen , the amphitheater with podium built at their own expense. "

The preserved blocks of the building inscription, today in the Musée gallo-romain in Lyon

Gaius Julius Rufus seems an old Gallic aristocratic family from Saintes to come, by a member of the Julian Imperial House the Roman civil rights had gained (and hence the praenomen Gaius and the noun gentile Iulius accepted). The inscription was related to the inscription on the Arch of Germanicus in Saintes, which Gaius Iulius Rufus had erected in the years AD 18-19. The unusual formulation "filii f (ilius)" ("son of the son") probably arises from the wish to refer to the ancestral line that goes back a long way, which is also emphasized in an inscription on the Germanicus arch. The construction of the amphitheater is often dated to the same year in which the Germanicus Arch was built. Ultimately, however, there is no evidence that the Gallo-Roman nobleman also officiated as high priest of the three Gallic provinces in Lugdunum in the same year in which he had the arch of honor erected. Louis Maurin therefore suggests that the amphitheater should be dated a little earlier, around the years 10–15 AD.

Structure and use

The amphitheater was used for the games that accompanied the imperial cult. Its comparatively small capacity of around 3,000 seats in its original form is explained by the fact that it was not mainly designed for the entertainment of a large urban population, but above all for the delegations of the 60 Gallic districts ( civitates ). The excavations have uncovered a basement formed by three elliptical walls connected by transverse walls and a canal that surrounds the oval of the central arena. Since the terrain is slightly inclined, the south side of the building was supported by an arch, which has now disappeared. The size of the arena, i.e. the inner area used for the fights (67.6 m × 42 m), corresponds to the comparable buildings in Nîmes or Arles . Due to the reduced number of rows of benches (apparently four tiers), the external dimensions (81 m × 101 m) of the facility in Lugdunum are, however, well below those of Nîmes (133 m × 101 m).

The amphitheater also appears in the literary sources of the first and early second centuries AD: Suetonius mentions in his biography of the emperor Caligula games that he held in Lugdunum and that included various sporting and intellectual disciplines. Tacitus reports in his histories of an insurgent named Mariccus , who wanted to restore the freedom of Gaul from the Romans during the Four Emperor's year 69 AD, but was then killed by Emperor Vitellius in the arena (although the wild animals are said not to have touched him so that an execution was necessary).

Second construction phase

Expansion in the 2nd century

Walls of the basement

The amphitheater was significantly expanded in the first half of the 2nd century, so that the original structure was only the substructure for a new arena. An attempt to date this expansion was made by Jules Guey in the excavation report of the first campaigns. It refers to an inscription fragment found near the building complex in 1957, on which, apart from the rest of a D, only the letters "... AE LIGN ..." can be seen. Guey adds it to " [Curator Vi] ae Lignariae Triumphalis ", the official designation for a representative for a public street that cannot be precisely determined ( Curator Viae ). The only known holder of this office was Gaius Iulius Celsus, who a few years later (between 130 and 136 AD) was the governor of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis; According to Jules Guey, he had the amphitheater expanded during his tenure and also listed the office in the building inscription placed on it as part of his Cursus honorum , the remains of which can be read on the remaining stone. Maria Letizia Caldelli, on the other hand, does not see a list of a senatorial career in the inscription, but the tombstone of a woman named " [...] a Lign [...] ", and interprets the D as the remainder of the tombstone formula Dis Manibus . But she, too, thinks it likely that the building was expanded under Hadrian , i.e. between 117 and 138, because this emperor had the federal sanctuary of the Three Gaul expanded and his name may be found on an inscription from the amphitheater itself (see below in the Findings section ).

As part of this expansion, the old theater was expanded by two tiers, which increased the external dimensions to 105 m × 80 m, which, however, remained modest compared to Nîmes or Arles.

Further use

This renovation increased the capacity to 26,000 seats, creating a building that could accommodate the population of Lugdunum and the surrounding area.

An alleged letter from the Christians from Lugdunum to their fellow believers in Asia and Phrygia , which is passed down by the late antique church historian Eusebius of Caesarea and which is said to date from the summer of the year 177 AD, reports on the torture of four martyrs who came to the 47 so-called martyrs of Lyons are counted. Specifically, they are Maturus , Sanctus , Blandina and Attalus . Pothinus , the first recorded bishop of Lyons , may also have suffered martyrdom at this time; in his case, however, the type of death has not been passed down.

Finds

As part of the planned excavations, some of them even before that in the 19th century, various small stone or metal finds, some coins and various inscriptions were unearthed in the amphitheater. Most of the epigraphic finds, namely a total of 18 as of 2007, are stone tablets that were placed above individual seats in order to reserve them for certain people. Most of them have only survived in very fragments and cannot be safely supplemented. Therefore, dating in one of the two construction phases is often not possible. According to the surviving remains, some places belonged to the Augustales , others to representatives of certain Gallic tribes such as the Arverni , Tricassen and Biturigen , and still others to wholesalers from Macedonia or individuals. This reflects the use of the amphitheater, which as part of the federal sanctuary was a project of overall Gaulish importance and of course also integrated into the rest of the Roman world.

Block of stone with inscribed reservations for four seats; the left seat (" ARV ") is reserved for the Arvernern , the three remaining seats (" BIT C ") are reserved for the Bituriges Cubi

One of the personal reservation inscriptions is ascribed to the builder of the amphitheater, Gaius Iulius Rufus (only the letters " C (aius) IV (lius) " have survived ), another possibly to the Emperor Hadrian , who was in Lugdunum and the impetus for the expansion of the amphitheater (but only the letters " NVS " are preserved here , with which in principle almost any Roman name can be added).

Post-ancient history

Beginning of an information stele

After his abandonment, the theater became a quarry. A plan from the 16th century shows some arches and a depression (the arena), which was called the basket of the desert (French: corbeille de la déserte ).

The first excavations between 1818 and 1820 exposed the area around the arena, but the area was subsequently filled in again. The southern part of the complex was destroyed in the course of urbanization in the 19th century. Serious excavations began in 1956, the first results of which were presented in 1962. Further excavations took place in 1966–1967, 1971–1972 and 1976–1978. These investigations made more precise architectural investigations possible, but only the plinth structures of two to three steps of the podium have been preserved, and even that only on about half of the original building area. On the north side, an entrance leads through the rows of seats, some of the side walls of which are still standing. These remains were integrated into the Jardin des plantes and can be visited. No further excavations took place after the end of the 1970s, only a few new inscriptions were found and published.

The remains of the facility in Lyon were declared a monument historique on November 27, 1961 . On the occasion of a visit by Pope John Paul II in 1986, a wooden memorial column was erected in the center of the amphitheater as a reminder of the ancient persecution of Christians located there.

literature

Excavation reports

  • Jules Guey, Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. Report préliminaire aux fouilles (Première partie). In: Gallia . Volume 20, Issue 1, 1962, pp. 117-145 ( online ).
  • Jules Guey, Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. Report préliminaire aux fouilles (deuxième partie). In: Gallia. Volume 21, Issue 1, 1963, pp. 125-154 ( online ).
  • Jules Guey, Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. Rapport préliminaire aux fouilles (Supplement: inscriptions, monnaies). In: Gallia. Volume 22, Issue 1, 1964, pp. 37-61 ( online ).
  • Amable Audin, Marcel Le Glay: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. Première campagne de fouilles. In: Gallia. Volume 28, Issue 1, 1970, pp. 67-89 ( online ).
  • Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. Nouvelles campagnes de fouilles (1971–1972, 1976–1978). In: Gallia. Volume 37, Issue 1, 1979, pp. 85-100 ( online ).

Other literature

  • André Pelletier, André Blanc, Pierre Broise, Jean Prieur: Histoire et Archeologie de la France ancienne, Rhône Alpes. Éditions Horvath, Le Coteau 1988, ISBN 2-7171-0561-1 .
  • FR Cottin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules et le couvent de la Déserte. In: Mélanges d'archéologie offerts par ses amis à Amable Audin in memoriam. Association des amis du musée de la Civilization gallo-romaine de Lyon, Lyon 1990, pp. 87-102.
  • Pierre Gros: La France gallo-romaine. Nathan, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-09-284376-1 .
  • Maria Letizia Caldelli: Inscriptions sur les gradins et fragments du mur du podium de l'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave Glotz. Volume 12, 2001, pp. 275-286 ( online ).
  • Anne-Catherine Le Mer, Claire Chomer: Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Volume 69/2: Lyon. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres u. a., Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-87754-099-5 , pp. 288–296, No. 48 * (extensive and up-to-date description of the building findings and the inscriptions and other finds, with further references).

Web links

Commons : Amphitheater of Lyon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The blocks were published in AE 1959, 78 and AE 1959, 81 ; compare the complete treatment in Pierre Wuilleumier: Inscriptions latines des Trois Gaules (France) (= Gallia . Supplement-Volume 17). Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1963, pp. 79 f., No. 217. A more recent study can be found in: Cinzia Vismara, Maria Letizia Caldelli: Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell'Occidente Romano. Volume 5: Alpes Maritimae, Gallia Narbonensis, Tres Galliae, Germaniae, Britannia (= Vetera. Volume 14). Quasar, Rome 2000, ISBN 88-7140-191-3 , pp. 117–119 No. 75. See also the entry for the inscription and a photograph in the Heidelberg Epigraphic Database .
  2. ↑ See L'Année épigraphique 1961, p. 13 No. 62. For further speculations about the significance of this passage, see L'Année épigraphique 2011, p. 47 f. # 56.
  3. ^ Louis Maurin: Inscriptions latines d'Aquitaine (ILA): Santons. Center Pierre Paris, Bordeaux 1994, pp. 79-95 No. 7 (here p. 95).
  4. ^ A b c Anne-Catherine Le Mer, Claire Chomer: Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Volume 69/2: Lyon. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres u. a., Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-87754-099-5 , p. 289.
  5. ↑ Sueton, Caius 20. Juvenal mentions the speech competitions founded in this context in his satires (1.43 f.); They probably did not take place in the amphitheater, but at the altar itself.
  6. ↑ Tacitus, Historiae 2,61. See also Arthur Stein : Mariccus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 2, Stuttgart 1930, column 1755.
  7. ↑ AE 1964, 49 (the epigraphic database linked here offers very careless additions).
  8. ↑ On the Curator Viae Lignariae Triumphalis see Marcus Nenninger: The Romans and the Forest. Investigations into dealing with a natural area using the example of the Roman north-west provinces (= Geographica Historica. Volume 16). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07398-1 , p. 52 ( Google Books ).
  9. ↑ Jules Guey, Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre the Three Gauls à Lyon. Rapport préliminaire aux fouilles (Supplement: inscriptions, monnaies). In: Gallia. Volume 22, Issue 1, 1964, pp. 37-61 ( online ).
  10. ^ Cinzia Vismara, Maria Letizia Caldelli: Epigrafia anfiteatrale dell'Occidente Romano. Volume 5: Alpes Maritimae, Gallia Narbonensis, Tres Galliae, Germaniae, Britannia (= Vetera. Volume 14). Quasar, Rome 2000, ISBN 88-7140-191-3 , p. 23.
  11. ^ Eusebius, Kirchengeschichte 5, 1, 36–45 ( online ).
  12. ^ Eusebius, Kirchengeschichte 5, 5, 8 ( online ).
  13. ^ Anne-Catherine Le Mer, Claire Chomer: Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Volume 69/2: Lyon. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres u. a., Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-87754-099-5 , p. 294.
  14. ↑ CIL XIII, 1667 (inscriptions e and g).
  15. ↑ CIL XIII, 1667 (inscriptions a and c); CIL XIII, 2044 ; AE 2000,938 ; AE 2000,939 ; Inscriptions Latines des Trois Gaules No. 216a ; Carte archéologique de la Gaule 69/2, p. 295 .
  16. ↑ AE 2000, 940
  17. ↑ CIL XIII, 1667 (inscription i). See: Jules Guey, Amable Audin: L'amphithéâtre des Trois-Gaules à Lyon. Rapport préliminaire aux fouilles (Supplement: inscriptions, monnaies). In: Gallia. Volume 22, Issue 1, 1964, pp. 37-61, here p. 52 ( online ).
  18. ↑ AE 2000, 944 . Edited for the first time with illustration in: Maria Letizia Caldelli: Inscriptions sur les gradins et fragments du mur du podium de l'amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules à Lyon. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave Glotz. Volume 12, 2001, pp. 275-286, here pp. 277 f. and p. 286 ( online; the photo is missing in the digital version ).
  19. ↑ Entry No. PA00117781 in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French).