De spectaculis

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De spectaculis (Latin about the plays [performed in the theater, circus etc.] ) is a script written in Latin by the church father Tertullian at the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century AD . Tertullian subjects the plays, which played a central role in the public cultural life of the Roman Empire , to a critique from a Christian perspective. His insistence on the moral demands of Christianity goes as far as fanaticism. His language is lively, drastic, pathetic and sarcastic, and does not remain free from polemical swipes and sophistic subtleties.

Structure and content

The text is divided into 30 chapters, the main topics of which change several times:

  • Classification and description of the spectacula ( chariot races ( ludi circenses ), stage performances ( scaenicae res ), competition ( agon ), gladiatorial fight ( munus )), combined with their criticism
  • moral and other shortcomings of the pagans, especially in relation to the spectacula
  • Reasons for the Christian to avoid the spectacula
  • Praise to Christianity

Chariot racing ( ludi circenses )

In Chapters 5 and 6 Tertullian carries information about the development of games from the mortuary cult of the Etruscans and the Roman festivals such Liberalia and Consualia together. He invokes Suetonius and Timaeus of Tauromenion . In Chapter 16, on the other hand, he gives a vivid description of the noisy and raging spectators. Even this hateful frenzy is a reason for Christians to avoid the circus .

Stage performances ( scaenicae res )

The stage performance , the theater, is connected in Chapter 10 only with ebrietas et libido , drunkenness and lust. In chapter 17 he mentions the atellane , a rough, peasant farce, and finds reproachful words against pantomime, which in Augustan times had developed into the main form of sophisticated stage recitation for an educated audience. In chapter 23, the actors are attacked again for their falsehood and forgeries: the Christian cannot bear the pretense of an affect, a different sex, even a different body size by the Kothurn . In chapter 27 some positive traits of the stage literature are reluctantly recognized (euphony, linguistic harmony), but this is immediately declared to be the seductive cover-up of the danger by the devil.

Competition ( agon )

In Chapter 11, Tertullian mentions the Olympic competitions for Jupiter , the Capitoline competitions and the Nemean Games for Hercules . With this relationship with pagan gods, they are unacceptable to the Christian. Chapter 18 then describes the cruelty and unworthiness of the fight, with the disfigurement of the human face, i.e. H. of the image of God.

Gladiator fight ( munus )

As with the chariot races, Tertullian also refers to the gladiatorial fights that they came from the cult of the dead (Chapter 12). He describes the fights and human sacrifices at the grave of a deceased, which are also confirmed by other sources. Chapter 19 denounces the particular cruelty and nefariousness of these spectacula , who were the most famous and popular in the Roman world.

Reasons for the Christian to avoid the spectacula

All descriptions of the spectacula are given reasons for their rejection. In some chapters, however, Tertullian describes their general reprehensibility. In chapter 14 he traces the visit of all spectacula back to the addiction to pleasure (voluptas) . In Chapter 15, he is once again the aspects of idolatry (idolatria) together, which is the main reason for him with all forms of the play that the Christian should avoid any contact with it perishable. Chapter 22 is more of a mocking aside, in which he accuses the Gentiles of loving the actors of the drama, indeed, of worshiping them, but of denying them civil rights.

Then at the end of the scriptures in chapter 29 the true joys of Christians in contemplating Christian truth and fiction are shown, while the heathen in chapter 30 a terrible day of judgment is painted in vivid colors and threatened.

Tradition and survival

De spectaculis is the first comprehensive treatment of the games by a church father . Later Church Doctors made use of the polemics that had accumulated there. However, direct influence can only be demonstrated for the contemporary church writers Cyprian of Carthage and Novatian .

In the 16th century the work was edited several times. a. by Sigismund Gelenius and Jacobus Pamelius . Eligius Dekkers used these editions and some manuscripts for his 1954 edition . In 1988 Karl-Wilhelm Weeber created an annotated edition with a translation into German.

Text editions and translations

  • Eligius Dekkers: QS Fl. Tertulliani de spectaculis , Turnholt 1954.
  • Karl Adam Heinrich Kellner: About the plays in Tertullian's complete writings , Cologne 1882.
  • Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , Stuttgart 1988

literature

  • Andreas Bigelmair : The Participation of Christians in Public Life in the Pre- Constantine Period , Aalen 1970.
  • Christine Schnusenberg: The relationship between church and theater. Shown in selected writings by the church fathers and liturgical texts except for Amalarius von Metz (ad 775–852). Lang (EHS series XXIII (Theology) Volume 141), Bern, Frankfurt, Las Vegas 1981.
  • Werner Weismann: Church and Drama , Würzburg 1972

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , Afterword, p. 112
  2. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , Afterword, pp. 118f
  3. ↑ Werner Weismann: Church and Drama , p. 42
  4. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , note 198
  5. ↑ Andreas Bigelmair: The participation of Christians in public life in pre-Constantine times , p. 257
  6. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , note 115
  7. ↑ Andreas Bigelmair: The participation of Christians in public life in pre-Constantine times , p. 267
  8. ↑ Andreas Bigelmair: The participation of Christians in public life in pre-Constantine times , p. 273
  9. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: De spectaculis, About the Games , Afterword, p. 113
  10. ↑ Werner Weismann: Church and Drama , Die Quellenfrage, S. 203ff