Staged sham fight

1 passages · search this phrase →

Often appears with: theatre and performance · roman triumph · honor, shame, and reputation · greek flute-players · genthius · conquest, plunder, and captives

Usually: narrative (1) · the fall of the great (1) · detachment (1) · humor (1)

The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 2 (of 2) primary

Polybius · 2nd century BCE (composition of the Histories); this volume contains Books X–XXXIX
Chapter 59 in Book VI.: > BOOK XXX (10/12)

During Lucius Anicius Gallus’s Roman triumph after taking Genthius, Polybius describes a ridiculous staged performance with Greek flute-players, sham fighting, and boxing amid musical contests.

[Sidenote: A scene in a Roman theatre.] +14.+ Lucius Anicius, who had been praetor, after his victory over the Illyrians, and on bringing Genthius prisoner to Rome with his children, while celebrating his triumph, did a very ridiculous thing. He sent for the most famous artists from Greece, and having constructed an immense theatre in the circus, he brought all the flute-players on the stage together first. Their na…