The Gladiatorial Tale Of Aesius Proculus

Aesius Proculus, according to the Roman biographer Suetonius (c. 70-130+), was a handsome man of giant stature who lived during the reign of Caligula (r. 37-41). He came from a prominent military family that was on the verge of entering the equestrian order, which was one step below the senatorial class. Aesius Proculus apparently was a very popular man in Rome, and the masses often called him by the flattering nickname of Colosseros. The title, a combination of colossus (giant) and Eros (god of love), reportedly was a perfect reflection of the man’s physical appearance.

Unfortunately for Aesius Proculus, all of the praise that was heaped on him evidently inspired great feelings of hate and jealousy in Emperor Caligula, who was described by Suetonius as being a spindly, balding and sickly man. As the story goes, Caligula’s unstable emotions toward Aesius reached a breaking point during a gladiatorial game—in the middle of the show, and without any stated cause or warning, Aesius Proculus was suddenly arrested and dragged down to the arena.

With Aesius in custody, Caligula decided to punish the man without delay. At the time of the arrest, there were apparently two gladiators fit to fight at the venue. One was a lightly-armored fighter, possibly a gladiator in the Thracian (short sword and short shield) or Retiarius (net and trident) fashion. The other warrior was more heavily armored, possibly a Samnite-or Myrmillo-styled gladiator. It was these two gladiators that Aesius Proculus met when he was thrown into the arena.

Caligula next announced that there was to be a tournament in which Aesius Proculus would fight one gladiator and, if he survived the bout, he would then immediately battle against the other warrior. Hopefully, Caligula gave the captive a weapon, but Suetonius made no mention of the emperor giving the man any weapons or armor. Nonetheless, the so-called Colosseros, with his giant stature, well-built physique and military background, was likely a competent fighter with or without a weapon.

For the first match, Aesius Proculus came face to face with the lightly armored gladiator. Suetonius merely stated that Aesius won the battle, but it can be assumed that it was a fairly dominant victory, for, after the bout, Aesius was still healthy enough to take the fight to the second gladiator. To Caligula’s dismay, Aesius Proculus defeated the heavily armored gladiator, too, winning the emperor’s tournament.

As a reward for the victory, Caligula spared Aesius Proculus’ life—at least for the time being—and even threw him a parade and presented him with a special outfit to wear. These presents, however, were not meant to bring pleasure, for the items of clothes that Caligula gave to Aesius were only rags, and his victory procession through the city was meant to be as shameful and humiliating as possible. Sadly, at the end of the grim parade, Caligula reportedly sentenced Aesius Proculus to a public execution, which was summarily enforced.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Selection of Gladiators from the Zliten mosaic, c. 200 CE, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, translated by Robert Graves and edited by James B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2007.
• https://www.ancient.eu/gladiator/  

The Ominously Smashing Amphitheatre Of Atilius In Fidenae

In the year 27, around the time Emperor Tiberius decided to leave Rome in order to spend the rest of his reign in isolation, an enterprising former-slave by the name of Atilius launched his plan to make a fortune by profiting from the insatiable Roman appetite for entertainment. The infamous result of his scheme was notable enough to be mentioned by the historians, Tacitus (c. 56-117) and Suetonius (c. 69-122).

Atilius’ plan, according to Tacitus, was to make as much money as he could by entertaining the Roman population, while at the same time minimizing his business expenses as much as possible. With this in mind, he began constructing an amphitheatre in the town of Fidenae, located a short distance to the north of Rome. Atilius obtained a full docket of gladiators and pressured for the arena to be completed with utmost speed so that he could start making money.

In this greedy frame of mind, Atilius encouraged his builders to cut corners, exchanging safety for haste. For his first error, he did not lay a sturdy foundation for his amphitheatre. Instead, he started building on uncertain ground. The amphitheatre, itself, was built of wood—which was not uncommon—but, once again, speed of construction was emphasized over quality. Despite the questionable assembly of the haphazardly made structure, Atilius’ amphitheatre must have looked convincingly presentable once it was completed. After running a laudable advertising campaign, his opening gladiatorial show managed to attract the attention of tens-of-thousands of spectators.

The Roman population must have either been ignorant of Atilius’ construction methods, or simply did not care, for on the day of the grand opening, endless masses of Romans arrived at Fidenae to see the show. Thousands upon thousands of spectators shuffled into the rickety wooden amphitheatre to find their splintery seats. Just as he had dreamed, Atilius achieved a full house on his opening day, packing men, women and children into his cheaply made venue. There is no telling how long the show actually lasted. Hopefully, the unsuspecting onlookers received some enjoyment before tragedy brought the gladiatorial games crashing to an end.

Although Atilius’ amphitheatre had enough enticing aesthetics to lure tens of thousands of people inside, it was not adequately built to handle the weight of so many people. Eventually, the creaking of the wood gave way to loud cracks, and the cheering of the crowds turned into screams. While the structure was fully packed, the amphitheatre suffered a total collapse, crushing and trapping thousands of people in the rubble. Many of those who did not die instantly during the collapse, later succumbed to their injuries during the days it took to excavate the survivors from the debris. The casualties resulting from the incident were enormous—Suetonius claimed 20,000 people died in the collapse, but Tacitus raised the number to 50,000. Ironically, Atilius was not among the injured.

According to Tacitus, the incident inspired an outpouring of good will from the leading Roman citizens. The wealthy were said to have opened up their villas to provide shelter to the injured. Medical aid, as well as food and drink, was also donated in great abundance to those affected by the catastrophe. The Roman Senate, too, did their part in the aftermath of the tragedy. They hunted down Atilius and sentenced him to exile. Finally, to prevent future deaths, the Senate also imposed heavy regulations on the entertainment industry.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Roman amphitheatre painted by Viviano Codazzi (1604-1670) and Domenico Gargiulo (1609-1675), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant. New York: Penguin Classics, 1996. 
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Tiberius*.html#40 
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/secondary/smigra*/amphitheatrum.html 
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/20304641?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents 
• https://gineersnow.com/engineering/design/destructive-structural-collapse-engineering-history 
• http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/59892 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suetonius 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tiberius