From martyr to promoter: bishops and entertainment buildings during the Antiquity

Abstract

The public presentation of Christianity during antiquity had one of its most important stages in the ludic buildings, where the followers of Christ were executed in the framework of mass shows that sought the maximum possible cruelty. This paradoxically gave a halo of heroism to the martyrs who contributed to the expansion of the new religion. A salient part of these martyrs of the arenas were bishops and, after the Constantinian turn, their successors in the mitre became the 'lords of the amphitheatres', coinciding with the establishment of a new political, social and religious paradigm. From the late Roman Empire and in the final centuries of antiquity the bishop is no longer just a respected and influential religious leader, but also the new patronus, manager and ultimate chairman of many late-antique cities, and as such he had to decide between maintenance or the dismantling of public buildings that remained neglected by the curials since the crisis of the 3rd century. Thus, It is documented how under episcopal mandate some of the battered public infrastructures were transformed, both architecturally and symbolically, through the erection of Christian edilice. By their symbolism as old martyrdom scenes, the spectacle buildings were obviously paradigmatic places of this urban transformation.