Ludi and Factiones as Organizations of Performers

Major performers in Roman spectacle entertainments (animal hunters, gladiators, and charioteers) were not independent contractors but members of organizations with far-reaching influence in social, political, and economic activities. Indeed, these empire-wide organizations shaped distinctive identities for performers and fans alike. Analysis of these affiliations’ personnel reveals that the hunters, venatores, had regional collectives that not only recruited, trained, and provided performers but also engaged in lucrative trade of commodities from Roman Africa. The gladiatorial ludi and familiae similarly prepared combat specialists for local, provincial, and imperial munera. The four circus factions, largest and most complex, maintained thousands of employees in an empire-wide presence, acquiring and training racehorses and charioteers for the stabulae factionum in major Roman cities. This efficiency and well-established structure enabled them to take charge after third-century changes made the factions responsible for providing the performers for all spectacular entertainments across the late Roman empire.

Presbyters Serving as Pastors in Roman Africa

Presbyters served as individual pastors for rural congregations or at a regional church in the city of Carthage or another city, such as Sufetula, that had multiple churches and congregations. Twenty such presbyters can be identified by name or location. A presbyter or group of presbyters also might serve as a substitute for a bishop who was travelling, disabled, or between the death of one bishop and consecration of a successor. One such presbyter (Heraclius of Hippo) can be identified as long-term administrator for Augustine. Augustine’s correspondence and the legislation of the African bishops—usually on disciplinary issues—provides most of the information about presbyters serving as pastors. The legislation of the African church restricted the authority of these presbyters to baptize and to perform other actions that changed the status of a member of the congregation: admit penitents to communion apart from emergencies, to consecrate virgins. Although the legislation referred to the presbyter as praepositus, the person placed in charge, presbyteral pastors acted under the supervision of the bishop.

Une théorie résurgente : l’africitas

Summary:The africitas theory, for which Einar Löfstedt wrote in 1959 that: “it constituted only merely a historical significance”, nevertheless enjoys currently a militant resurgence, in particular clarified from a rereading of Apuleius.Our communication aims to achieve two objectives: 1) To attempt, with the insight of over a century, an update, taking into account the scientific, historical, linguistic achievement involved in the establishment of this theory: nature of the corpus; research methods; regional diversification of Latin; linguistic state of roman Africa; sermo cotidianus and cultural languages; ideological presuppositions. 2) To evaluate the theoretical and methodological relevance of the theses supported by the contemporary supporters of a revivified africitas.

Punic

This chapter focuses on the Punic literature of the Roman imperial period. Since Punic works have not survived from either the Punic city or the Roman city, investigations on Punic literature can only be based on indirect testimonies—including Neo-Punic epigraphy, a temporary survival of the Neo-Punic language and writing, and fragments in translation attributed to Mago the agronomist—or on a cautious assessment of the cultural mood in the Punic city and the role the neighbouring Numidian population may have played in the conservation of the Punic literary output. From this viewpoint, the fate meted out in 146 bce, just after the fall of Carthage, by the Roman Senate to the Agronomic Treatise written by Mago in Punic and to the libri Punici most probably written in Greek is worth special attention because these works could have been one of the stimuli for the Graeco-Latin literature that flourished in Roman Africa right up to the late imperial period. As for other writings in Punic, kept in the archives of Carthage in Punic times, they probably served primarily to preserve traditional knowledge. The contents and the long and turbulent history of the handwritten archives assembled much later in Timbuktu and elsewhere in Mali provide a glimpse into the diversity of topics treated in the Punic language and writing by Carthaginians who lived before 146 bce. As for the Roman city, there is nothing tangible that would support the idea of a ‘renaissance’ in Punic literary output.