Colosseum’s Mimesis
Essay by Tam Tran
Essay Requirements can be read here.
Every person views and experiences a building differently. The past, present, and future of each particular building make it different and offer different ideas to that specific time frame. Changes in a building create a story and identity of that particular building. The context gives the building its significance and life. It holds and hopefully offers inspirations for the future.
A building such as the Flavian Amphitheater, or the Roman Colosseum, survived since the start of construction around 70 AD. With at least two thousand years of life, the Roman Colosseum tells a myriad of stories, transforms itself, and influences other designs.
The Roman Colosseum can be explored, told, and re-written in a new light through its immense life by using Paul Ricoeur’s description of mimesis in his essay entitled “Architecture and Narrative”.[i] Through this immense span of time, different people transfigured and re-adapted the Colosseum for different uses in their own settings. I will use Ricoeur’s prefiguration, configuration, and refiguration to describe the life of the Roman Colosseum.
Prefiguration
According to Ricoeur, before a writer begins to write a story, his or her experiences shape the plot that he or she will give birth to.[ii] The prefiguration is everything before the act of designing or construction. It includes everything from the past to the future context of that time frame. Every event and situation influences the configuration of the project because each person will view that place differently because of their own past, present, and future.
First, what is a Roman Colosseum? In the Roman world, theaters embodied the close relationship of spectacles, religion, society, and politics.[iii] The theater type precedes the Colosseum. Temporary theaters housed ludi scaenici, theatrical performances, or ludi funebres, funeral games, and gladiatorial combats. Gladiators were first introduced in mid third century BC and combats took place in temporary theaters set up in the Roman Forum.[iv] Gladiatorial combats were not considered theatrical and, therefore, were never housed in official theaters we know now. For the Colosseum, the events and rituals of a gladiatorial arena already took place, but the social and political situation gave birth to a grand arena.
Before the construction of the Colosseum, Emperor Nero imposed a series of new buildings after a large fire that destroyed a great portion of central Rome in 64 AD. Out of the fourteen districts of ancient Rome, the fire completely destroyed three districts and left seven severely damaged. After the disaster, Emperor Nero took over the center of Rome for his grand palace complex and disregarded rebuilding Rome. He diverted funds from disaster reliefs for the fire’s destruction to fulfill his own agenda by adding an artificial lake and Domus Aurea, a palace complex. Eventually, the tax imposed by Emperor Nero and negligence of restoring Rome made the citizens oppose him so greatly that he took his own life.[v]
After the Nero’s suicide, Emperor Vespasian saved Rome from increasing the chaos that Nero left behind by redesigning what Nero tried to impose for the citizens of Rome. This is where the Colosseum began to emerge. These events gave birth to the Colosseum. Everything before the act of creation set the stage for configuration.
Configuration
Configuration, the second part of the Ricoeur’s mimesis is the action of creation. When a writer writes or an architect designs, he or she begins the act of configuration. The prefiguration (or the given context) of the current situation sets the stage for act of creation. A writer’s or an architect’s creation comes from his or her experiences and context. Ricoeur parallels the configuration of narrative and architecture by saying, “the story unfolds in time, which it raises to the rank of narrated time; the building is laid out and erected in space, which it turns into constructed space” (Ricoeur ,64). [vi]
The Colosseum was originally built not only to house games and combats, but to ease the current citizens at that time from the high taxes of the former emperor Nero and the destruction of the fire in 64 AD. The Colosseum was specifically built for the people of Rome since Nero neglected the public; Emperor Vespasian honored the people by taking away all memories of Nero.
After Nero, Emperor Vespasian created the Flavian Amphitheater, at the site of the Nero’s artificial lake. It sits in a valley created by the Caelian, Esquiline, and Palatine Hills. “The new amphitheater stood in dramatic opposition to Nero’s palatial private halls, a deliberate gesture of Rome’s return to its citizens”. [vii]
Inside the Colosseum, seats grow from the dropped arena and can house roughly fifty thousand spectators where games, gladiatorial combats, beast shows, and naval mock battles can take place.[viii] The Colosseum’s three floors are structured by concrete vaults. From the exterior Greek orders decorated the columns of the Colosseum. One can only imagine the grandeur of the Colosseum in its zenith.
Today Via dei Fori Imperiali creates an axis from the Victor Emmanuel Monument straight to the Colosseum. The ancient Forum and Basilica frame the Colosseum at the end of the large street. Other major streets, such as Via labicana, Via Claudia, and Via de San Gregorio, create axis that leads to and from the Colosseum.
Reuse
The last part of Ricoeur’s three part mimesis is refiguration.[ix] Before going in-depth into refiguration, re-use should first be understood. Refiguration is not re-use. Re-use takes something that exists and transforms it into something other than what it was originally used for. Re-use is not taking the essence of the Colosseum and re-applying it to the contemporary time. Though re-use and refiguration both bring new use into its respective time frame, each is different.
The Colosseum went through countless re-uses in two millenniums. The Colosseum housed gladiatorial fights until the fifth century when it undertook a series of transformations, or re-uses. Early uses of the Colosseum included a church and cemetery through the tenth century to fourteen century; the Colosseum went from religious uses to secular uses. It is noted in 1366 the Compagnia dei Nobili Romani Sancta Sanctorum obtained existing housing that was built into the Colosseum.[x] In 1519, Santa Maria della Pieta Chapel was constructed inside the Colosseum. Because of earthquakes and the removal of materials in the eighteenth century, the Colosseum continued to decay. However, it also continued to be re-used for activities other than its original purpose. While in 1590, there were intended plans for the Colosseum to become a textile factory with housing units for the workers.[xi]
It is cited that in 1675, the Colosseum transformed into “a warehouse to store tons of nitrate for the manufacture of gunpowder; the remnants of this deposit acted as a potent fertilizer and promoted an extravagant growth of vegetation in the interior.”[xii] This “extravagant growth” became detrimental to the building itself and the plants were removed to keep the Colosseum intact.
In 1744 “Pope Benedict XIV declared it a Christian shrine, dedicating it to the memory of all the martyrs who had died there. Stations of the Cross were installed around the circumference of the arena, and a tall cross was erected in its center”[xiii] .
In the twenty first century, Rome no longer re-uses the Colosseum. It is frozen in time. Rome preserves the Colosseum closest to its original state, to be viewed for its initial purpose. Today the Colosseum is mostly used for viewing and backdrops for tourist photographs. Rome uses the Colosseum as an object to portray its ideals versus a place of inhabitation. For example, because Italy opposes capital punishment, “whenever a death sentence is commuted anywhere in the world, the Roman city authorities switch the lights to gold in tribute” . [xiv] Annually, on Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit procession from the Colosseum to Monte Palatino.[xv] Although the Colosseum becomes an object frozen in time, no longer a place of inhabitation, it can still be studied and renewed in today’s context.
Refiguration
Refiguration describes a story, leaving the reader to interpret and make it his or her own. Ricoeur writes: “Looking first at the story, it has to be said that it does not reach its goal within the enclosed space of the text, but in its relation to the reader” (Ricoeur 71).[xvi]A refiguration can be considered a type of translation. Umberto Eco describes types of translations, but one in particular, the translation of rewriting, parallels refiguration. [xvii]
A refigured project is not simply a transcription. For example, the act of taking an English speaking movie and translating it word for word into an Italian film is a translation, but more specifically it is, in Eco’s term, a transcription. Idioms, jokes, puns, and other known English phrases would not make sense in an Italian context. A rewritten translation means re-writing the script to match Italian’s culture, idioms, phrases, for the Italian viewers.
In architecture, a Roman Colosseum consisting of the same material, construction methods, and uses today will not function as it did two thousand years ago. Our situations and culture are nowhere near what it were two millenniums ago. A visitor brings a different perspective because of the changes through time. The Colosseum should be refigured into a use for the time and context.
A sports stadium refigures the Colosseum. Usually, a stadium today needs to meet different functions similar to the Roman Colosseum. In New Orleans, Louisiana, a structure similar to the Colosseum contains different events annually. Instead of gladiatorial battles, teams compete against each other in football and instead of mock naval battles. Concerts also take place to entertain the citizens. The New Orleans Superdome houses football games, baseball games, concerts, and other large events.[xviii] The need to accommodate thousands of spectators and multiple sporting activities is similar to the requirements of the Colosseum. The Superdome, instead of being elliptical, is a circular. It uses modern construction material such as steel. The Superdome rewrites the Colosseum by using different materials, construction methods, and structure, but contains similar types of activities.[xix]
The New Orleans Superdome is one of the many translations of the Colosseum. It has survived through disasters and also unexpectedly went through reuse similar to the Roman Colosseum. The Superdome’s fixed roof, unlike the Colosseum, allowed the stadium to become an emergency shelter. In 2005, hurricane Katrina swept through Louisiana. Like the Colosseum, housing was found in the Superdome and it became a place of refuge in the time of disaster.[xx] Though it was not the first time the Superdome acted as a refuge, it was the first time it also sustained damage.[xxi]
Like the Colosseum, the Superdome offers its own experiences to be rewritten. When new large sporting complexes are wanted, the prefiguration and configuration will affect the design. Each rewrite will bring something new to the world that original could not.
A book tells a story, just as a building tells a story. As Ricoeur says, “Any new story arises in the setting of a world of already established stories”.[xxii] With each different perspective, the understanding of the story is taken differently. The Colosseum inspires and is made into an archetype for events viewed by thousands of people. During its lifespan, the Colosseum was found to be something other than a place of combat. The Colosseum contains the ability to house multiple and vastly different functions. Its use involved more activities like spectatorship, dwelling, and worship in addition to gladiatorial fights and mock naval battles. It is only one of Rome’s many treasures. Venerable Bede says “Quandiu stat Colisaeus, stat et Roma; quando cadet Colisaeus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus”.[xxiii] Or as the English poet, Lord Byron, penned, “While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls-the World”[xxiv]
[i] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 :64-72.
[ii] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 :65-66.
[iii] Mary T. Boatwright, “Theaters in the Roman Empire,” The Biblical Archaeologist 53, No. 4 (Dec., 1990): 185.
[iv] E. J. Jory, “Gladiators in the Theatre,” The Classical Quarterly, n.s., 36, No. 2 (1986): 537.
[v] Brian Sahotsky, “Adventures in Architectural Symbolism: The Use and Misuse of Rebuilding Programs in Ancient Rome,” Places Journal 21, no. 1 (2009): 10.
[vi] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 :64,
[vii] Brian Sahotsky, “Adventures in Architectural Symbolism: The Use and Misuse of Rebuilding Programs in Ancient Rome,” Places Journal 21, no. 1 (2009): 11.
[viii] Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, “A Perfect Ruin: Nineteenth-Century Views of the Colosseum,” Arion, 3rd ser., 2, No. 1 (1992): 121.
[ix] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 : 71-72.
[x] Hellmut Hager, “Carlo Fontana’s Project for a Church in Honour of the ‘Ecclesia Triumphans’ in the Colosseum, Rome,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 36 (1973): 321.
[xi] Hellmut Hager, “Carlo Fontana’s Project for a Church in Honour of the ‘Ecclesia Triumphans’ in the Colosseum, Rome,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 36 (1973): 321-325.
[xii] Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, “A Perfect Ruin: Nineteenth-Century Views of the Colosseum,” Arion, 3rd ser., 2, No. 1 (1992): 121.
[xiii] Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, “A Perfect Ruin: Nineteenth-Century Views of the Colosseum,” Arion, 3rd ser., 2, No. 1 (1992): 122.
[xiv] Http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/views/y/2000/02/young.italydeath.feb24/ (27 November 2010).
[xv] Http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2010/documents/ns_lit_doc_20100402_via-crucis_en.html (27 November 2010).
[xvi] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 : 71.
[xvii] Umberto Eco, Experiences in Translation, trans. Alastair McEwen (University of Toronto Press): 106-119.
[xviii] http://www.superdome.com/ (28 November 2010).
[xix] http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Louisiana_Superdome.html (28 November 2010).
[xx] Joanne M. Nigg, John Barnshaw and Manuel R. Torres, “Shelter from the Storm: Repairing the National Emergency Management System after Hurricane Katrina,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 604, (2006): 113-128.
[xxi] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,132540,00.html (28 November 2010).
[xxii] Ricoeur, Paul. “Architecture and Narrative.” Identity and difference: integration and plurality in today’s forms, cultures between the ephemeral and the lasting / Triennale di Milano, XIX Esposizione Internazionale; [translations, Huw Evans … et al.]. Milano : Electa, c1996 :67
[xxiii] Howard Vernon Canter, “The Venerable Bede and the Colosseum,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 61, (1930: 150.
[xxiv] Childe Harold, canto iv, stanza CXLV