Rome and Jerusalem

Tertullian asked the oft repeated question, “What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?” I might ask, “What hath Rome to do with Jerusalem?” Martin Goodman wrote an entire book on the subject titled Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations— (to be read).

Intercollegiate Studies Institute (www.isibooks.org) publishes, among other academic titles, a series of student’s guides for the major disciplines. They publish A Student’s Guide to Philosophy, A Student’s Guide to Literature, …to Liberal Learning, …to History, etc. The one I am currently reading is A Student’s Guide to Classics, by Bruce S. Thornton.

After defining this particular field of study, the author breaks down the discipline into the areas on which a student might focus his or her attention. A particular subject within the field of Classics is Epigraphy. This is the study of inscriptions engraved on stone, pottery, and sometimes wood. Mr. Thornton writes,

A fascinating example of epigraphical sleuthing involves the Colosseum in Rome. An inscription still visible today concerning repairs made in the fifth century A.D. is covered with holes in which were once anchored the metal letters of an earlier inscription. In 1995 Geza Alfoldy of Heidelberg reconstructed the original inscription by analyzing the hole patterns. The reconstructed inscription dated to the time of the emperor Vespasian and specifically to the completion of a phase of construction of the Colosseum around A.D. 79. What we learn from this inscription is that the Colosseum was built “from the spoils” of war; the only war that could have provided the necessary riches was the Jewish Revolt of A.D. 66-70, which ended with the destruction of the Temple and the removal of all its treasures. In other words, the plundered treasures of the Temple on Jerusalem financed the building of the Colosseum.

Wikipedia dates the commencement of the building of the Colosseum between 70 and 72 A.D. under the emperor Vespasian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum).

Contrasting Greek and Roman sensibilities, Everett Ferguson writes,

Whereas Greeks preferred the exercises of the gymnasium and stadium, Roman interest in sport went to the events at the amphitheatre and circus. In the Roman west are found the remains of many enclosed permanent amphitheatres or arenas. …The amphitheatres of the west testify to the lust for blood under the empire. The spectacles of gladiatorial combat—man against, man, man against animal, and animal against animal—drew huge crowds and replaced Greek drama and athletics in popularity. Schools trained professional gladiators, and enormous numbers of criminals and wild animals were required to satisfy the bloodthirsty populace. The cruelty of the games had a debasing effect on moral sensibilities.

If Geza Alfoldy has connected the dots correctly, it was the treasure in the Temple of Jerusalem that financed, among other things, the ancient Roman appetite for blood-sport.