Dwarfs in Early Imperial Spectacles

Stephen Brunet (University of New Hampshire)

As has long been recognized, a prominent feature of the public spectacles given by Domitian was the use of dwarfs as performers (Ville, Brunet, Coleman). Two previously unnoticed passages, however, demonstrate that dwarfs were a common feature of Roman spectacles as early as the reign of Nero, if not earlier. Therefore, Domitian’s shows were not as innovative as sometimes thought since, at least with regards to performers, he was working within a well established tradition. An equally important conclusion is that other references to dwarf gladiators have probably gone unnoticed by scholars and I will suggest two passages from Juvenal and Martial that bear further investigation.

In Epistle 85.41.1, Seneca cites several examples of the control that trainers possess over their animals, including the case of a minimus Aethiops who could command an elephant to kneel and to walk on a tightrope. This Ethiopian probably did not suffer from the physical distortions that characterize dwarf achrondroplasia (in modern parlance, he was a midget not a dwarf). So, Seneca did not term him a nanus or pumilio, and as a result, this otherwise well-known passage has been overlooked in all discussions of dwarf performers. The incident most likely took place at one of two famous shows, both held long before Domitian's reign: the first exhibition of a tightrope-walking elephant during Galba’s candidacy for aedile, or a festival held by Nero in 59 BC that featured a similar trick (Suet. Galba 6, Nero 11; Dio 61.17.2; Pliny NH 8.2-3).

The other reference has escaped the notice of scholars because of a textual problem. The general sense of Naturales Quaestiones 4A pr. 8a is clear. According to Seneca the Elder, the Cynic Demetrius had once argued that it is easy to flatter someone—one could simply claim that the person was taller than the gladiator Fidus Annaeus or the boxer Apollonius, even if this was patently false. The manuscripts, though, read te, inquit, longiorem Fido Annaeo iurabo et Apollonio pycte, quamvis staturam habeas †thecisum† Thraece compositi. The solution is to read pitheci cum, as long ago proposed by Kroll, but not to take pithecus in the literal sense of ape. As many editors have noted, Thracians never fought animals, trained or otherwise. Instead, we should understand “ape” here to mean “dwarf,” a common sense of the word, as made clear by Suda 1578 and other sources. We then end up with the desired sense: in reality the person being flattered is as short as a dwarf gladiator would appear if matched against a Thracian. Demetrius' casual reference to dwarf gladiators would only be possible if they were relatively common in his time and this passage is further evidence that Domitian' spectacles followed a tradition that went back to the Julio-Claudian period.

Finally, the fact that a dwarf could be called an ape suggests that some other references in Latin literature to ‘apes’ fighting in the arena may actually involve dwarfs. A case in point is Martial’s jibe at the gladiator Callidus who is an ‘ape’ although he lacks an ape’s tail (14.202). Likewise, Juvenal 5.153-155 has often been taken to refer to an ape but the reference is equally derogatory if we think that Juvenal meant a dwarf slave who has been trained to throw spears while riding a goat.

Bibliography

Brunet, S. (2003). "Dwarf Athletes in the Roman Empire." AHB 17: 17-32.

Brunet, S. (2004). "Female and Dwarf Gladiators." Mouseion Ser. III 4 145-170.

Coleman, K. M. (2006). M. Valerii Martialis Liber spectaculorum (Oxford Univ. Press).

Ville, G. (1981). La gladiature en Occident des origines à la mort de Domitien (École française de Rome).