Managers in Higher Education Must Harness Power, Politics, Recession - Past, Present, And PoliticsPolitics are a fundamental instigator for social control as they set out the guidelines for what sort of culture is directed. Plutarch (75 CE) puts forward that they "entertained the people with three hundred and twenty single combats" which consequently he "threw into the shade all the attempts that were made before him". Spectacle under Julius Caesar was stretched so far that it scared other politicians concise where they passed laws that limited "the number of gladiators which anyone was to be permitted to keep in the city" (Suetonius 121 CE, 15). Julius Caesar was also the first person to use only silver with zero other metal within that arena (Pliny Natural History 33. 53 cited Futrell 2006).
During the reign of Augustus , praetors who performed since editore to gladiatorial spectacles were restricted with regard to resources. This meant that the gladiatorial spectacles which were associated directly with that Emperor would receive greater accolade, and the crowd would "clearly see to whom their gratitude had been owed" (Shadrake 2005, p63). This shows that Augustus was alert to the power of this spectacle in enhancing political status, and that in order to increase his own position, stifling other political figure's control over it was eventually an effective means. Augustus provided eight gladiatorial spectacles that 10, 000 men struggled with, "thus eclipsing forever that memory of Julius Caesar 's large games" (Shadrake 2005, p63)
The reign of Commodus provided a much more violent indication of that the games could be useful to achieve political status. Cassius Dio (CE 54-211, 73. 20) reports that Commodus
gathered most of the men in the city who by disease or some other sort of calamity had lost their feet, had fastened some dragon's extremities about their own knees, and after giving them sponges to throw instead of stones had killed them with blows of a club, on the pretenCE they will were giants.
Nevertheless this account by Cassius Dio appears horrific in comparison to modern morals, at plenty of time it showed the Emperors "divine purpose as Herculean exterminator associated with monsters" (Grant 1967, p113). Here Emperor Commodus is trying to convince the audience through this very public metaphor that he is divine. Suetonius (121 CE, Caligula) depicts the extravagance in the rule of Caligula ; upon being crowned Emperor "more compared to a hundred and sixty thousand victims are thought to have been slain in sacrifice. "
The way that the spectacles were used by political figures varied relating to the Republic and Empire. During the Republic there was a need to defeat political competitors and also to win votes from the populace. In contrast the Empire did not present the head associated with state with competition as there would be an autocracy in position. Beneath the Emperor nevertheless, other political figures like aediles, praetors and generals wished to use these spectacles so as to exhibit social control above the population and win votes. The main feature in heightening political status would be for the Emperor to impose his own personal stamp on this gladiatorial spectacle since Caligula together with Commodus managed. Evidence here has shown that political figures have used spectacle to enhance their political status through grandeur and to be able to shock.
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