Gestures and acclamations in early Imperial Rome: Methods of interactive communication between emperor and plebs at mass public gatherings.

Abstract

Public spectacles incorporating oratory played a central role in the social and political life of the city of Robe in the late Republic and early empire. My dissertation examines the underlying rules and expectations which shaped and governed such rituals and the strategies of communication, in particular acclamations and gestures, employed in them by speakers and audiences. For Roman orators, gesture was a powerful rhetorical tool with which to reinforce and gloss the verbal component of their performances. Hand and body motions could be used to mirror the verbal component of a speech, to impart emotional shadings to the words, to emphasize the innate rhythmic nature of many orations, or to serve as an alternative language for communication. In addition, the language of the body served as a common language among the heterogeneous groups that made up the population of ancient Rome, and it cut across cultural, economic, and social barriers. Audiences made use of acclamations, comments shouted, chanted, or even sung in unison. The urban plebs used acclamations to greet, to praise, to react to, to criticize, and to petition a speaker. The rhythmic and formulaic nature of acclamations made it easy for large numbers of people to deliver them and to vary and improvise upon standard formulas. The emperor and the plebs were both beneficiaries in these exchanges, since acclamations did not just confer authority and legitimacy upon a ruler, but also gave power to those who were able to bestow them. Acclamations were flexible enough to convey a variety of meanings, yet structured enough to give each side a clearly designated role to play, and were employed by these groups in a continuous process of negotiation to define their relationship to one another and their places in society. My approach is interdisciplinary, incorporating archaeological evidence and linking the literary descriptions of oratory in Quintilian and Cicero with iconographic depictions found in sculpture, coins, and illustrated manuscripts. This dissertation is a study of how emperors and plebs interacted with the city of Rome, and with each other, through the mechanism of collective rituals specific to this urban context.