Jenna Landry
Jenna Landry
Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs and the Book of Revelation by Christopher Frilingos took me on a trip through the Roman Empire and how it influenced social culture, citizens lives and writings during its triumphant reign. Frilingos told of influences by Greo-Roman myths and tales while also explaining the possible influences those had upon the author of the Book of Revelation. This book had readers begin to understand Revelation as a Roman book by taking a stab at understanding the spectacle the Roman Empire put on and how the empire itself became a spectacle that was put upon a stage for citizens to eventually criticize. It also calls attention to how people are viewed as the “other” and what that really means as well as calling attention to visual culture and gender in society as a whole especially how these had a major influence on Revelation. Frilingos began his understanding from Focault’s reasoning behind the power of authority, which exists when people engage one another because people can produce knowledge of what is the “truth” thus giving them authority and then constitutes what is know by others as the “real truth”. Frilingos then turns that reasoning towards Said and “orientalism”, which has become on of the ways the West identifies “the other” like naming something because we have control over it. From Said, Frilingos turns to Bhabha and the idea of “mimicry”. “Mimicry is still in category of the “the other” which can mimic the colonizer in a good or bad way. With the understanding of these three major players, Frilingos began to unfold his own theories and ideas about the Roman Empire and its spectacle.
One of the most interesting themes, to me, was the role of the “other”, “the self” and the spectacle. The Roman imperial system puts themselves upon display by hosting all the visual dominance of Roman Power. One of the most predominate visuals put on by the Empire is the mass killings by the gladiators towards exotic animals and even people. From this spectacle, Frilingos describes how the empire turns itself into the spectacle and lets “the other” criticize. Then he continues to say that people in Revelation watch the spectacle as we watch them watch the spectacle. He said that this is like many Greek novels that were circulating during the time the book was written.
As the book continues, Frilingos beings to identify the gender roles present in the Book of Revelation especially towards the Lamb and the beasts. These characters tended to challenge and play on different qualities that would normally characterize masculinity and femininity. He talks about the penetrated lamb and how symbolizes feminine qualities yet it rules and brings the wrath that would normal bee seen as masculine, like breaking the seals.
In all, Frilingos has had a huge impact upon my understanding not just of the Book of Revelation but also on the Roman Empire as a whole. He was able to incorporate many Greco-Roman pieces of literature as well as social commentary as whole to better help understand what was really happening during the Roman Imperial reign. At times this text was hard to understand as someone who has not been exposed to Foucault, Said and Bhabha and the book has some missing links here and there but overall the entire book helped me understand Roman spectacle and the Empire it was in.
Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs and the Book of Revelation by Christopher Frilingos took me on a trip through the Roman Empire and how it influenced social culture, citizens lives and writings during its triumphant reign. Frilingos told of influences by Greo-Roman myths and tales while also explaining the possible influences those had upon the author of the Book of Revelation. This book had readers begin to understand Revelation as a Roman book by taking a stab at understanding the spectacle the Roman Empire put on and how the empire itself became a spectacle that was put upon a stage for citizens to eventually criticize. It also calls attention to how people are viewed as the “other” and what that really means as well as calling attention to visual culture and gender in society as a whole especially how these had a major influence on Revelation. Frilingos began his understanding from Focault’s reasoning behind the power of authority, which exists when people engage one another because people can produce knowledge of what is the “truth” thus giving them authority and then constitutes what is know by others as the “real truth”. Frilingos then turns that reasoning towards Said and “orientalism”, which has become on of the ways the West identifies “the other” like naming something because we have control over it. From Said, Frilingos turns to Bhabha and the idea of “mimicry”. “Mimicry is still in category of the “the other” which can mimic the colonizer in a good or bad way. With the understanding of these three major players, Frilingos began to unfold his own theories and ideas about the Roman Empire and its spectacle.
One of the most interesting themes, to me, was the role of the “other”, “the self” and the spectacle. The Roman imperial system puts themselves upon display by hosting all the visual dominance of Roman Power. One of the most predominate visuals put on by the Empire is the mass killings by the gladiators towards exotic animals and even people. From this spectacle, Frilingos describes how the empire turns itself into the spectacle and lets “the other” criticize. Then he continues to say that people in Revelation watch the spectacle as we watch them watch the spectacle. He said that this is like many Greek novels that were circulating during the time the book was written.
As the book continues, Frilingos beings to identify the gender roles present in the Book of Revelation especially towards the Lamb and the beasts. These characters tended to challenge and play on different qualities that would normally characterize masculinity and femininity. He talks about the penetrated lamb and how symbolizes feminine qualities yet it rules and brings the wrath that would normal bee seen as masculine, like breaking the seals.
In all, Frilingos has had a huge impact upon my understanding not just of the Book of Revelation but also on the Roman Empire as a whole. He was able to incorporate many Greco-Roman pieces of literature as well as social commentary as whole to better help understand what was really happening during the Roman Imperial reign. At times this text was hard to understand as someone who has not been exposed to Foucault, Said and Bhabha and the book has some missing links here and there but overall the entire book helped me understand Roman spectacle and the Empire it was in.