Divide and Conquer!

     In regards to ancient roman spectacle the contextual information we will want to talk about how Roman Spectacle was utilized as a political tactic of distraction and how during the time of the Roman Empire art and performance was tightly woven into the culture. Connecting with that we will emphasize how the Romans valued and gave great importance to the mechanics of art. A few specific political movements supporting this topic will be the impact and strain on the economy and the threat and invasions from foreign forces. Relating this to Roman Spectacle we want to compare the two movements and see if spectacle had any specific influence on them or if roman spectacle was affected by these two important moments in time. With the time given we unfortunately won't be able to discuss the power figures of this time and the specific impact they left, we will avoid going into detail about the playwrights we have pulled into our topic but instead how they used spectacle in their writings and also keep the overall concentration on spectacle as a whole rather than smaller details.

Journal of Popular Culture. 00223840. Aug. 2011 Vol. 44 Issue 4.
"I found this source to be very important because it helps me to see the relevancy of studying Ancient Roman Spectacle in the first place. It warns that history may be repeating itself, thus it is important to understand the mistakes the Romans made so as to avoid repeating them"

Potter, D.S., and D.J. Mattingly. Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. 2. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2010. Print.
  Through this source we found the connection more closely to the fall of the Roman Empire.  With our two spectacle topics being Pax Romana and bread and circus, we intend to connect how the fall of the empire took place. With this source we can follow the progress with spectacle and the society of Rome itself to see how they transformed as the fall of the empire came closer. We can also study the types of spectacle offered through the different forms of entertainment. Not striving away from our main focus points for spectacle this source can help bring chronological order to our argument. 

Schullard , H.H. A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 BC. 5th. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
From this source we grasped the main ideas behind the history of Rome. Not to necessarily to bring the history of Rome as one of our topics but a tool to help carrying on our argument. With Ancient Roman Spectacle one of our main goals is to connect the influences ad affects historical moments had on spectacle.  With art and theatre having such a big part in the life of Romans moments such as the fall of the Roman Empire had to take great affect on spectacle part of Roman life. Revisiting important parts of the history such as the political organization (67) and Roman Policy and Government (318-340)  we have the capability of connecting the reasoning behind some of the spectacle movements Roman chose to do.

Dunkle, Roger. Gladiators: Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2008. Print.
From this source we get a more concise look at who the Gladiators were and what they did. With the mention of Ancient Roman Spectacle most people automatically think of the Gladiator games and any depiction of it in pop culture. Since one of the main goals is to seek fact and bring it to light through this project this source will assist us in that. Not only does it talk about the history of the gladiators, but this source also includes a section about Roman Amphitheatre and the Colosseum itself (245) as well as a comparison to pop culture gladiators (288)

Crowther, Nigel B. Sport in Ancient times. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007. Print.
This source covers all ancient civilizations but has quite a few chapters on Roman games, gladiators, and chariot races. With a source that covers a more broad look we can get main ideas from these concepts. There is also mention of the mock sea battles (116) and wild beast shows (113) which is something we are interested in exploring as well. This source also focuses on the religious foundations or lack thereof behind each event which will also be intriguing. 

Futrell, Alison. Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power. Austin, Texas: University of Texas, 1997. Print.
This source is important because there is a chapter called "The Late Republic: Spectacle and Political Manipulation" (29) This is important to our research because this comparison is the basis of where all of our research is going. Not only that, but there is more of a history of a bigger picture than a focused look at the ideals of Spectacle