1 E.g., Landes, Chr., Le stade romain et ses spectacles (Lattes 1994)Google Scholar; Thuillier, J.-P., Le sport dans la Rome antique (Paris 1996)Google Scholar; Newby, Z., Greek athletics in the Roman world: victory and virtue (Oxford 2005)Google Scholar; König, J., Athletics and literature in the Roman Empire (Cambridge 2005)Google Scholar; also parts 4 and 5 of Potter, D., The victor’s crown: a history of ancient sport from Homer to Byzantium (Oxford 2012)Google Scholar.

2 No overall collection exists, especially for works in the minor arts. Selection of examples in Landes ibid.; Junkelmann, M., “Greek athletics in Rome,” in Köhne, E. and Ewigleben, C., Gladiators and Caesars (London 2000) 75–85 Google Scholar. For ideal statues, see Newby (supra n.1) especially chapt. 4. For sarcophagi, see Amedick, R., Die Sarophage mit Darstellungen aus dem Menschenleben 4, Vita privata (ASR I.4; Berlin 1991) 82–96 Google Scholar.

3 References in the form (K 117) refer to Bohne's catalogue, where the monuments are numbered alphabetically within modern countries.

4 In the catalogue Bohne discusses (425-26) the problem of the dating of the mosaics from the Baths with caution, and does not come down on either side. Elsewhere (25, 31, 100-1), she implies a late dating for them, in the middle or second half of the 4th c.

5 For example, her discussions (102-7) of the use of weights in the long jump and in training; of the starting-gates in the footrace, illustrated very clearly on the mosaic from Batten Zammour (109); of the nudity or otherwise of the athletes (67-72); and of the wearing of amulets (88-93).

6 Lee, H., “The later Greek boxing glove and the ‘Roman’ caestus’,” Nikephoros 10 (1997) 161–78Google Scholar, with review of earlier theories; for a different view, see M. Junkelmann in Köhne and Ewigleben (supra n.2) 76-80.

7 Thuillier, J.-P., “Le cirrus et la barbe. Questions d’iconographie athlétique romaine,” MEFRA 110.1 (1998) 351–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, with discussion of earlier theories. But see here pp. 83-84 for doubts about some of his examples from Batten Zammour. For a rebuttal, see also Crowther, N., “Observations on boys, girls, youths, and age categories in Roman sports and spectacles,” in Papakonstantinou, Z. (ed.), Sport in the cultures of the ancient world: new perspectives (Abingdon 2010) especially 200–1Google Scholar.

8 For instance, (H)elix and Alexander on the mosaic from Pozzuoli (K 44), the names of famous Olympic victors, among the greatest stars of their age (see below, n.10). Helix wears the cirrus (a rather spiky fringe) also on the Ostia mosaic (K 21), though it is not clear whether Alexander does, as he is shown full-face. On the other hand, as Bohne (83 n.90) also points out convincingly, such figures do not always wear the cirrus; since they, if anyone, would correspond to our concept of professionals, this is another argument against that theory.

9 Bohne mentions (56) a possibility that a wall-painting in a villa at Balazote (Albacete) (K 105) may have included name inscription(s); but the state of publication evidently does not permit certainty.

10 Jones, C. P., “The pancratiasts Helix and Alexander on an Ostian mosaic,” JRA 11 (1998) 293–98Google Scholar; cf. also Strasser, J.-Y., “Les Antôninia Pythia de Rome,” Nikephoros 17 (2004) 181–220 Google Scholar, on the Magira also represented at Pozzuoli. Other plausible examples are Damas at Reggio Calabria (K 47), the name of two eminent pankratiasts in the late 2nd-3rd c., and perhaps Domesticus at Pietro Papa (K 60b), although the dating here is more uncertain. At least in one case there may also be a reference to an athlete from the past: the bust labelled Neikostratos of Aigeai at Seleukeia Pieria (K 85b) may be the famous victor of the pankration and wrestling at Olympia in the same day in A.D. 37, mentioned by a number of ancient authors. More doubtful are the Sarapammon and Deidas of Alexandria at Akmoneia (K 80); Bohne suggests tentatively (58-59) that they may be the pair recorded by Pausanias (5.21.15) for cheating at Olympia, but it seems highly unlikely that these would have been commemorated a couple of centuries later, and the repetition of the same names among athletes was frequent.

11 The same problem arises with the names of charioteers (and horses), gladiators and venatores in circus and amphitheatre scenes, and a similar range of possibilities frequently has to be assumed.

12 Prize-crowns also appeared on a mosaic at San Canzian d’Isonzo (K 61) labelled MAKEDONIA and AEG[.., and accompanying busts of athletes, but the information about this mosaic is not sufficient to allow further conclusions; no agones bearing those names are known (453).

13 Images of prize-crowns in other media frequently bear just the name of the agon in the form Olympia, Pythia, Aktia, etc., without further specification. On coins and public monuments these obviously refer to the festival of that title in the city concerned, but often viewers were left to make their own deductions. Compare the mosaic from Althiburus (Tunisia), with a prize-crown inscribed Asklepeia, presumably referring to the festival of that name at Carthage. See Dunbabin, K., “The prize table: crowns, wreaths, and moneybags in Roman art,” in Le Guen, B. (ed.), L'argent dans les concours du monde grec (Paris 2010) 301–45Google Scholar.

14 Bohne (559-61) rightly sees the man wearing mantle and boots to the (viewer’s) right of the victor as the herald, like the figure to the right of the prize-table in the scene of the display of prizes below (previous interpretations which have seen him as the agonothete ignore the details of the iconography).

15 A third example of a mosaic likely to refer to a specific agon, in my view, is the mosaic from the Villa of Lucius Verus on the Via Cassia outside Rome, which also combines actors and musicians, athletes, and herald and trumpeter, as well as a prize-table bearing the busts of the Capitoline Triad. Bohne knew this mosaic (her K 56*) only from a preliminary publication, but much fuller publication is now available: E. Caserta, “Roma (Via Cassia). La villa di Lucio Vero alla luce delle recenti indagini archeologiche,” NSc ser. IX, 21-22 (2010-11 [2012]) especially 137-55). I hope to discuss this mosaic more fully at a later date.

16 Of course, a wider range of viewers’ interpretations was possible, and later viewers might have had no better idea than we do of the the original reference. But that is a different matter from Bohne’s conclusion (38) that the “Assoziationsrahmen [ist] so allgemein und unspezifisch, dass keine Identifikation mit einer bestimmten Person oder mit einem bestimmten Wettkampf möglich ist”.

17 See Papini, M., Munera gladiatoria e venationes nel mondo delle immagini (Rome 2004)Google Scholar; I shall examine this question in my forthcoming book on Theatre and spectacle in the art of the Roman Empire.

18 The Batten Zammour mosaic came from a small bath-building. No more details have been published about the site, except that there was a residential area (and a Christian basilica) in the vicinity. In the absence of any substantial city nearby, the possibility that the baths belonged to a villa must remain likely. The mosaic from the Villa of Lucius Verus (n.15 above) comes from the baths of a villa; so does the damaged mosaic with athletic/agonistic scenes at Piazza Armerina (K 26b). The mosaic from Patras (K 77) came from a large room in a complex of several well-decorated rooms, but its function is unclear; a domestic context cannot be excluded (505-6).

19 Curiously, there are a few exceptions: Herculaneum, Tusculum, Ephesos and Karthago are all referred to by their ancient names.