Bread and circuses

<h2 id="ancient-rome">Ancient Rome</h2>
<p class="note">Further information: <a href="/facts/Cura_annonae/12RKoWEM">Cura annonae § Politics and officials</a></p>
<p>This phrase originates from Rome in <i><a href="/facts/Satires_(Juvenal)/CddNMrap">Satire X</a></i> of the Roman satirical poet Juvenal (c. 100 AD), who saw "bread and circuses" (<i>panem et circenses</i>) as emblematic of the loss of republican political liberty:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p>

<table><tbody><tr><td><p>[...] iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli / vendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim / imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se / continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, / <i>panem et circenses</i>. [...]</p></td><td><p>... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></p></td></tr><tr><td>—Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Juvenal refers to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to Roman citizens (the Annona) as well as costly <a href="/facts/Ludi/p6pP6fMD">circus games</a> and other forms of entertainment as a means of gaining <a href="/facts/Political_power/Q4feTyU6">political power</a>. In much modern literature, this represents the Annona as a "briberous and corrupting attempt of the Roman emperors to cover up the fact that they were selfish and incompetent tyrants".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> Yet Augustus disapproved even the idea of a grain dole on moral grounds, even though he and every emperor after him took the responsibility and credit for ensuring the supply to citizens who qualified for it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death/QjoExqzr"><i>Amusing Ourselves to Death</i></a> – 1985 book by Neil Postman</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Battle_Royale_(novel)/53XNGn9q"><i>Battle Royale</i></a> – 1999 novel by Koushun Takami
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Battle_Royale_(film)/lP95wyvt"><i>Battle Royale</i> (film)</a> – 2000 Japanese film by Kinji Fukasaku</li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Brave_New_World/D24coUVV"><i>Brave New World</i></a> – 1932 dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Bread_and_Circuses_(Star_Trek%3a_The_Original_Series)/cQJYXdjp">"Bread and Circuses" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series</i>)</a>, a 1968 episode of <i>Star Trek</i></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Bread_and_roses/crX2mQUc">Bread and roses</a> – SloganPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targetsPages displaying short descriptions with no spaces</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Colosseum/qVdhEUV5">Colosseum</a> – Ancient Roman amphitheatre; a landmark of Rome, Italy</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cura_Annonae/12RKoWEM">Cura Annonae</a> – Import and distribution of grain in Rome and ConstantinoplePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Fahrenheit_451/Hp6VU1CH"><i>Fahrenheit 451</i></a> – 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Idiocracy/HeEhayh6"><i>Idiocracy</i></a> – 2006 film by Mike Judge</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Idiot/yq2QL0Kt">Idiot/idiocy (Athenian democracy)</a> – Person of low intelligence</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Instrumentum_regni/q2gxJcnf">Instrumentum regni</a> – Exploitation of religion by State or ecclesiastical polity as a means of controlling the masses</li>
<li><a href="/facts/List_of_Latin_phrases/AEtMoFf9">List of Latin phrases</a></li>
<li>Panem, the setting of the young adult book series <i><a href="/facts/The_Hunger_Games/peFPyfk0">The Hunger Games</a></i> and its <a href="/facts/The_Hunger_Games_(film_series)/Hc0dh3Tq">film adaptations</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Prolefeed/dKMjhV9w">Prolefeed</a>, a word similar with "circuses," in the fictional language <i><a href="/facts/Newspeak/bwg5J0EU">Newspeak</a></i> of the novel <i><a href="/facts/Nineteen_Eighty-Four/cXSp743f">Nineteen Eighty-Four</a></i></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Plebs/jVV0GEo9">Plebs</a> – General body of free Roman citizensPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Theatre_state/94sQeND6">Theatre state</a> - ritual entertainment as the pre-eminent element in a political system</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Yumin_zhengce/kosckUUm">Yumin zhengce</a> – Chinese political science concept</li></ul>

<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<ul><li>Potter, D. and D. Mattingly, <i>Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire</i>. Ann Arbor (1999).</li>
<li>Rickman, G., <i>The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome</i>, Oxford (1980).</li></ul>
<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>

Look up <i>bread and circuses</i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

<ul>
<li>Ancient Rome portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/juvenal.html">Juvenal's 16 "Satires" in Latin</a>, at <a href="/facts/The_Latin_Library/A97GABrM">The Latin Library</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/juvenalpersius-intro.html">Juvenal's first 3 "Satires" in English</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Definition of BREAD AND CIRCUSES". www.merriam-webster.com. October 2023. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bread+and+circuses" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bread+and+circuses</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Juvenal's literary and cultural influence (Book IV: Satire 10.81) <a href="/wiki/Juvenal#Literary_and_cultural_influence" target="_blank">/wiki/Juvenal#Literary_and_cultural_influence</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"American Heritage Dictionary: to placate or distract". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121105143821/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bread%20and%20circuses" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121105143821/http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bread%20and%20circuses</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Infoplease Dictionary as pacification or diversion. <a href="http://dictionary.infoplease.com/bread-and-circuses" target="_blank">http://dictionary.infoplease.com/bread-and-circuses</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Keane, Catherine (2006). Figuring Genre in Roman Satire. Oxford University Press. p. 36. doi:10.1093/oso/9780195183306.001.0001. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Köhne, Eckhart (2000). "Bread and Circuses: The Politics of Entertainment". Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome. University of California Press. p. 8. hdl:2027/mdp.39015049512638. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>By J. P. Toner full quote at p.69. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>Erdkamp, Paul (2000). "Feeding Rome? Or Feeding Mars? A Long-Term Approach To C. Gracchus' 'Lex Frumentaria'". Ancient Society. 30: 53–70. JSTOR 44079806. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>Spaeth, Barbette Stanley (1996). The Roman goddess Ceres. University of Texas Press. pp. 47–48, 88, 98. ISBN 0-292-77693-4. <a href="0-292-77693-4" target="_blank">0-292-77693-4</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Hayne, Léonie (1991). "The First Cerialia". L'Antiquité Cģlassique. 60: 131–140. JSTOR 41655332. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Bread and circuses open-in-new

Bread and circuses