The Gateway to the Middle Ages

Throughout the Roman Empire there were more than 50,000 miles of roads. These roads led to the many different townships and outposts that comprised the 3,000 mile (in breadth) empire that the Romans had established. Something that I find very interesting about these many cities within the Roman Empire is the massive arches. I am not discussing the arches that one can see in the architectural style that the Romans used, but instead the massive arches that mark the cities as one enters. After visiting Volubilis in Morocco, where I saw a massive arch over the road, I wondered what its significance may be. As an observer I initially thought that arches such as this could be used to show a city's prominence but my curiosity pushed me to dive deeper into their purpose during the Roman era.

These arches are more accurately called triumphal arches. They had no real function other than the beautiful aesthetics and awe they provide to observers. Despite their lack in function, the arches were built deliberately. The intentions of these arches were to commemorate victories or ascensions to power by rulers (hence the name triumphal arches). They were commonly decorated with sculptures and even inscribed with brass letters. The arch I saw in Volubilis, called the arch of Caracalla, was built to honor the emperor Caracalla who is also know as Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus. He was born to a North African father and Syrian mother, and the arch was to honor not only his lineage to a North African but also his granting citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Overall, the triumphal arches were mere aesthetics used to glorify the Roman empire. What is interesting is that despite this glory and honor the arches symbolized, Rome ultimately fell. And as a result, these arches served the same purpose as what the St. Louis arch does today. To the individuals living after the fall of the Roman empire these arches were mere remnants of that era and, for us, they can be looked at as gateways marking the passage from the Roman era into the Middle Ages.    


Cartwright, Mark. "Triumphal Arches." www.ancient.eu, last modified December 31, 2012.
http://www.ancient.eu/Triumphal_Arch/.
Kolb, Frank P. "Caracalla." Encyclapedia Britanica, last modified February 8, 2008.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caracalla.
Photo provided by Ben James, taken December 30, 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volubilis

Water Jousting .vs. Jousting

During the Middle Ages, jousting was a very common sport. When participating in jousting, two opponents would ride on horseback and fight using lances. A medieval lance was usually a wooden spear with a metal tip on the end (Lance-Medieval Middle Ages). When discussing medieval sport, most people are unaware of water jousting. When I asked people to describe water jousting to me, they just assumed that it was like normal jousting, but in the water. However, this is a false assumption. While jousting was performed in a court yard at a castle, water jousting took place in rivers. Instead of horses, people who participated in water jousting would stand up near the bow of a boat and use a long pole to try and knock down an opponent in an oncoming boat (Newman).

The illuminated manuscript below shows an example of water jousting. The illuminated manuscript comes from Oxford. By viewing this image, you can clearly visualize how water jousting might have looked. Viewers can distinguish the pole, and the opponent and the other people in the boat.

Newman mentions in his book, "Daily Life in the Middle Ages", that water jousting took place

during the summer as part of a civic festival. One interesting fact that I learned from Newman is that water jousting involved young men from sponsoring towns rather than nobles practicing for war.

I really like water jousting because no one ever got seriously injured during the game. During regular jousting, the opponents have to worry about injury's or death from the lances. In contrast, the worst outcome from water jousting is getting knocked into the water.   

Sources:

Newman, Paul B. "Relaxing and Playing." Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. 163-64. Print.                         

Unknown. "Lance - Medieval Middle Ages." Medieval Middle Ages. N.p., 03 Feb. 2013. Web. 29 Aug. 2016. <http://www.medievalmiddleages.com/weapons/lance.html>. 

Illuminated Manuscript:

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 264