"Bread and circuses" has come to be a derogatory phrase that can criticize either government policies to pacify the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires of that same citizenry. In both cases, it refers to low-cost, low-quality, high-availability food and entertainment that have become the sole concern of the People, to the exclusion of matters that the speaker considers more important: e.g. the Arts, public works projects, human rights, or democracy itself. The phrase is commonly used to refer to short-term government palliatives offered in place of a solution for significant, long-term problems. See also Decadent movement Decadence refers to a personal trait and, much more commonly, to a state of society. ...

History

This phrase originates in Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries. In context, the Latin phrase panem et circenses (bread and circuses) is given as the only remaining cares of a Roman populace which has given up its birthright of political freedom: Frontispiece depicting Juvenal and Persius, from a volume translated by John Dryden in 1711. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ... The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 100 according the Gregorian calendar. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Juvenal here makes reference to the elite Roman practice of providing free wheat to some poor Romans as well as costly circus games and other forms of entertainment as a means of gaining political power through popularity. The Annona (grain dole) was begun under the instigation of the populist Gracchi in 123 BC; it remained an object of political contention until it was taken under the control of the Roman emperors. Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek and Roman sports. ... The megalopolis of ancient Rome could never be fed entirely from its own surrounding countryside. ... The Gracchi were a plebeian family of ancient Rome. ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC - 120s BC - 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC Years: 128 BC 127 BC 126 BC 125 BC 124 BC - 123 BC - 122 BC 121 BC... This is a list of Roman Emperors with the dates they controlled the Roman Empire. ...

A reference in the The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (1993) states that Juvenal displayed his contempt for the declining heroism of his contemporary Romans in this passage.^[1] Spanish intellectuals between the 19th and 20th centuries complained about the similar pan y toros ("bread and bullfights"). This article is about the type of character. ... Spanish toreo, corrida de toros or tauromaquia; Portuguese corrida de touros or tauromaquia) is a blood sport that involves, most of the times, professional performers (matadores) who execute various formal moves with the goal of appearing graceful and confident, while masterful over the bull itself; these maneuvers are performed at...

Bread and circuses in the popular culture

• An episode of Star Trek: The Original Series uses the title "Bread and Circuses." In this story, Captain Kirk and his companions are forced to fight in gladiatorial games on a planet modeled after the Roman Empire as the crew of the Enterprise tries to find fellow humans from Earth that crashed there six years earlier.

• London-based punk band Million Dead have a song titled "Bread and Circuses" on their second album "Harmony No Harmony". It contains the lyrics "If every hour that I have spent stuck in a circus was spent learning a language, I’d have so much more to say. And if every penny that I have spent on processed bread was spent on growing my own food, my skin wouldn’t look so grey."

• The Pet Shop Boys mention the phrase in two songs, "The sound of the atom splitting" (bread and circuses) and "Luna Park" (with circuses and bread we're happy)

• Argentine comedian Enrique Pinti has a classic monologue about society called 'Pan y Circo' (Bread and Circuses)

• The Brazilian Tropicália movement's musical manifesto is titled Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses, which was misremembered Latin from Tropicalista Caetano Veloso's school days. Leading troicalia band Os Mutantes also recorded a song on their first album titled "Pan et Circenses".

The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... Bread and Circuses is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, broadcast on March 15, 1968. ... Million Dead Million Dead were a London-based hardcore punk band. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ... Enrique Pinti is a famous Argentine political humorist and actor. ... Tropicalismo, also known as Tropicália, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry and music, among other forms. ... Os Mutantes (IPA pronunciation: , Portuguese for The Mutants) was an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that arose out of the Tropicalia movement of the late 1960s. ...

Notes

1. ^ Hirsch, Kett, & Trefil (1993). The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Houghton Mifflin.

References

• Potter, D. and D. Mattingly, Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire. Ann Arbor (1999).
• Rickman, G., The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome Oxford (1980).

See also

• Prolefeed

Prolefeed is a Newspeak term in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. ...

External links

• Juvenal's 16 "Satires" in Latin, at The Latin Library
• Juvenal's first 3 "Satires" in English