I hope the reader will forgive my approximation of the modern phrase ‘Netflix and chill’ in Latin, and I do not wish to start a fierce debate on how we should translate such a phrase. I chose spectans for ‘watching’ and frigidulus for ‘chill’ (although the latter is a term associated with cold rather than relaxation – I didn’t want to use relaxo). Nonetheless, thinking about how ancient societies spent their free time raises many pertinent questions.
The first question might be “Whose free time?’ or “Whose leisure?” It is true that most of our evidence for such activities comes from the upper classes of ancient societies, whether they are Greek, Roman, Near Eastern, or Egyptian. This evidence comes from men and women who could afford free time. Lower classes probably saw much less free time away from their working activities and, what is more, their lives have left much less material and literary evidence. It is true that some leisure activities such as hunting and fishing, attending religious festivals, and playing games probably spanned all strata of society, although perhaps on different scales. Things such as Greek or Roman dinner parties may also have been undertaken by all levels of society, but our evidence of them is usually from an elite perspective. The poems of Pindar, Bacchylides, and other lyric poets were intended to be performed at private Greek dinners, but or – we might also question the idea of participating in sports as leisure (as opposed to watching sports as a leisure activity). Many of the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon are set in wrestling schools, and these seem to represent all sections of society (although this may be an illusion and only the upper levels of society are again reflected).
