What are VOMS in theater?

What are VOMS in theater?

Named for the Latin vomitorium, a “vom” is a specific type of entranceway in theatre. They signify an entrance/exit for the actors that emerges beneath seating. In ancient Rome, vomitoriums were corridors built beneath or behind seats of a coliseum, stadium, theatre, or arena.

Is the vomitorium real?

The vomitorium is clearly part of this group, but no ancient source actually employs the word to describe a place for post-prandial puking. It first appears in the Saturnalia of Macrobius, written in the 5th century AD. Vomitorium/vomitoria are still used today by archaeologists as architectural terms.

What was Roman theatre known for?

While amphitheatres would feature races and gladiatorial events, theatres hosted events such as plays, pantomimes, choral events, orations, and commerce. Their design, with its semicircular form, enhances the natural acoustics, unlike Roman amphitheatres constructed in the round.

What were the vomitoria in the Colosseum?

As far as pop culture is concerned, a vomitorium is a room where ancient Romans went to throw up lavish meals so they could return to the table and feast some more. It’s a striking illustration of gluttony and waste, and one that makes its way into modern texts.

Did the Romans invent the word vomit?

Historical notes. A commonly held but erroneous notion is that Ancient Romans designated spaces called vomitoria for the purpose of literal vomiting, as part of a binge and purge cycle.

Did ancient Romans have Vomitoriums?

In ancient Roman architecture, vomitoria were designed to provide rapid egress for large crowds at amphitheatres and stadia, as they do in modern sports stadia and large theatres.

What is a VOM arena?

Home. » VOM or VOMITORIUM. Definition: A passageway, originally for spectators, used to clear the seating area in quick fashion.

Who could attend Roman plays?

Of these three divisions, the summa cavea or ‘the gallery’ was where men (without togas or pullati (poor)), women, and sometimes slaves (by admission) were seated. The seating arrangements of the theatre highlight the gender disparities in Roman society, as women were seated among the slaves.

Where does the word vomitoria come from?

It first appears in the Saturnalia of Macrobius, written in the 5th century AD. Macrobius uses the plural vomitoria to refer to the passages through which spectators could “spew forth” into their seats at public entertainment venues.

Why is there a vomitorium in the dining room?

It was once thought that a diner could, at this point in the meal, make a quick visit to the vomitorium – a room adjacent to the dining room replete with a basin and feathers to tickle the throat – in order to make room for the next course.

What does vomitorium mean in the Bible?

The door of his sacred boudoir was thrown rudely open, and there strode in, like a Goth into the elegant marble vomitorium of Petronius Arbiter, a haggard and dishevelled person… This passage is commonly cited as the first time vomitorium was misused to mean a room used for vomiting.

Was there a vomitorium in the Flavian Palace?

In the very same year English writer Augustus Hare published his Walks in Rome, in which he assumed that the chamber adjacent to the dining room in the Flavian Palace on the Palatine was none other than a vomitorium, which he described as “a disgusting memorial of Roman life”.