{{Short description|Ancient Roman religious festival}} {{Infobox holiday |holiday_name = Quinquatria |type = |longtype = [[Religion in ancient Rome|Classical Roman religion]] |image = |caption = |nickname = Quinquatrus |observedby = [[Roman Republic]],<br>[[Roman Empire]] |date = 19 March |celebrations = |observances = |relatedto = }} The '''Quinquatria''' or '''Quinquatrus''' was a [[Roman festival|festival]] in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], sacred to the Goddess [[Minerva]], celebrated 19–23 March. According to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]],<ref>''de Ling. Lat.'' vi.14</ref> it was so called because it was held on the fifth (''quinqu-'') day after the [[Ides (calendar)|Ides]], in the same way as the [[Tusculans]] called a festival on the sixth day after the Ides ''Sexatrus'' or one on the seventh ''Septimatrus''.<ref>In similar fashion, [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] states that the [[Faliscans]] called a festival on the tenth day after the Ides ''Decimatrus''.</ref> Both Varro and Festus state that the Quinquatrus was celebrated for only one day, but [[Ovid]]<ref>''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' iii.809, &c.</ref> says that it was celebrated for five days, hence the name: on the first day no blood was shed, but that on the last four there were contests of [[gladiator]]s. The first day was the festival proper, and that the following four were an expansion made perhaps in the time of [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] to gratify the people. The ancient [[Roman calendar|Roman religious calendars]] assign only one day to the festival.
Ovid says that this festival was celebrated in commemoration of the birthday of Minerva, but according to Festus it was sacred to Minerva because her temple on the [[Aventine Hill|Aventine]] was consecrated on that day. On the fifth day of the festival, according to Ovid,<ref>''Fasti'' iii.849</ref> the trumpets used in sacred rites were purified; but this seems to have been originally a separate festival called [[Tubilustrium]], which ancient calendars place on 23 March. When the celebration of Quinquatrus was extended to five days, the Tubilustrium would have fallen on the last day of that festival.
As this festival was sacred to Minerva, it seems that [[Religion in ancient Rome#Superstitio and magic|women were accustomed to consult fortune-tellers and diviners]] upon this day.{{huh|date=January 2012}} [[Domitian]] caused it to be celebrated every year in his Alban villa, situated at the foot of the [[Alban Hills]], and instituted a ''[[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegium]]'' to superintend the celebration, which consisted of [[venatio|shows of wild beasts]], of the [[Theatre of ancient Rome|exhibition of plays]], and of contests of orators and poets.<ref>Suetonius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html#4 ''The Life of Domitian'', 4]</ref>
There was also another festival of this name called ''Quinquatrus Minusculae'' or ''Quinquatrus Minores'', celebrated on the Ides of June, on which the ''[[aulos|tibicines]]'' went through the city in procession to the temple of Minerva.
==Historical significance== At the Quinquatria in 59, [[Nero]] invited his mother, [[Agrippina the Younger]], to his villa near [[Baiae]] in an attempt to assassinate her. His old tutor, [[Anicetus (freedman)|Anicetus]], whom he had raised to be captain of the fleet of [[Misenum]], had undertaken to construct a vessel which could be sunk, without exciting suspicion. Agrippina landed at [[Bauli]], between Baiae and [[Cape Misenum]], and completed her journey in a [[Litter (vehicle)|litter]]. After the banquet, when night had fallen, she was induced to return to Bauli in the vessel which had been prepared for her destruction. But the mechanism did not work as planned, and Agrippina succeeded in swimming to shore, from which she proceeded to her villa on the [[Lucrinus Lacus|Lucrine lake]]. Nero soon after succeeded in his goal, however, with further help from Anicetus.<ref>Bury, p 279.</ref>
==References== <references/>
==Sources== *{{SmithDGRA}} *{{1728}} *Bury, John Bagnell. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=irZecmG1AEIC The Student's Roman Empire]''. Harper. 1893.
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[[Category:Ancient Roman festivals]] [[Category:March observances]] [[Category:Festivals of Athena]] [[Category:Minerva]]