Secular Games

{{Short description|Roman religious celebration}} The '''Secular''' or '''Saecular Games'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rüpke |first1=Jörg |title=Pantheon: A new history of Roman religion |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=978-1-4008-8885-6 |pages=193–203}}</ref> ({{lang|la|Ludi Saeculares}}) was an [[ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] [[Religion in ancient Rome|religious]] celebration involving [[sacrifices]], [[theatre of ancient Rome|theatrical performances]], and [[ludi|public games]] ({{lang|la|ludi}}). It was held irregularly in [[Rome]] for three days and nights to mark the ends of various eras ({{lang|la|[[saeculum|saecula]]}}) and to celebrate the beginning of the next.<ref name="Bilynskyj2022">{{Cite book |last=Dunning |first=Susan Bilynskyj |title=Conceptions of time in Greek and Roman antiquity |date=2022-06-06 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-073607-6 |editor-last=Faure |editor-first=Richard |publication-place=Berlin |language=en |chapter=The transformation of the {{lang|la|saeculum}} and its rhetoric in the construction and rejection of Roman imperial power |doi=10.1515/9783110736076-008 |editor-last2=Valli |editor-first2=Simon-Pierre |editor-last3=Zucker |editor-first3=Arnaud |doi-access=free}}</ref> In particular, the Romans reckoned a {{lang|la|saeculum}} as the longest possible length of human life, either 100 or 110 years in length;<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-12259-8|editor1=Hubert Cancik |editor2=Helmuth Schneider |editor3=Christine F. Salazar |editor4=David E. Orton |last1=Haase|first1=Mareile|last2=Rüpke|first2=Jörg|title=Saeculum|encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the ancient world|location=Leiden|date=2002|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1027080}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Bilynskyj Dunning|first1=Susan|title=Saeculum|encyclopedia=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]|date=November 2017|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8233|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:abd6baef-1ce3-46c5-9c54-2b174353967f|url-access=subscription}}</ref> as such, it was used to mark various centennials, particularly anniversaries from the computed [[founding of Rome]].

According to [[Roman mythology]], the Secular Games began as the '''Tarentine Games''' ({{lang|la|Ludi Tarentini}}) when a [[Sabine]] man called Valesius prayed for a cure for his children's illness and was supernaturally instructed to sacrifice on the [[Campus Martius]] to [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]], deities of the underworld. Some ancient authors traced official celebrations of the Games as far back as 509 BC, but the only clearly attested celebrations under the [[Roman Republic]] took place in 249 and in the 140s BC. They involved sacrifices to the underworld gods over three consecutive nights. The Games were revived in 17 BC by Rome's first emperor [[Augustus]], with the nocturnal sacrifices on the Campus Martius now transferred to the [[Moirai|Moerae]] (fates), the [[Eileithyia|Ilythiae]] (goddesses of childbirth), and [[Terra Mater]] ("Mother Earth"). The Games of 17 BC also introduced day-time sacrifices to Roman deities on the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitoline]] and [[Palatine Hill|Palatine]] hills. Certain sacrifices were unusually specified to be performed by married women.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1163/15685276-12341504| issn = 1568-5276| volume = 65| issue = 4| pages = 377–404| last = Darja| first = Šterbenc Erker| title = Augustus' "New" Festival: The Centrality of Married Women's Rituals at the ''Ludi Saeculares'' of 17 BCE| journal = Numen| date = 2018-05-02}}</ref> Each sacrifice was followed by theatrical performances.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.2307/283039|volume=72|pages=36–48|last=Boyce|first=Aline Abaecherli|title=Processions in the Acta Ludorum Saecularium|journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association|date=1941|jstor=283039}}</ref> Later emperors held celebrations in AD 88 and 204, after intervals of roughly 110 years. However, they were also held by [[Claudius]] in AD 47 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Rome's foundation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tacitus |first1=Cornelius |author1-link=Tacitus |editor1-last=Furneaux |editor1-first=Henry |editor1-link=Henry Furneaux |title=Annals XI|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=17|edition=1907|quote=ludi saeculares octingentesimo post Romam conditam|language=la}}</ref> which led to a second cycle of Games in 148 and 248. The Games were abandoned under later Christian emperors.

==Republic== According to [[Roman mythology]] told by [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], the Secular Games originated with a [[Sabine]] man called Valesius, ancestor of the [[Valerius|Valerii]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bilynskyj Dunning |first=Susan |date=2020 |title=The Republican Ludi Saeculares as a cult of the Valerian gens |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:64ed5758-ecce-430f-94b9-0b2f450c5ec2 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |language=en |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=208 |doi=10.25162/historia-2020-0010 |s2cid=216460005 |issn=0018-2311|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Bilynskyj Dunning|first1=Susan|title=Secular Games|encyclopedia=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]|date=March 2016|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5781|isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:207bc596-f68c-402c-ac6a-4a6326485e25|url-access=subscription}}</ref> When his children became seriously ill, he prayed to his household gods for their cure, offering to give up his own life in exchange. A voice told him to take them to [[Taranto|Tarentum]] and to give them water from the [[Tiber]] to drink, heated on an altar of [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]].<ref>{{Cite book|doi=10.1075/cilt.81.10wat|publisher=Benjamins|isbn=978-90-272-3578-7|pages=135|editor1=Winfred P. Lehmann |editor2=Helen-Jo Jakusz Hewitt |last=Watkins|first=Calvert|title=Language typology 1988: Typological models in reconstruction|chapter=Latin ''tarentum Accas'', the ''ludi Saeculares'', and Indo-European Eschatology|location=Amsterdam|series=Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science|date=1991|volume=81}}</ref> Assuming that he had to travel to the Greek colony of Tarentum in southern Italy, he set out with his children on the journey. Sailing along the Tiber, he was instructed by the voice to stop on the [[Campus Martius]], at a place which happened also to be called Tarentum. When he warmed water from the river and gave it to the children, they were miraculously cured and fell asleep. When they woke up, they informed Valesius that a figure had appeared to them in a dream and told the family to sacrifice to [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]]. Upon digging, Valesius found that an altar to those deities was buried on the site, and performed the ritual as instructed.<ref>[[Valerius Maximus]] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1038.phi001.perseus-lat1:2.4.5 2.4.5].</ref><ref name=zosimus>[[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus02_book2.htm 2].</ref>

Celebrations of the Games under the [[Roman Republic]] are poorly documented. Although some Roman antiquarians traced them as far back as 509 BC,<ref>[[Censorinus]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Censorinus/text*.html#17.10 17.10].</ref> some modern scholars consider that the first celebration well attested as having taken place was that of 249 BC, during the [[First Punic War]].<ref>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, pp. 71–72.</ref><ref name=livy>[[Livy]], ''Periochae'' [https://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae048.html#49 49.6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204053742/http://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae048.html#49 |date=2018-12-04 }}.</ref> But even the historicity of the later republican Secular games of 249 and 146 is disputed.{{sfn|Weiß|1973}} According to [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], an antiquarian of the 1st century BC, the Games were introduced after a series of [[Portent (divination)|portent]]s led to a consultation of the [[Sibylline Books]] by the [[quindecimviri sacris faciundis|quindecimviri]].<ref>[[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] in Censorinus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Censorinus/text*.html#17.8 17.8].</ref> In accordance with the instructions contained in these books, sacrifices were offered at the [[Tarentum (Campus Martius)|Tarentum on the Campus Martius]] over three nights, to the underworld deities of [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]]. Varro also states that a vow was made that the Games would be repeated every hundred years, and another celebration did indeed take place in either 149 or 146 BC, at the time of the [[Third Punic War]].<ref name=livy/><ref name=censorinus>Censorinus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Censorinus/text*.html#17.11 17.11].</ref> However, Beard, North and Price suggest that the Games of 249 and the 140s BC were both held because of the immediate pressures of war, and that it was only with the revival in the 140s that they came to be considered as a regular centennial celebration.<ref>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, pp. 71–72, 111.</ref> This sequence would have led to a celebration in 49 BC, but the civil wars apparently prevented this.

==Augustus== The Games were revived in 17 BC by Rome's first emperor [[Augustus]]. The date was justified by a [[Sibylline Books|Sibylline]] oracle that called for the Games to be celebrated every 110 years, and a new reconstruction of the Games' Republican history which placed a first celebration in 456 BC.<ref>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, p. 205. The oracle is preserved in Zosimus [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus02_book2.htm 2], and is also translated by Braund, no. 770. This cycle would logically have led to Games in 16 rather than 17 BC; the reason for the discrepancy is unclear (Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, p. 205 and n. 126).</ref>

Before the Games themselves, heralds went around the city and invited the people to "a spectacle, such as they had never witnessed and never would again".<ref name=zosimus/> The [[Quindecimviri sacris faciundis|quindecimviri]] sat on the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitol]] and in the [[Temple of Apollo Palatinus|temple of Apollo]] on [[Palatine Hill|the Palatine]], and handed out to the free citizens torches, [[sulphur]] and [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]], to be burnt as a means of purification. (This may have been modelled on the purificatory rituals of the [[Parilia]], the anniversary of Rome's foundation.)<ref>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, p. 203.</ref> Offerings of wheat, barley, and beans were also made.<ref name=zosimus/>

The Senate decreed that an inscribed record of the Games should be set up in the [[Tarentum (Campus Martius)|Tarentum]], a site in the Campus Martius.<ref>Braund, no. 768.</ref> This inscription has partially survived,<ref>Inscription {{CIL|06|32323}} = {{AE|2002|192}}, with [https://www.attalus.org/docs/cil/games.html English translation].</ref> and offers information about the ceremonies.<ref name=record>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 2, no. 5.7b = Braund, no. 769.</ref> The night-time sacrifices were made not to the underworld deities Dis Pater and Proserpina, but to the [[Moirai|Moerae]] (fates), the [[Eileithyia|Ilythiae]] (goddesses of childbirth), and [[Terra Mater]] (the "Earth mother"). These were "more beneficent honorands, who nonetheless shared with Dis Pater and Proserpina the twin characteristics of being Greek in nomenclature and without cult in the Roman state".<ref name="Feeney">{{Cite book| doi=10.3366/edinburgh/9780748615650.003.0027 | publisher = Edinburgh University Press| isbn = 978-0-7486-1565-0| pages = 106–116 |editor1-last=Ando |editor1-first=Clifford| last = Feeney| first = Dennis| title = Roman religion| chapter = The ''Ludi Saeculares'' and the ''Carmen Saeculare''| location = Edinburgh| series = Edinburgh readings on the ancient world| date = 2003| jstor = 10.3366/j.ctt1r2b8s.15}}</ref> The nocturnal sacrifices to Greek deities on the Campus Martius alternated with day-time sacrifices to Roman deities on the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitoline]] and [[Palatine Hill|Palatine]] hills.

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Date ! Time ! Location ! Deities ! Sacrifices |- style="background:lightgray; color:black" | May 31 | Night | Campus Martius | [[Moirai|Moerae]] | 9 female lambs, 9 she-goats |- style="background:white; color:black" | June 1 | Day | Capitoline Hill | [[Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] | 2 bulls |- style="background:lightgray; color:black" | June 1 | Night | Campus Martius | [[Eileithyia|Ilythiae]] (Εἰλείθυια) | 27 sacrificial cakes (9 of each of three types) |- style="background:white; color:black" | June 2 | Day | Capitoline Hill | [[Juno Regina]] | 2 cows |- style="background:lightgray; color:black" | June 2 | Night | Campus Martius | [[Terra Mater]] | Pregnant sow |- style="background:white; color:black" | June 3 | Day | Palatine Hill | [[Apollo]] and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] | 27 sacrificial cakes (9 of each of three types) |} The key roles were played by Augustus and his son-in-law [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]], in their capacity as members of the [[Quindecimviri sacris faciundis|quindecimviri]]; Augustus participated alone in the night-time sacrifices but was joined by Agrippa for those during the day. After the sacrifices of June 3, choirs of boys and girls sang the ''[[Carmen Saeculare]]'', composed for the occasion by the poet [[Horace]].<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1556/AntTan.45.2001.1-2.7|issn=0003-567X|volume=45|issue=1|pages=63–73|last=Bollók|first=János|title=A ''Carmen saeculare'' és a ''Ludi Saeculares''|journal=Antik Tanulmányok|date=2001|url=https://real.mtak.hu/62799/1/anttan.45.2001.1-2.7.pdf }}</ref> This hymn was sung both on the Palatine and then on the Capitoline, but its words focus on the Palatine deities Apollo and Diana, which were more closely associated with Augustus. The hymn adds a further level of complexity to the alternation of sacrifices between Greek and Roman deities by addressing the Greek deities under Latin names.<ref name="Feeney"/>

Each sacrifice was followed by theatrical performances. Once the major sacrifices were over, the days between June 5 and June 11 were devoted to Greek and Latin plays, and June 12 saw chariot racing and displays of hunting.<ref name=record/>

==Later games== The Games continued to be celebrated under later emperors, but two different systems of calculation were used to determine their dates. [[Claudius]] held them in AD 47 to celebrate the 800th year from the foundation of Rome.<ref name=censorinus/><ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Ann.+11.11 11.11].</ref> According to [[Suetonius]], a herald's proclamation of a spectacle "which no one had ever seen or would ever see again" amused his listeners, some of whom had attended the Games under Augustus.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''[[On the Life of the Caesars#Life of Claudius|Claudius]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html#21.2 21.2].</ref>

Under subsequent emperors, Games were celebrated on both the Augustan and the Claudian systems. [[Domitian]] held his in AD 88,<ref name=censorinus/><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.3764/aja.110.4.581|volume=110|issue=4|pages=581–602|last=Sobocinski|first=Melanie Grunow|title=Visualizing Ceremony: The Design and Audience of the Ludi Saeculares Coinage of Domitian|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|date=2006|jstor=40025059|s2cid=192958570 }}</ref> possibly 110 years from a planned Augustan celebration in 22 BC,<ref>Suetonius, ''[[On the Life of the Caesars#Life of Domitian|Domitian]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html#4.3 4.3], with Jones and Milns, p. 130.</ref> and he was followed by [[Septimius Severus]] in AD 204, 220 years from the actual Augustan celebration.<ref name=zosimus/><ref name=censorinus/> On both occasions, the procedure used in 17 BC was followed closely.<ref name=bnp>Beard ''et al.'', vol. 1, p. 206.</ref> [[Antoninus Pius]] on 21 August 148<ref name=rachet>{{citation |last=Rachet |first=Marguerite |contribution-url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1980_num_82_3_4084 |contribution=''Decennalia'' et ''Vincennalia'' sous la Dynastie des Antonins |language=fr |trans-contribution=''Decennalia'' and ''Vicennalia'' under the Antonine Dynasty |title=Revue des Études Anciennes |trans-title=Review of Ancient Studies |date=1980 |volume=82 |issue=3–4 |pages=200–242 |publisher=University Press of Bordeaux |location=Bordeaux }}.</ref> and [[Philip the Arab|Philip I]] in 248 followed Claudius in celebrating the 900- and 1000-year anniversaries of Rome's foundation, respectively. These involved rituals at the [[Temple of Venus and Roma]] instead of the Tarentum, and the date was probably changed to the [[Parilia]] on April 21.<ref name=bnp/> In the case of Antoninus Pius, the games aligned with his [[decennalia]], the celebration of the first ten years of his own rule.<ref name=rachet/>

By 314, 110 years from the Games of Septimius Severus, the Christian [[Constantine I]] was emperor, and no Secular Games were held. The pagan historian [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] (''[[floruit|fl.]]'' c. 498–518), who wrote the most detailed extant account of the Games, blamed this neglect of the traditional ritual for the [[decline of the Roman Empire]].<ref name=zosimus/>

==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book | last1 = Beard| first1 = Mary| last2 = North| first2 = John A.| last3 = Price| first3 = Simon |title=Religions of Rome |year=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-30401-6 |id=(vol. 1). (vol. 2) }} *{{cite book |last=Braund |first=David C. |title=Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History 31 BC–AD 68 |year=1985 |publisher=Barnes and Noble |location=Totowa |isbn=978-0-389-20536-4 }} *{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Brian |author2=Robert Milns |title=Suetonius: The Flavian Emperors: A Historical Commentary |year=2002 |publisher=Bristol Classical Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-85399-613-9 }} *{{Cite book|edition=2nd|publisher=Schippers|last=Pighi|first=Giovanni Battista|title=De ludis saecularibus populi Romani Quiritium|location=Amsterdam|date=1965}} *{{cite book|last=Schnegg|first=Bärbel|title=Die Inschriften zu den Ludi saeculares. Acta ludorum saecularium|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110607833|publisher=de Gruyter|location=Berlin/Boston|year=2020|doi=10.1515/9783110607833 |isbn=978-3-11-060783-3 |language=la, de}} *{{cite journal|last=Weiß|first=Peter|title=Die "Säkularspiele" der Republik – eine annalistische Fiktion|journal=Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung|volume=80|year=1973|pages=205–217}} *{{EB1911|wstitle=Secular Games|volume=24|page=573}} {{refend}}

== External links == * [https://www.vosper4coins.co.uk/rev/Animals/Saeculares.htm Coins commemorating secular celebrations and games under Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus and Philip I]

[[Category:Ancient Roman games festivals]] [[Category:May observances]] [[Category:June observances]] [[Category:Jupiter (god)]] [[Category:Juno (mythology)]] [[Category:Festivals of Apollo]] [[Category:Diana (mythology)]]