Download Castano Saecular Games

Dominique Castano-Polfleit
Roman Religion Presentation
November 5, 2014
CLS 309 A
Saecular Games of 17 BCE
The Saecular Games, Latin ludi saeculares, were celebrations that were held in
ancient Rome to mark the end of a saeculum and beginning of a new one. A saeculum
was supposedly the longest possible length of human life. It was considered as either 100
or 110 years in length. The celebration was held for three days and three nights. The
celebrations involved sacrifices and theatrical performances.
The Saecular Games started with a Sabine man called Valesius. They began
when Valesius prayed for a cure for his children's illness and was supernaturally ordered
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 established 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. Celebrations of the Games under the Roman Republic are poorly
documented. According to Varro, an antiquarian of the 1st century BC, the Games were
introduced after a series of omens led to a consultation of the Sibylline Books by the
quindecimviri. In agreement with the directions contained in these books, sacrifices were
offered at the 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 certainly take place
in either 149 or 146 BC, at the time of the Third Punic War. This series would have led
to a celebration in 49 BC, but the civil wars apparently prevented this.
Augustus revived these games in 17 BCE. Much like the original games
Augustus’s games took place over three days and three nights. There were also sacrifices
made and theatrical performances were carried out. Although the structure of the games
remained the same, Augustus made many changes to the Saecular Games that were held
in 17 BCE.
During the Saecular Games of 17 BCE, before the games actually took place
messengers went around the city and invited the people of Rome to witness a spectacle
like never before and that they would never see again. The quindecimviri sat on the
Capitol and in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, and handed out torches, sulphur and
asphalt to the citizens of Rome. These were to be burned as a means of purification.
There were also offerings of wheat, barley, and beans that were made.
In addition to the nighttime sacrifices, that were a part of the original games, the
games of 17 BCE also introduced daytime sacrifices. These sacrifices were to Roman
deities and they were held on the Capitoline and Palatine hills. Unlike the original games
the nighttime sacrifices were not made to the underworld deities Dis Pater and
Proserpina, but they were made to the Moerae (fates), the Ilythiae (goddesses of
childbirth), and Terra Mater (the "Earth mother"). These deities were considered as more
beneficial honorands. The nocturnal sacrifices on the Campus Martius alternated with
daytime sacrifices to on the Capitoline and Palatine hills. Each sacrifice was followed by
theatrical performances
The Senate ruled that a written record of the Games should be set up in the
Tarentum, a site in the Campus Martius. This written record has survived, and provides
information about the ceremonies. The poet Horace also composed a poem about these
games called Carmen saeculare also called the Saecular Hymn.
Later emperors held the Saecular Games after Augustus. They were held in the
years of 88 and 204 AD, which were about 110 years apart. However, they were also
held by Claudius in AD 47 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Rome's foundation,
which led to a second cycle of Games in 148 and 248. The Games were abandoned under
later Christian emperors.
Works Cited
Secular Games. (2014, October 25). Retrieved November 5, 2014.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Secular Games (ancient Roman
games). Retrieved November 5, 2014.