| Roman Games(Ludi Romani) | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | Roman Republic, Roman Empire |
| Type | Classical Roman religion |
| Date | September 4–19 |
| Related to | the god Jupiter |
TheLudi Romani ("Roman Games"; seeludi) was areligious festival in ancient Rome held annually, starting in 366 BC, from September 12 to September 14. In the 1st century BC, an extra day was added in honor of the deifiedJulius Caesar on 4 September and extended to September 19. The festival first introduced drama toRome based on Greek drama.
These games—the chiefRoman festival—were held in honor ofJupiter,[1] and are said to have been established byTarquinius Priscus on the occasion of his conquest of the Latin town ofApiolae.[2] However,Dionysius of Halicarnassus[3] andCicero[4] date them to the Roman victory over theLatins atLake Regillus during the earlyRepublic, ca. 496 BC.
The games were originally organized by theconsuls and later by thecurule aediles. At first they lasted only a day. A second day was added on the expulsion of the kings in 509 BC,[5] and a third after the firstsecession of the plebs in 494 BC.[6] From 191 to 171 BC they lasted ten days,[7] and shortly before Caesar's death they apparently lasted fifteen days,[8] from September 5 to 19. After Caesar's death a day was added.[9] This day must have been September 4, because Cicero says in "Against Verres"[10] that there were 45 days from theLudi Romani to theLudi Victoriae Sullanae on October 26. Thus, when this speech was composed in 70 BC, September 19 was already the last day of theLudi Romani.[11]
In calendars of theAugustan era, the days of the games are noted as September 4 to September 19. TheEpulum Jovis was celebrated on the 13th and theEquorum probatio (a cavalry revue) on the 14th.Circus games lasted from the 15th to the 19th. In theCalendar of Philocalus (354 AD) they run from September 12 to 15.
These games were not necessarily held every year from their inception. In many cases, games were based on a vow(votum) by a military commander, and were celebrated as a special festival after histriumphal procession. As the army used to go forth as a general rule each summer, it became customary when it returned in autumn to celebrate such games, though connected with no triumph, and though no signal victory had been gained. But still in all cases they were celebrated as extraordinary games, and not as games regularly established by law. They weresollemnes, "customary," but had not yet becomeannui, "yearly".[12] Livy identifies the two kinds, theludi magni and theludi Romani, and so do Cicero (Repub. ii. 20, 35), Festus (l. c), andPseudo-Asconius.[13] In all his other books, however, Livy observes a distinction which has been pointed out byFriedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (Parerga zuPlautus, &c. p. 290), thatludi magni is the term applied to extraordinary games originating in a vow (ludi votivi), whileludi Romani is that applied to the games when they were established as annual (ludi stati).Ludi Romani is first used by Livy in viii. 40, 2 (see Weissenborn ad loc); and after that the terms varied according as the games arestati (e.g. x. 47, 7; xxv. 2, 8) orvotivi. The distinction drawn by Ritschl is to be considered proven, but it is unclear when the "established" games became annual.
Most probably, says Mommsen,[14] the games became annual when the firstcurule aediles were appointed in 367 BC, as these officials – distinct from the existing plebeianaediles – were described ascuratores ludorum sollemnium. In the oldest Roman calendars, which likely date from the time of theDecemvirs in 450-449 BC (cf. Mommsen,Die römische Chronologie, &c. p. 30), these festivals are engraved in small letters rather than capitals, so they must be additions made after that time. Also, in 322 BC, theludi Romani are mentioned as a regular annual festival, so they must have become established by then. Therefore, the most reasonable date for their institution is 367 BC, when many changes in government and society were effected, including the addition of one day to the games and the appointment ofcurule aediles to superintend them.
Yet Livy and the other authors who identify theludi magni andRomani are not altogether in error: for the arrangement of the two kinds of games was similar. An incidental proof of this is that whenGnaeus Pompeius Magnusludi votivi in 70 BC, they lasted 15 days (CiceroIn Verrem i. 1. 0, 31), like the ludi Romani; and we find similar sums, viz. 200,000asses, bestowed for bothludi magni andludi Romani.[15] The actualludi Romani consisted of first a solemn procession(pompa), then achariot race in which each chariot inHomeric fashion carried a driver and a warrior, the latter at the end of the race leaping out and running on foot (Dionysius of Halicarnassus,Roman Antiquities vii. 72; and cf.Orelli, 2593, where a charioteer is spoken of aspedibus ad quadrigam). This is a practice confined to theludi Romani. In the exhibitions of riding, each rider had a second horse led by the hand (Festus, s. v.Paribus Equis), as it appears theRoman horsemen in early times often used two horses in battle,[16] like theTarentini in Greek warfare (Livy xxxv. 28, 8). Such riders were calleddesultores.[17]
Most likely, originally there was only one contest of each kind, and only two competitors in each contest (Liv. xliv. 9, 4), since at all periods in the Roman chariot-race only as many chariots competed as there were so-calledfactions, which were originally only two, the white and the red (Mommsen,Roman History i. 236, note). These few events allowed further minor exhibitions, such as boxers, dancers, competition in youthful horsemanship (ludus Trojae). It was allowed that the wreath the victor won (for this in Greek style was the prize of victory) should be put on his bier when dead (Twelve Tables, 10, 7, and Mommsen's remarks, Staatsrecht, i.2 411, note 2). Also, during the festival the successful warrior in real warfare (as opposed to imaginary warfare) wore the spoils he had won from the enemy, and was crowned with achaplet.
After the introduction of thedrama in 364, plays were acted at theludi Romani, and in 214 BC we know thatludi scenici took up four days of the festival (Liv. xxiv. 43, 7). In 161 BC thePhormio ofTerence was acted at these games.
The classic work on theLudi Romani is Mommsen's article "Die Ludi Magni und Romani" in hisRömische Forschungen, ii. 42-57 = Rheinisches Museum, xiv. 79–87; see also hisRoman History, i. 235-237 (where the Greek influences on the Roman games are traced), 472, 473; and Friedländer in Marquardt'sStaatsverwaltung, iii. 477, 478.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Ludi Romani".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray.
