Ludi Romani

Infobox Holiday
holiday_name = Ludi Romani
type = Pagan
longtype = Pagan, Historical, Cultural


caption =
official_name = Ludi Romani
nickname = Roman Games
observedby = Ancient Romans
begins = 4 September
ends = 19 September
celebrations =
observances =
relatedto =

The Ludi Romani (Roman special activites) were a free religious festival in ancient Rome. They were held annually since 366 BC, normally from September 12 to September 14, but extended to September 5 to September 19, and eventually started on 4 September in honor of the murdered Julius Caesar. The festival first introduced drama to Rome based on Greek drama.

These games (the chief Roman festival) were in honour of Jupiter (Festus, s. v. Magnos Ludos), and are said to have been established by Tarquinius Priscus on the occasion of his conquest of the Latin Apiolae (Livy I.35, 9); though Dionysius of Halicarnassus (vii. 71) and Cicero (de Div. i. 26, 55) refer the establishment to the victory over the Latins at Lake Regillus.

At first they lasted only one day. A second day was added on the expulsion of the kings in 509 BC (Dionys. vi. 95), a third after the first secession of the plebs in 494 BC (Liv. vi. 42, 12). From the year 191 to 171 they lasted ten days (Liv. xxxvi. 2, xxxix. 22, 1; Mommsen, Röm. Forsch. ii. 54), and shortly before Caesar's death they apparently lasted fifteen days (Cic. Verr. i. 1. 0, 31), September 5 to September 19. After Caesar's death a day was added (Cic. Phil. ii. 4. 3, 110). This day must have been September 4, because Cicero says (Verr. ii. 52, 130) that there were 45 days from the "ludi Romani" to the "Ludi Victoriae Sullanae" on October 26, so September 19 in the time the Verrines were composed must have been the last day of the Ludi Romani (C.I.L. I.401).

And so it appears in the Calendars of the Augustan time, the days of the games being September 4 to September 19. There was the Epulum Jovis on the 13th, and the Equorum probatio on the 14th. Circus games lasted from the 15th to the 19th. In the Calendar of Philocalus (year 354) they run from September 12 to 15. The celebration was in the hands at first of the consuls, afterwards of the curule aediles.

But we must not assume that these games were from the beginning held annually. In many cases, games began from a vow by the commander, and were celebrated as a special festival after his triumphal 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 were "sollemnes," "customary," but had not yet become "annui," "yearly" ("sollemnes, deinde annui mansere ludi Romani magnique varie appellati", Liv. i. 35, 9); for we must remember that "sollemnes" need not mean anything more than customary. Indeed, in the passage quoted, Livy identifies the two kinds, the "ludi magni" and the "ludi Romani", and so do Cicero (Repub. ii. 20, 35), Festus (l. c.), and Pseudo-Asconius (pp. 142-3, Or.); but in all his other books Livy observes a distinction which has been pointed out by Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl ("Parerga zu Plautus", &c. p. 290), that "ludi magni" is the term applied to extraordinary games originating in a vow ("ludi votivi"), while "ludi Romani" is that applied to the games when they were regularly 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 are "stati" (e.g. x. 47, 7; xxv. 2, 8) or "votivi" (xxii. 9, 10; 10, 7; xxvii. 33, 8; xxxvi. 2, 2; xxxix. 22, 2, &c.; Suet. Aug. 23). The distinction drawn by Ritschl is to be considered proven. But when was the fixed festival, the "ludi Romani," definitely established as annual?

Most probably, says Mommsen (Röm. Forsch. ii. 53; cf. R. H. i. 472), on the occasion of the first appointment of the curule aediles in 367 BC, who were to be the "curatores ludorum sollemnium" (Cic. Leg. iii. 3, 7). For in the oldest Roman calendars which date from the time of the Decemvirs (cf. Mommsen, Die röm. Chronologie, &c. p. 30) these festivals are not engraved in capitals but in small characters, so they must be additions (C. I. L. i. 361) made after 449 BC. Also, in 322 BC, the "ludi Romani" are mentioned as a regular annual festival (Liv. viii. 40, 2), so they must have finally become established between these dates; and the year 367 BC, when so many changes were effected, and when we are told a day was added to these games and curule aediles appointed to superintend them, seems the most reasonable to assume.

Yet Livy and the other authors who identify the "ludi magni" and "Romani" are not altogether in error: for the arrangement of the two kinds of games was similar. An incidental proof of this is that when Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus "ludi votivi" in 70 BC, they lasted 15 days (Cic. Verr. i. 1. 0, 31), like the ludi Romani; and we find similar sums, viz. 200,000 asses, bestowed for both "ludi magni" and "ludi Romani" (Pseud.-Ascon. p. 142; Dionys. vii. 71). The actual "ludi Romani" consisted of first a solemn procession, "pompa," then a chariot race in which each chariot in Homeric fashion carried a driver and a warrior, the latter at the end of the race leaping out and running on foot (Dionys. vii. 72; and cf. Orelli, 2593, where a charioteer is spoken of as "pedibus ad quadrigam"). This is a practice confined to the "ludi Romani". In the exhibitions of riding, each rider had a second horse led by the hand (Festus, s. v. "Paribus Equis"), as it appears the Roman horsemen in early times often used two horses in battle (cf. Gran. Licinian. lib. xxvi.), like the Tarentini in Greek warfare (Liv. xxxv. 28, 8). Such riders were called "desultores" (Liv. xxiii. 29, 5).

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-called factions, which were originally only two, the white and the red (Mommsen, R. H. 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 wore the spoils he had won from the enemy, and was crowned with a .

After the introduction of the drama in 364, plays were acted at the "ludi Romani", and in 214 BC we know that "ludi scenici" took up four days of the festival (Liv. xxiv. 43, 7). In 161 BC the "Phormio" of Terence was acted at these games.

(The chief work on the ludi Romani is Mommsen's article "Die ludi magni und Romani" in his "Römische Forschungen", ii. 42-57 = Rheinisches Museum, xiv. 79-87. Compare also his Roman History, i. 235-237 (where the Greek influences on the Roman games are traced), 472, 473; and Friedländer in Marquardt's Staatsverwaltung, iii. 477, 478.)