To list some of the many sacred feasts and games we have the regularly held Sacred Ludi (games) and the Votive Ludi (“one-off” petitions when setting off on a great task and asking for favour).
Amongst the Sacred Ludi we have:
- Megalenses (the great games to Magna Mater, the great mother or mother of the Gods, Cibele). Took place in April
- Cereales – games in honour of the goddess Ceres included games in the Circus. In April.
- Florales – celebrated in Spring and said to owe their origin to a famous prostitute who having achieved great riches left her estate to the people on condition that a regular feast should be held on her birthday. Flora was actually a Sabine goddess. The games would take place within a theatre where, to put it simply, women stripped naked and danced about. This was deemed offensive by many although not sufficiently to ban the celebrations.
- Martiales – games held in honour of Mars twice a year in May and August.
- Apollinares – Games in honour of Apollo. Initially held at the discretion of the Magistrates but later fixed to the Nones of July as part of an attempt to ward off an outbreak of plague in the city. Circus shows with everyone wearing Laurel crowns (the plant being sacred to Apollo)
- Ludi Augustales or Palatini – created to celebrate the deified Augustus. The Palatini were held in the imperial palace on the Palatine.
- The Ludi Capitolini, Romani, Consuales, Compitalitii, and Saeculares were amongst the oldest or more particular.
- The Lectisternium. It seems right to finish the list with the “lectisternium” as this was truly a banquet with the gods. The first such event was prescribed by the priesthood as a remedy for the plague at the time of the Gaulish invasion of Rome. The effigies of Apollo (health), Hercules (men), Diana (agriculture), Mercury (commerce) and Neptune (sea commerce) would be constructed and seated to join in a banquet with their mortal brethren.
The Ludi Megalenses, Megalensia or Megalesia: They took place around the middle of April and lasted six days. They were a period of invitation and entertainment amongst friends as well as scenic representations and sports. The procession included women dancing before the image of the goddess. All the priestly orders would participate. Slaves were forbidden from joining in.
These games held in the Circus in honour of the goddess Ceres during eight days in mid April. The procession included images and statues of the gods and famous men which were paraded around together with Magistrates, important women and horsemen.
Amongst the most ancient of the games, these were started with the building of the Circus Maximus by the king Tarquinius Priscus. They were held in honour of the Capitoline Trinity: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The lasted nine days from the day before the nones to the day before the ides of September.
Stemming from the name of the ancient god of counsel called Confus who was associated with Neptune and hence with horse riding. The games were first organised by Romulus in honour of the Sabine virgins which the Romans had abducted. These games consisted mostly of horse races and games in the Circus. The event was held on the twelfth of the kalends of September.
Named after the “Compita” or cross roads around which the earliest city of Rome grew. These public sacred games were in honour of the Lares, the family spirits who watched over streets and houses. The feast consisted chiefly of offering sacrifices to these gods.
The Ludi Saeculares were held every hundred years or so. They were started on behest of the Sibylline oracles who announced that the Romans and the city of Rome would flourish and dominate all other nations if they honoured the gods Pluto, Proserpine (daughter of Ceres), Juno, Apollo, Diana, Ceres and “the three fates” called Parcae. These celebrations were to take place at the beginning “of every age” and lasted three days and nights.
Before the empire the games were held on the city’s nativity whilst during the empire they were held in correspondence to the current emperor’s ascent to the imperial t