Notes on the Ludi Saeculares

Notes on the LUDI SAECULARES MAY 23, 17 B. C. ● ● Meeting of the Senate. The consul, C. Iunius Silanus, reported that the Secular Games were to be held under the direction of Augustus and Agrippa, and that it was necessary for the Senate to authorize certain classes of persons who usually could not attend public spectacles to be allowed to be present. On the same day, the Senate passed a decree authorizing the erection of a bronze column and a marble column on which a record of the Secular Games was to be inscribed. The consuls were to let the contracts. MAY 25 ● ● Meeting of the XV Viri Sacris Faciundis. A decree was passed, authorizing women who were in mourning to cease, in consideration of the importance of the occasion; other rules for participants were decreed. Distribution of materials for purification rites and for the offering of first fruits on May 26-30. MAY 31 –NIGHT: ● ● ● Sacrifice to the Fates, by Augustus presentation of plays Sellisternia (sacred banquet) given by 110 Roman matrons, for Juno and Diana JUNE 1 –MORNING: ● ● ● Capitol: sacrifice of a bull to Juppiter, by Augustus and Agrippa presentation of Latin plays in a wooden theater in the Campus Martius Sellisternia –NIGHT: ● ● theatrical performances at night sacrifice by Augustus, near the Tiber, to the Greek goddess of childbirth [Ilithyiae] JUNE 2 –MORNING: ● ● Capitol: sacrifice of a cow to Juno, by Augustus and by Agrippa. A prayer, led by Agrippa, of the 110 Matrons –NIGHT: ● ● Sacrifice, by Augustus, near the Tiber, of a pregnant sow, to Mother Earth Sellisternia JUNE 3 – MORNING: ● ● ● Palatine: sacrifice to Apollo and Diana, by Augustus and Agrippa Singing of the Carmen Saeculare by 27 boys and 27 girls Repetition of the singing of the carmen on the Capitol –DAY: ● ● ● Theatrical performances Chariot races Trick riders (presented by Potitus Valerius Messalla) SUPPLEMENT: ● By the XV VIRI –additional games on June 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. –Latin plays in the Wooden Theater, near the Tiber (7 a.m.) –Greek stage plays in the Theater at the Circus Flaminius (9 a.m.) ● June 12: an animal hunt and circus games