An Agonalia or Agonia was an obscure archaic
religious observance
Religious Observance includes all overt kinds of religious behavior. Research in this area shows the extent and patterning of religious activities in various populations and makes it possible to test theories about the causes of religious behavior ...
celebrated in
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...
several times a year, in honor of
various divinities. Its institution, like that of other religious rites and ceremonies, was attributed to
Numa Pompilius, the
semi-legendary second
king of Rome.
Ancient calendars
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
indicate that it was celebrated regularly on January 9, May 21, and December 11.
A festival called Agonia or ''Agonium Martiale'', in honor of
Mars, was celebrated March 17, the same day as the
Liberalia, during a prolonged "war festival" that marked the beginning of the season for
military campaigning and
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
.
Purpose
The object of this festival was a disputed point among the ancients themselves, but as
J.A. Hartung observed, the offering was a
ram ''(aries)'', the usual victim sacrificed to the
guardian gods of the state; the presiding priest was the ''
rex sacrificulus'', and the site was the
Regia, both of which could be employed only for ceremonies connected with the highest gods that affected the wellbeing of the whole state.
Etymology
The etymology of the name was also a subject of much dispute among the ancients. The various etymologies proposed are given at length by
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
. None of these, however, is satisfactory. One possibility is that the sacrifice in its earliest form was offered on the
Quirinal Hill, which was originally called ''Agonus'', at the
Colline gate, ''Agonensis''. The sacrifice is explicitly located at the Regia, or the ''
domus regis'' ("house of the king"), which in the historical period was at the top of the
Via Sacra, near the
arch of Titus, though one ancient source states that in earliest times, the Regia was on the Quirinal.
The Circus Agonensis, as it is called, is supposed by some to have occupied the place of the present
Piazza Navona, and to have been built by the emperor
Alexander Severus
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...
on the spot where the victims were sacrificed at the Agonalia. It may not, however, have been a
circus at all, and Humphrey omits the site in his work on Roman circuses.
January 9
An ''Agonium'' occurs on January 9 in the ''
Fasti Praenestini'', albeit in mutilated form. In
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
's poem on the Roman calendar, he calls it once the ''dies agonalis'' ("agonal day") and elsewhere the Agonalia, and offers a number of etymologies of varied plausibility.
Festus explains the word ''agonia'' as an
archaic Latin
Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical la, prīsca Latīnitās, lit=ancient Latinity), was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. It descends from a common Proto-Italic ...
term for ''
hostia
Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host ( la, hostia, lit=sacrificial victim), is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elemen ...
'', a sacrificial victim.
Augustine of Hippo thought the Romans had a god named Agonius, who might then have been the god of the Colline part of the city (see
"Etymology" above).
December 11
This third occurrence of the Agonia or Agonalia shares the date of December 11 with the
Septimontium
The Septimontium was a proto-urban festival celebrated in ancient Rome by ''montani'', residents of the seven ''(sept-)'' communities associated with the hills or peaks of Rome ''(montes)'': Oppius, Palatium, Velia, Fagutal, Cermalus, Caelius, ...
or ''Septimontiale sacrum'', which only very late Roman calendars take note of and which depends on a
textual conjecture. The relation between the two observances, if any exists, is unknown. A fragmentary inscription found at Ostia that reads: "Agonind" testifies that this festival was dedicated to Sol Indiges. It was indeed the second festival celebrating this deity, after that of August 10.
''Agonium Martiale''
The Agonia to Mars occurs during a period of festivals in March (Latin ''Martius''), the namesake month of Mars. These were the
chariot races of the Equirria February 27, a ''
feria
In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, a feria is a day of the week other than Sunday.
In more recent official liturgical texts in English, the term ''weekday'' is used instead of ''feria''.
If the feast day of a saint falls on such a day, the ...
'' on the
Kalends of March (a day sacred also to
his mother Juno), a second Equirria on March 14, his Agonalia March 17, and the
Tubilustrium March 23.
A note on the holiday from
Varro indicates that this Agonia was of more recondite significance than the
Liberalia held on the same day. Varro's source is the books of the Salian priests surnamed ''Agonenses'', who call it the Agonia instead. According to
Masurius Sabinus, the Liberalia was called the ''Agonium Martiale'' by the
pontiffs. Modern scholars are inclined to think that the sharing of the date was a coincidence, and that the two festivals were unrelated.
[ William Warde Fowler, concurring with Georg Wissowa, ''Roman Festivals'', p. 54.]
Notes
References
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{{Roman religion (festival)
Ancient Roman festivals
January observances
May observances
December observances
Festivals of Mars