Roman games

The ''Ludi Romani'' ("Roman Games"; see '' ludi'') was a religious festival in ancient Rome. Usually including multiple ceremonies called '' ludi''. They were held annually starting in 366 BC from September 12 to September 14, later extended to September 5 to September 19. In the last 1st century BC, an extra day was added in honor of the deified Julius Caesar on 4 September. The festival first introduced drama to Rome based on Greek drama.

Origins

These games—the chief Roman festival—were held in honor of Jupiter, and are said to have been established by Tarquinius Priscus on the occasion of his conquest of the Latin town of Apiolae. However, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Cicero date them to the Roman victory over the Latins at Lake Regillus during the early Republic, ca. 496 BC.

The games were originally organized by the consuls and later by the curule aediles. At first they lasted only a day. A second day was added on the expulsion of the kings in 509 BC, and a third after the first secession of the plebs in 494 BC. From 191 to 171 BC they lasted ten days, and shortly before Caesar's death they apparently lasted fifteen days, from September 5 to 19. After Caesar's death a day was added. This day must have been September 4, because Cicero says in "Against Verres" that there were 45 days from the ''Ludi Romani'' to the ''Ludi Victoriae Sullanae'' on October 26. Thus, when this speech was composed in 70 BC, September 19 was already the last day of the ''Ludi Romani''.

In calendars of the Augustan era, the days of the games are noted as September 4 to September 19. The Epulum Jovis was celebrated on the 13th and the ''Equorum probatio'' (a cavalry revue) on the 14th. Circus games lasted from the 15th to the 19th. In the Calendar of Philocalus (354 AD) they run from September 12 to 15.

When and why

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 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". 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. In all his other books, however, 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 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''. The distinction drawn by Ritschl is to be considered proven, but it is unclear when the "established" games became annual.

Most probably, says Mommsen, the games became annual when the first curule aediles were appointed in 367 BC, as these officials – distinct from the existing plebeian aediles – were described as ''curatores ludorum sollemnium''. In the oldest Roman calendars, which likely date from the time of the Decemvirs 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, the ''ludi 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 of ''curule aediles'' to superintend them.

Facts of Ludi Romani

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 (Cicero ''In Verrem'' 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''. The actual ''ludi Romani'' consisted of first a solemn procession ''(pompa

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