In ancient Roman culture, ''sigillaria'' were

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

or wax figurines given as traditional gifts during the

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...

. Sigillaria as a

proper noun A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity ('' Africa''; ''Jupiter''; '' Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

was also the name for the last day of the Saturnalia, December 23, and for a place where ''sigillaria'' were sold. A ''sigillarius'' was a person who made and sold ''sigillaria'', perhaps as an offshoot of pottery manufacture. The ''Via Sigillaria'' in Rome was a street dedicated to manufacturing and selling these gifts.

The objects

"These statuettes were frequently made in the likeness of some divinity, such as

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

, Apollo Sauroctunus, Victory or of some celebrated mythological character ( Danäe or Hyacinthus); failing this, of some purely fantastic type, such as a

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

or hunchback. These ''sigilla'' were sometimes made of clay, in which case their worth was but trifling, unless the workmanship possessed unusual merit; those made of marble, Corinthian bronze, silver or gold, were, however, frequently of considerable value." In the dialogue of

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

's ''Saturnalia'', the interlocutor Praetextatus says that ''sigillaria'' were substitutes for the sacrificial victims of the primitive religious rituals. Interpreted as such, they raise questions about

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

among the earliest Romans (see also

Argei The rituals of the Argei were archaic religious observances in ancient Rome that took place on March 16 and March 17, and again on May 14 or May 15. By the time of Augustus, the meaning of these rituals had become obscure even to those who p ...

and oscilla). The speaker Evangelus, however, counters that the figures are nothing more than toys to amuse children.

Or take the Sigillaria he just mentioned: the holiday and its clay figurines are meant to amuse infants who haven’t yet learned to walk, but he tries to make it a matter of religious duty.

But also:

47. " Epicadus reports that when
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...
had slain
Geryon In Greek mythology, Geryon ( ; , genitive ), also Geryone (, or ), son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, the grandson of Medusa and the nephew of Pegasus, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far ...
and led his cattle victoriously through Italy, he built the Sublician bridge (as it’s now called) so that he could cast into the river human effigies equal in number to the companions he had lost to mischance on his journey: that way, they could be carried along by the current to the sea and be restored, in a sense, to their ancestral homes in place of the bodies of the dead. That is why (according to Epicadus) the practice of fashioning such effigies has remained part of the rites."

The fair

For the four-day fair, vendors of the figurines and other gifts set up temporary stalls in the

Campus Martius The Campus Martius (Latin for 'Field of Mars'; Italian: ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers ...

, and later in the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

of the

Baths of Trajan The Baths of Trajan () were a massive ''thermae'', a bathing and leisure complex, built in ancient Rome and dedicated under Trajan during the '' kalendae'' of July 109, shortly after the Aqua Traiana was dedicated. History Commissioned by Emp ...

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

says the vendor stalls blocked the paintings of

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Med ...

and the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

in the Porticus Agrippiana.Scholiast to

6.154; Lawrence Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 398; Holleran, ''Shopping in Ancient Rome,'' pp. 191–192.

References

{{Reflist Ancient Roman festivals December observances Figurines