Martius (month)
Martius or mensis Martius ("
March marked a return to the active life of farming, military campaigning, and sailing. It was densely packed with
In the agricultural year
The
Religious observances
Festivals for Mars as the month's namesake deity date from the
During the Principate, a "holy week" for Cybele and Attis[3] developed in the latter half of the month, with an entry festival on the Ides, and a series of observances from March 22 through March 27 or 28. Isis had official festivals on March 7 and 20.
Dates
The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In March, these were:
- F for dies fasti, days when it was legal to initiate action in the courts of civil law;
- C, for dies comitalis, a day on which the Roman people could hold assemblies (comitia), elections, and certain kinds of judicial proceedings;
- N for dies nefasti, when these political activities and the administration of justice were prohibited;
- NP, the meaning of which remains elusive, but which marked feriae, public holidays;
- QRCF (perhaps for quando rex comitiavit fasrex sacrorum) to call for an assembly;[6]
- EN for endotercissus, an sacrifices were being prepared, and in the evening, while sacrifices were being offered, but were fasti in the middle of the day.[7]
By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with these letters, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius.[8] Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week"[9] (these are omitted in the table below).
A
Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from
Modern date |
Roman date | status | Observances |
---|---|---|---|
March 1 | Kalendae Martiae | NP | • Feriae of Mars; the |
2 | ante diem VI Nonas Martias | F | |
3 | a.d. V Non. Mart.[15] | C | |
4 | IV Non. Mart.[16] | C | |
5 | III Non. Mart. | C | • |
6 | pridie Nonas Martias (abbrev. prid. Non. Mart.) |
C | • |
7 | Nonae Martiae | F | • dies natalis of the temple of Iunonalia (in the later Empire)[20]
|
8 | VIII Id. Mart.[21] | F | |
9 | VII Id. Mart. | C | • another procession of the Salii (see March 1) |
10 | VI Id. Mart. | C | |
11 | V Id. Mart. | C | |
12 | IV Id. Mart. | C | |
13 | III Id. Mart. | EN | •Circenses for Jupiter Cultor (Iovi Cultori)[22] |
14 | pridie Idūs Martias (abbrev. prid. Id. Mart.) |
NP | • EQUIRRIA, horse races in honor of Mars • Mamuralia |
15 | Idūs Martiae | NP | • Feriae Iovi, the monthly sacrifice to Jupiter • Feast of Anna Perenna • "Holy week" for Cybele and Attis, beginning with the Canna intrat (possibly as early as the time of Claudius, or as late as Antoninus Pius)[23] |
16 | XVII Kal. Apr.[24] | F | • procession of the Argei |
17 | XVI Kal. Apr. | NP | • LIBERALIA • AGONALIA or Agonium Martiale for Mars • Argei continue • Circenses and Ludi Liberalici after the mid-1st century AD[25] |
18 | XV Kal. Apr. | C | |
19 | XIV Kal. Apr. | NP | • QUINQUATRUS for Mars and Minerva
|
20 | XIII Kal. Apr. | C | • Pelusia |
21 | XII Kal. Apr. | C | |
22 | XI Kal. Apr. | N | • Arbor intrat (introduced under Claudius)[26] |
23 | X Kal. Apr. | NP | • TUBILUSTRIUM • another procession of the Salii (see March 1) |
24 | IX Kal. Apr. | F QRFC |
• Dies Sanguinis when the devotees of Cybele self-flagellated and performed castrations, followed by: * Sacred Night, when Attis was laid to rest and new Galli were "reborn" into the priesthood[27] |
25 | VIII Kal. Apr. | C | • Hilaria, a day of rejoicing following the Sacred Night (in the time of Antoninus Pius or later)[28] |
26 | VII Kal. Apr. | C | • Requetio, a day of rest following Hilaria[29] |
27 | VI Kal. Apr. | C | • Lavatio, ritual procession and bathing of Cybele[30] (by the time of Augustus) |
28 | V Kal. Apr. | C | • Initium Gaiani, either initiations into the mysteries of the Magna Mater and Attis at the Gaianum,[31] or a day commemorating the acclamation of Caligula as princeps[32] |
29 | IV Kal. Apr. | C | |
30 | III Kal. Apr. | C | |
31 | prid. Kal. Apr. | C | • dies natalis of the Temple of the Moon on the Aventine Hill |
References
- H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), p. 84.
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 85.
- ^ Maria Grazia Lancellotti, Attis, Between Myth and History: King, Priest, and God (Brill, 2002), p. 81; Bertrand Lançon, Rome in Late Antiquity (Routledge, 2001), p. 91; Philippe Borgeaud, Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary, translated by Lysa Hochroth (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), pp. 51, 90, 123, 164.
- ^ The month name is construed as an adjective modifying Kalendae, Nonae or Idūs.
- ^ On the basis of the Fasti Viae Lanza, which gives Q. Rex C. F.
- ^ Mommsen as summarized by Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 26–27.
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 17, 122.
- ^ Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6.
- ^ Ted Kaizer, "Religion in the Roman East," in A Companion to Roman Religion (Blackwell, 2007), p. 447.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 17, 121–122.
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 41.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.
- ^ On the Feriale Duranum.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem V Nonas Martias.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem IV Nonas Martias.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 124.
- ^ Beth Severy, Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire (Routledge, 2003), p. 129.
- ^ On the Feriale Duranum.
- Calendar of Filocalus(354 AD); Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 125.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem VIII Idūs Martias, with the ante diem omitted altogether from this point.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 125, 165.
- ^ Abbreviated form of ante diem XVII Kalendas Aprilis/-es with the ante diem omitted altogether, as in the rest of the month following.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 122.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, p. 165.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 165, 167.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 165, 167.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 165, 167.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 124, 165, 167.
- ^ Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 165, 167.
- ^ Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 180.