Nundinae

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Nundina, the goddess of Roman birthname ceremonies.

Fasti Praenestini for the month of (month) (Aprilis
), showing its nundinal letters on the left side
Fasti Praenestini

The nundinae (

anglicized to nundines,[1] were the market days of the ancient Roman calendar, forming a kind of weekend including, for a certain period, rest from work for the ruling class (patricians).[2]

The nundinal cycle, market week, or 8-day week (

dominical letters
.

Name

The name

inscriptions, the word was abbreviated NVN.[16]

The form nundinum for the span between the nundinae seems to have been standard in early Latin,[3] but only appears in compounds (internundinum, trinundinum, &c.) and phrases (inter nundinum) in the classical period.[4]

The name of the 8-day cycle is based upon the Latin word for "nine" because the Romans tended to count dates

inclusively. Each nundinae was thought to follow the next after a 9-day interval because the first day was included in the count.[4]

History

Fasti Antiates
, giving the nundinal days to the left of its day list
Fasti Antiates
Fasti Praenestini

The

nones arose out of concern that these plebeians visiting the city would cause trouble out of remembrance of the popular Servius Tullius, since it was supposedly generally known that his birthday fell on one of the nones but it was uncertain which.[29][30]

All patrician business was originally suspended during the nundinae but it seems to have been fasti by the time of the

Hortensian Law (Lex Hortensia) of 287 BC permitted their use for most legal and business purposes.[34] Dates otherwise permitted for public assemblies (dies comitialis) were still downgraded if a nundinae occurred on them.[35]

The theoretical proscriptions concerning the nundinae were not always observed. The

nones of each month.[4][39] Early on in the Julian calendar, though, the strength of this superstition caused the priests to insert an extra day as under the former system; it was accommodated by removing another day sometime later in the year; this seems to have occurred in 40 BC[40] and AD 44.[37]

The nundinae of the late Republic and early Empire were possibly centered on the

ides.[43]

The

Lord's day the Day of the Sun (dies Solis) a legal holiday. Different scholars have placed the end of 8-day markets at various dates from the late 1st to early 5th centuries.[45]

Observance

The nundinal cycle formed a rhythm within quotidian Roman life. Farmers and craftsmen from Rome's hinterland would rest from work on the nundinae to visit the city,

nails silently during the nundinae or doing so beginning with the index finger provoked bad luck for one's finances.[51][52] The nundinae were not the only markets at Rome, though, as there were both daily markets (macella) and periodic fairs (mercatus).[53]

Under

its monarchy, Rome's nundinae were market days for the country plebeians and used as an occasion for the king to settle disputes among them.[4] Supposedly, retail trading was long restricted to foreigners or slaves out of concern for its spiritual effects.[20][21]

Under the

Trebatius noted that officials could free slaves and render judgments on nundinae.[63]

The nundinal cycles were an important pattern in the business of the

clients.[73][74]

Although their religious nature was never very pronounced,

ides, this also had the unstated effect of avoiding nundinae on them as well.[82] Macrobius's account of the origins of these superstitions is unsatisfying, however, and it is more likely that 1 January was avoided because its status as a general holiday was bad for business and the nones because of the ill luck attending their lack of a tutelary deity.[83][84][85]

Outside Rome

The 8-day nundinal cycle also seems to have been observed elsewhere in Italy, particularly Campania, as attested in stone calendars and graffiti, as at Pompeii.[86] There are records from the imperial period of towns and villas petitioning for the right to hold such markets (ius nundinarum).[87] Such a right seems to have been universally granted to the capitals of Italy's prefectures (praefecturae) but also extended to some smaller localities where markets were necessary for local trade.[88] These local fairs used the same calendrical system as Rome's, marking out the days of the year into cycles from A to H, but each town or village in an area typically used a separate day, permitting itinerant traders (circumforanei) to attend each in turn.[47]

A pre-existing system of rural markets in North Africa's

Mesopotamia were also known as nundinae.[89]

Legacy

The early Roman prejudice against commerce, especially the retail trade of the nundinal markets, means that the nundinae are usually referenced in negative contexts in Latin literature, particularly for the buying and selling of things that should not be sold such as virginity and love, medical treatment, education, government and church offices and favors, and judicial decisions.[47] This bias endured into medieval Latin, where nundinatio ("marketing") without other qualification meant corruption, especially the purchase of judicial verdicts.[47]

Although nundinae are known to have been manipulated during the late republican and imperial period,[90] moved a day forward or backward to avoid interference with a religious festival or important public assembly,[b] they are thought to have been absolutely fixed at eight days under the republic. Scholars therefore use them when trying to find Julian or Gregorian dates for events in Roman history.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The equivalent etymology from novem ("nine") and diēs ("day") is given by Festus.[6]
  2. last Roman king
    . This could occur every three years.

References

Look up nundinae in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d "nundine, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Schmitz (1842), p. 648.
  3. ^ a b Michels (1967), p. 202.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Schmitz (1842).
  5. ^ Struck (2009), "Internundinum".
  6. ^ Festus, "Nundinalem Cocum".
  7. ^ Corn. Labeo, Fastorum Libri, Book I.
  8. ^ a b Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xvi, §29.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Kaster (2011), p. 201.
  10. ^ Cornelius Labeo,[7] cited in Macrobius.[8][9]
  11. ^ a b c Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xvi, §28.
  12. ^ a b Kaster (2011), p. 199.
  13. ^ Julius Modestus, Quaestiones Confusae.
  14. Julius Modestus,[13] cited in Macrobius.[11][12]
  15. ^ Kennedy (1879), p. 126.
  16. ^ Ker (2010), pp. 382.
  17. ^ Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xv, §13.
  18. ^ a b Kaster (2011), p. 181.
  19. ^ Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xv, §12.
  20. ^ a b Dion. Hal., Book II, Ch. xxviii, §3.
  21. ^ a b Cary (1937), Vol. I, p. 395.
  22. ^ Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xvi, §32.
  23. Tuditanus, cited by Macrobius.[22][9]
  24. ^ a b Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xvi, §33.
  25. ^ Cassius Hemina, cited by Macrobius.[24][9]
  26. ^ Varro, Book XVI, §7.
  27. ^ Kaster (2011), pp. 201–2.
  28. ^ Geminus and Varro,[26] cited by Macrobius.[24][27]
  29. ^ Macrobius, Vol. I, Ch. xiii, §18.
  30. ^ a b Kaster (2011), p. 163.
  31. ^ Gellius, xx, l, §49.
  32. ^ a b Granius, Hist., Book II.
  33. ^ a b Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xvi, §30.
  34. ^ Granius,[32] cited by Macrobius.[33][9]
  35. ^ a b c d e Struck (2009), "Nundinae".
  36. ^ Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xiii, §17.
  37. ^ a b c Holleran (2012), p. 186.
  38. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, Book I, Ep. xiv, §1.
  39. ^ Graev., Thesaur., viii, p. 7.
  40. ^ a b Cass. Dio, Book XLVIII, Ch. xxxiii.
  41. ^ Holleran (2012), p. 53.
  42. ^ Suetonius, Aug, Ch. 92, §2.
  43. ^ Ker (2010), pp. 381–2.
  44. ^ Brind'Amour (1983), pp. 256–275.
  45. ^ Ker (2010), p. 364.
  46. ^ Benefiel (2016), p. 443.
  47. ^ a b c d e f Francese (2007).
  48. ^ Varro, Saturarum, Book l, l. 186.
  49. ^ Seneca, Ad Luc., Ep. 86, §12.
  50. ^ Ker (2010), p. 369–370.
  51. ^ Pliny, Hist. Nat., Book XXVIII, Ch. v, §28.
  52. ^ Pliny & Bostock (1855), Book XXVIII, Ch. v.
  53. ^ Ker (2010), p. 367.
  54. ^ Ker (2010), p. 370.
  55. ^ Dion. Hal., Book VII, Ch. lviii.
  56. ^ Cary (1937), Vol. IV, p. 317.
  57. ^ Festus, "Nundinas".
  58. ^ Ker (2010), pp. 366–7.
  59. ^ a b Ker (2010), p. 366.
  60. ^ Caesar, Auspices, Book XVI.
  61. ^ Caesar,[60] cited in Macrobius.[8][9]
  62. ^ Trebatius, De Religionibus.
  63. Trebatius,[62] cited in Macrobius.[11][9]
  64. ^ Macrobius.
  65. ^ Cicero, Philippicae, Book V, Ch. viii.
  66. ^ Yonge (1903), Book V, Ch. viii.
  67. ^ Cicero, De Domo, §41.
  68. ^ Yonge (1891), §45.
  69. ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, Book XVI, Ep. 12.
  70. ^ Shuckburgh (1908), Vol. II, Ep. cccxi.
  71. ^ Cicero, in his speeches[65][66][67][68] and letters.[69][70]
  72. ^ Livy, Book III, Ch. 35.
  73. ^ Dion. Hal., Book IX, Ch. xli.
  74. ^ Cary (1937), Vol. VI, p. 59.
  75. ^ Plutarch, Ch. 42.
  76. ^ Babbitt (1936), p. 74.
  77. ^ Granius,[32] cited by Macrobius.[33][9]
  78. ^ Ker (2010), p. 363.
  79. ^ Cass. Dio, Book XL, Ch. xlvii.
  80. ^ Macrobius, Book I, Ch. xiii, §19.
  81. ^ Kaster (2011), pp. 163 & 165.
  82. ^ Ker (2010), p. 365.
  83. ^ Ovid, Book I, l. 58.
  84. ^ Kline (2004), Book I, Introduction.
  85. ^ Göttling, Gesch. der Röm. Staatstv., p. 183.
  86. ^ Snyder (1936).
  87. ^ a b Ker (2010), p. 377.
  88. ^ Ker (2010), p. 380.
  89. ^ Holleran (2012), p. 184.
  90. ^ Dion Cass., lx, 24.

Bibliography

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