Terminalia (festival)
Terminalia | |
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Observed by | Roman Republic, Roman Empire |
Type | Classical Roman religion |
Celebrations | Feasting, sacrifices, singing |
Observances | Public sacrifice for the god Terminus at the sixth milestone towards the city of Laurentum |
Date | February 23 |
Terminalia (
The festival of the Terminalia was celebrated a. d. VII. Kal. Mart. (March 1st), or the 23rd of February on the day before the Regifugium. The Terminalia was celebrated on the last day of the old Roman year, whence some derive its name. We know that February was the last month of the Roman year, and that when the intercalary month Mercedonius was added, the last five days of February were added to the intercalary month, making the 23rd of February the last day of the year.[6][7] When Cicero in a letter to Atticus[8] says, Accepi tuas litteras a. d. V. Terminalia (i.e. Feb. 19), he uses this mode of defining a date, because being then in Cilicia he did not know whether any intercalation had been inserted that year.[9]
The central Terminus of Rome (to which all roads led) was the god's ancient shrine on the Capitoline Hill. The temple of Jupiter, king of the gods, had to be built around it (with a hole in the ceiling as Terminus demanded open-air sacrifices) by the city's last king, Tarquinius Superbus, who had closed down other shrines on the site to make room for this prestigious project. But the augurs had read into the flight patterns of birds that the god Terminus refused to be moved, which was taken as a sign of stability for the city.[10]
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