Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

• March, under the old calendar, was the first month of the new year. It was dedicated to the Roman god Mars. Like his Greek counterpart, Ares, Mars was a god of war. The Roman Mars, however, was also the protector of the farmer's land and his crops. The agricultural aspect of Mars may have been an extension of his military nature - if he was going to help the Romans protect their territory, he might as well help protect the individual citizen's land and its production as well. Remember, the idealized Roman citizen was a farmer who left he plow to fight as a soldier when the state called. Soldier and farmer were opposite but inseparable sides of the same coin.
• Cincinnatus, one of the heroes of Livy's account of Rome's early history was the paradigm.  A patrician whose son had opposed reforms the plebeians sought, he was forced to sell his vast estates to pay a fine levied against his son. Cincinnatus retired to a small farm. There, ploughing his fields like a good agricola, he was found some months later by a delegation of Senators who announced to him that the Romans had elected him dictator to defend the state against the onslaught of the pesky, neighboring Aequi, who had managed to trap the Roman consul and his army that had been sent against them. Cincinnatus left the plow, got his sword, rescued the army, and retired from his dictatorship within 16 days (although under the constitution he was entitled to keep the office for 6 months). Cincinnatus then went home, put down his sword, and went back to ploughing his fields. [The topic was a popular among European painters on classical themes - version 1, version 2.]
• The Feriae Marti (NP - "Festival of Mars") was celebrated through most of the month of March, beginning on the Kalends, with repeated rituals in honor of the god conducted by the Salii (the "Leaping Priests" or the "Dancing Priests") until the 24th of the Month. The last nine days of this period were also fast days. On the 25th of the Month, the Romans broke their fast at the Hilaria ("Festival of Joy"). [This may sound a bit familiar: scholars believe that the origins of the Mardi Gras lie in Feriae Marti and that the early Church coopted Roman holidays in March for Easter celebrations].
• The Salii were a lesser priesthood (a sodalitas (sodales - 'companion') vs. the major collegia) comprised of two groups of 12 men, the Palatini (especially devoted to Mars) and the Collini (especially devoted to Quirinus). To be a Salii, you had to be a patrician, and both of your parents had to be alive. The Salii wore a very old style of military style dress, a tunica picta (painted or colored tunic) and a bronze breast plate. Additionally, they wore a short military cloak with scarlet stripes and a purple border. On their heads they wore a conical helmet (apex). The Salii were armed with swords swords and carried spears in their right hands. The most important part of their gear, worn on the left arm, however, was the ancile ("shield") shaped roughly like a figure-8.
• The Romans believed that Jupiter had dropped a shield from heaven as a gift to Numa, Rome's second king after Romulus, and to the Romans, the founder of many of their religious rituals and priesthoods (including the Salii). Numa was so afraid that it would be stolen that he had a smithy make 11 copies (so no one would know the divine one) and stored them in the Regia. Also stored in the Regia were the spears of Mars, which were said to foretell disaster when they shook spontaneously (which they did on the pridie Ides Marti in 44 BCE, the night before Julius Caesar was assassinated).
• On the 1st, 9th and 24th of March, during the Feriae Marti, the Salii proceeded through Rome, stopping at certain points to perform a very complicated ritual dance involving much jumping about and to chant a hymn that was so old the Romans themselves forgot the meaning of the words by the late Republic. After their processionals, the Salii retired to a feast of fairly luxurious standards (there are stories of the Emperor Claudius skipping out on a palace dinner party to join the Salii).
• While the martial aspects of the ritual are obvious, scholars believe it reflects agrarian concerns as well. According to anthropologists, for example, leaping and dancing are often performed to encourage crops to grow. Similarly, the goal of the procession and dance may have been to frighten away evil spirits when the crops were young. While the spectacle was great fun, the Romans took the ritual very serious. Scipio Africanus, for example, delayed a military campaign one March, because he was a member of the Salii, and when not in Rome, the Salii did not move about. You either were in Rome, helping to carry the ancila, or you stayed put so as not to profane the ritual.
• The Kalends of every month were dedicated to Juno, and the 1st of March, in addition to festivities in honor of Mars, were also dedicated to Juno Lucina. Juno, in her role as Lucina ("she who brings children into light") was a goddess of childbirth and the Romans referred to the Kalends of March as the Matronalia ("Mother's Day"). Women celebrated the feast by participating in rites at the temple of Juno Lucina on the Esquiline hill. The temple where Romans took a coin every time they had a child was located in a grove sacred to Juno that contained two ancient lotus trees (one of which the Vestal Virgins used to decorate with offerings of their hair). On the day of the festival, Roman women who participated in the ritual wore their hair loose (even though Roman married women always wore their hair 'up'), and dressed up, although they wore no belts or ties or knots in their clothing.
• Husbands offered prayers for their wives and gave them presents. Daughters also gave presents to their own mothers. Interestingly enough, slaves got the day off on the Matronalia, and Roman wives prepared a feast for them and served it to them on this day.
• Things to think about:
  • What do the particulars of the Matronalia tell us about the Roman family?
  • Why did the rituals for Juno Lucina require a different style of dress for women?
  • What does the Roman conception of Mars tell us about the nature of Roman social identity?