Coin of Philip the Arab celebrating the Ludi Saeculares.

Secular games (Ludi Saeculares, originally Terentini). These were celebrated at Rome for three days and nights to mark the commencement of a new saeculum or generation. Image File history File links Antoninianus_Philip_the_Arab_-_Seculum_Novum. ... Image File history File links Antoninianus_Philip_the_Arab_-_Seculum_Novum. ... Marcus Iulius Philippus (about 204 - 249), known in English as Philip the Arab after the origin of his family, was a Roman emperor from 244 to 249. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban...

It is important to note that there was a saeculum civile, the length of which was definitely fixed at 100 years, and a saeculum naturale, which, under Greek and Etruscan influence, came to be accepted by the Quindecemviri as 110 years. According to tradition, the secular games had their origin in certain sacrificial rites of the gens Valeria, which were performed at the Tarentum, a volcanic cleft in the Campus Martius (not to be confused with the city of Tarentum in southern Italy). Map showing the extent of the Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities. ... The quindecemviri sacris faciundis were the fifteen members of a college for less clearly defined religious duties. ... GENS is an open source emulator for the Sega Genesis (Sega Megadrive). ... The Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km² (600 acres) in extent. ... Map of Italy showing Taranto in the bottom right Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, southern Italy. ...

According to the Roman antiquarians themselves, they were derived from the Etruscans, who, at the end of a mean period of 100 years (as representing the longest human life in a generation), presented to the chthonian deities an expiatory offering on behalf of the coming generation. The first definitely attested celebration of the games took place in 249 BC, on which occasion a vow was made that they should be repeated every hundredth year (their name being also changed to Saeculares), a regulation which seems to have been immediately disregarded, for they were next held in 146 BC (not 149 BC, although the authorities are not unanimous); in 49 BC the civil wars prevented any celebration. Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC - 240s BC - 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC Years: 254 BC 253 BC 252 BC 251 BC 250 BC - 249 BC - 248 BC 247 BC... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC - 140s BC - 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC Years: 151 BC 150 BC 149 BC 148 BC 147 BC - 146 BC - 145 BC 144 BC... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC - 140s BC - 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC Years: 154 BC 153 BC 152 BC 151 BC 150 BC - 149 BC - 148 BC 147 BC... Consuls: Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, Gaius Claudius Marcellus Maior. ...

They would probably have fallen entirely into oblivion, had not Augustus revived them in 17 BC, for which occasion the Carmen Saeculare was composed by Horace. In explanation of the selection of this year it is supposed that the quindecimviri invented celebrations for the years 456, 346, 236, 126, the saeculum being taken as lasting 110 years. Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC–August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (English Octavian; Latin: C•IVLIVS•C•F•CAESAR•OCTAVIANVS) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC - 10s BC - 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s Years: 22 BC 21 BC 20 BC 19 BC 18 BC 17 BC 16 BC 15 BC 14 BC 13 BC 12 BC... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ...

In later times, various modes of reckoning were adopted. The dates were: 47 (under Claudius), celebrating the 800th year of the foundation of the city; 88 (under Domitian), an interval of 105 instead of 110 years; 147 (under Antoninus Pius), the 900th year of the city; 204 (under Septimius Severus), exactly two saecula (220 years) after the Augustan celebration; 248 (under Philip the Arabian), the 1000th year of the city; 262 (under Gallienus), probably a special ceremony in time of calamity; in 304 (which should have been 314) Maximian intended to hold a celebration, but does not appear to have done so. From this time nothing more is heard of the secular games, until they were revived in the year 1300 as the jubilees instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. This article is about the year 47. ... For other persons named Claudius, see Claudius (disambiguation). ... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 0s BC - 0s - 10s - 20s - 30s - 40s - 50s - 60s - 70s - 80s - 90s - 100s Years: 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 Events Pope Clement I succeeded Pope Anacletus I Han Hedi succeeded Han Zhangdi as emperor of... Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 – 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor of the gens Flavia. ... Events First year of Jianhe of the Chinese Han Dynasty Births Deaths Categories: 147 ... Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius (September 19, 86–March 7, 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. ... Events Births Philip the Arab, Roman Emperor (approximate date) Deaths Categories: 204 ... Lucius Septimius Severus (b. ... Emperor Philip the Arab Marcus Julius Philippus (about 204 - 249), known in English as Philip the Arab, was Roman emperor from 244 to 249. ... Gallienus depicted on a lead seal Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (218-268) ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and then as the sole Roman Emperor from 260 to 268. ... For other uses, see 304 (disambiguation). ... Events August 30 - Council of Arles, which confirmed the pronouncement of Donatism as a schism, and passed other canons. ... Maximian Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius (c. ... Boniface VIII, né Benedetto Caetani (Anagni, c. ...

At the beginning of the harvest, heralds went round and summoned the people to the festival. The quindecimviri distributed to all free citizens on the Capitol and in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine various means of expiation--torches, sulphur and bitumen. Here and in the temple of Diana on the Aventine, wheat, barley, and beans were distributed, to serve as an offering of first fruits. Photo of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC, December 2003. ... 17th century aviaries on the hill, built by Rainaldi for Odoardo Cardinal Farnese: once wirework cages surmounted them. ... For the chemical element see: sulfur. ... Bitumen is a mixture of organic liquids that are highly viscous, black, sticky, entirely soluble in carbon disulfide, and composed primarily of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. ... Diana was the equivalent in Roman mythology of the Greek Artemis (see Roman/Greek equivalency in mythology for more details). ...

The festival then began, at which offerings were made to various deities. On the first night the emperor sacrificed three rams to the Parcae at an underground altar on the banks of the Tiber, while the people lighted torches and sang a special hymn. On the same or following nights a black hog and a black pig were sacrificed to Tellus, and dark victims to Dis (Pluto) and Proserpine. On the first day white bulls and a white cow were offered to Jupiter and Juno on the Capitol, after which scenic games were held in honour of Apollo. On the second day noble matrons sang supplicatory hymns to Juno on the Capitol; on the third, white oxen were sacrificed to Apollo and twenty-seven boys and maidens sang the "secular hymn" in Greek and Latin. In Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (Greek Μοίραι – the Apportioners, often called the Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, sparing ones, or Fatae; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns). ... Tiber River in Rome The Tiber (Italian Tevere, Latin Tiberis), the third-longest river in Italy at 406 km (252 miles) after the Po and the Adige, flows through Rome in its course from Mount Fumaiolo to the Tyrrhenian Sea, which it reaches in two branches that cross the suburbs... Terra or Tellus was a primeval Roman goddess, mother of Fama. ... Pluto is an alternate name for the Greek god Hades, but was more often used in Roman mythology in their presentation of the god of the underworld. ... There is also an asteroid 26 Proserpina and a character in Larry Nivens Known Space universe called Proserpina. ... Jupiter et Thétis - by Jean Ingres, 1811. ... IVNO REGINA (Queen Juno) on a coin celebrating Julia Soaemias. ...

The above particulars are from Zosimus (ii. 5, and 6, which contain the Sibylline oracle), who, with Censorinus (De Die Natali, 17), Valerius Maximus, ii. 4, and Horace (Carmen Saeculare) is the chief ancient authority on the subject;, see also Mommsen, Römische Chronologie (1858); CL Roth, "Über die römischen Sacularspiele" in the Rheinisches Museum, viii. (1853); and Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaitung, iii. (1885), p. 386. For the pope of this name see Pope Zosimus Zosimus, Greek historical writer, nourished at Constantinople during the second half of the 5th century A.D. According to Photius, he was a count, and held the office of advocate of the imperial treasury. ... Censorinus, Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer, flourished during the 3rd century AD. He was the author of a lost work De Accentibus and of an extant treatise De Die Natali, written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus Caerellius as a birthday gift. ... Valerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. ... Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (November 30, 1817–November 1, 1903) was a German classical scholar, jurist and historian, generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. ... Karl Joachim Marquardt (image) Joachim Marquardt (April 19, 1812 - November 30, 1882), German historian and writer on Roman antiquities, was born at Danzig(GdaÅ„sk). ...

The inscription commemorating the ludi of 17 inc. was discovered in 1890 and is printed in the Ephemeris epigraphica, vol. viii. The best account of the whole subject is in H Diel's, Sibyllinische Blätter (1890), p. 109 foil. 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...