In Ancient Roman religious tradition, the Quinquatria or Quinquatrus was a festival sacred to Minerva, celebrated on the 19th of March. It was so called according to Varro,^[1] because it was held on the fifth day after the Ides, in the same way as the Tusculans called a festival on the sixth day after the Ides Sexatrus or one on the seventh Septimatrus. Festus (s.v.) also states that the Faliscans too called a festival on the tenth day after the Ides Decimatrus. History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome This is a List of Ancient Rome-related topics, that aims to include aspects of both the Ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. ... Minerva and the Muses, by Hans Rottenhammer (1603). ... Marcus Terentius Varro ([[116 BC]–27 BC), also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer, who the Romans came to call the most learned of all the Romans. ... The counts of Tusculum were the most powerful secular noblemen in Latium during the tenth through twelfth centuries. ... For the town, see Festus, Missouri. ... The Falisci were an ancient Italian tribe. ...

Both Varro and Festus state that the Quinquatrus was celebrated for only one day, but Ovid^[2] says that it was celebrated for five days, and was for this reason called by this name: that on the first day no blood was shed, but that on the last four there were contests of gladiators. It would appear however that the first day was only the festival properly so called, and that the last four were merely an addition made perhaps in the time of Caesar to gratify the people, who became so passionately fond of gladiatorial combats. The ancient Calendars also assign only one day to the festival. Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Caesar may refer to the following: Related to Ancient Roman times Caesar (title), a title used by Roman Emperors Julius Caesar (100 BC–44 BC), a famous politician and military leader He used the Caesar cipher in his military campaigns. ...

Ovid says that this festival was celebrated in commemoration of the birthday of Minerva; but according to Festus it was sacred to Minerva because her temple on the Aventine was consecrated on that day. On the fifth day of the festival, according to Ovid,^[3] the trumpets used in sacred rites were purified; but this seems to have been originally a separate festival called Tubilustrium, which was celebrated as we know from the ancient Calendars on the 23d of March, and would of course, when the Quinquatrus was extended to five days, fall on the last day of that festival. The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills that ancient Rome was built on. ... This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...

As this festival was sacred to Minerva, it seems that women were accustomed to consult fortune-tellers and diviners upon this day. Domitian caused it to be celebrated every year in his Alban villa, situated at the foot of the Alban hills, and instituted a collegium to superintend the celebration, which consisted of the hunting of wild beasts, of the exhibition of plays, and of contests of orators and poets^[4]. Categories: Stub ... Domitian bust in the Louvre Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 – 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman emperor of the gens Flavia. ... The Alban Hills (It. ... A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellow and still are in some places. ...

At the Quinquatria in 59, Nero invited his mother, Agrippina the Younger, to his villa near Baiae, in an attempt to assassinate her. His old tutor, Anicetus, whom he had raised to be captain of the fleet of Misenum, had undertaken to construct a vessel which could be sunk, without exciting suspicion. Agrippina landed at Bauli, between Baiae and Cape Misenum, and completed her journey in a litter. After the banquet, when night had fallen, she was induced to return to Bauli in the vessel which had been prepared for her destruction. But the mechanism did not work as planned, and Agrippina succeeded in swimming to shore, from which she proceeded to her villa on the Lucrine lake. Nero soon after succeeded in his goal, however, with further help from Anicetus.^[5] Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 – June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (54–68). ... Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero Julia Agrippina (in Latin: Iulia Agrippina, PIR2 I 641), most commonly known as Agrippina Minor, Agrippina the Younger or Agrippinilla (November 6, 15 – March 59), was the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina Major. ... Baiae (Italian: Baia), in the Campania region of Italy on the Bay of Naples, today a frazione of the comune of Bacoli, was for several hundred years a fashionable and luxurious coastal resort, especially towards the end of the period of the Roman Republic. ... Anicetus was pope from about 154 to about 167 (the Vaticans list cites 150 or 157 to 153 or 168. ... Misenum is the site of an ancient port in Campania, in southern Italy. ... Misenum is the site of an ancient port in Campania, in southern Italy. ... A Sedan chair, revived at the Turkish Village of the Worlds Columbian Exposition, 1893 A litter is an enclosed windowed chair suitable for a single occupant (then the term Sedan chair is commonly used) or more luxurious furniture (usually a bed or a cabin), not always enclosed, for the... Lucrinus Lacus, or Lucrine Lake, a lake of Campania, Italy, about two miles to the north of Lake Avernus, and only separated from the sea (Gulf of Pozzuoli) by a narrow strip of land, traversed by the coast road, Via Herculanea, which runs on an embankment, the construction of which...

There was also another festival of this name called Quinquatrus Minusculae or Quinquatrus Minores, celebrated on the Ides of June, on which the tibicines went through the city in procession to the temple of Minerva.

See also

• Panathenaea

The Panathenaic Games were a set of games held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece. ...

Notes

1. ^ de Ling. Lat. vi.14
2. ^ Fasti iii.809, &c.
3. ^ iii.849
4. ^ Suetonius, The Life of Domitian, 4
5. ^ Bury, p 279.

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

• This article incorporates content from Smith's A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, a publication in the public domain.
• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
• Bury, John Bagnell. The Student's Roman Empire. Harper. 1893.