Roman Ludi Saeculares from the Republic to Empire

209 Pages·2016·2.57 MB·English

Roman Ludi Saeculares from the Republic to Empire
by
SusanChristineBilynskyjDunning
Athesissubmittedinconformitywiththerequirements
forthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy
DepartmentofClassics
UniversityofToronto
©SusanChristineBilynskyjDunning2016
RomanLudiSaecularesfromtheRepublictoEmpire
SusanChristineBilynskyjDunning
DoctorofPhilosophy
DepartmentofClassics
UniversityofToronto
2016
Abstract
ThisdissertationprovidesthefirstcomprehensiveanalysisoftheRomanLudiSaeculares,or“Saecular
Games”,fromtheirmythicfoundinginthesixthcenturybceuntiltheirfinalcelebrationin248ce.The
LudiSaeculareswereaseriesofreligiouscelebrationsheldatRomeeverysaeculum(“age”,“generation”),
anintervalof100or110years. Theargumentcontainstwomajorthreads: ananalysisoftheoriginsand
developmentoftheLudiSaecularesthemselves,andtheuseofthetermsaeculuminimperialrhetoricin
literary,epigraphic,andnumismaticsourcesfromearlyRepublictothefifthcenturyce.
First,aninvestigationintoRepublicansacrificesthatconstitutepartofthelineageoftheLudiSaeculares
revealsthattheseriteswereinorigincalled“LudiTarentini”,andwereaValeriangentiliciancultthatcame
undercivicsupervisionin249bce. Next, itisshownthatinhisSaecularGamesof17bce, Augustus
appropriatedthecentralritesoftheValeriancult,transformingtheminto“LudiSaeculares”throughanew
associationwiththeconceptofthesaeculum,andtherebyassertinghisroleasrestoreroftheRepublicand
founderofanewage.
Theargumentthenturnstothedevelopmentofsaeculumrhetoricthroughouttheimperialperiod,
intertwinedwiththehistoryoftheLudiSaeculares.ThefragmentaryevidencefortheGamesofClaudius,
Domitian,AntoniusPius,SeptimiusSeverus,andPhilipisanalysedingreaterdetailandinthecontext
ofthewiderhistoryoftheLudiSaeculares.Atthesametime,aclosestudyofsaeculumreferencesacross
variousmediademonstratesthatinyearsinwhichtheSaecularGamescouldnotbeheld,anemperor
couldrefertothesaeculumofhisreigninofficialcoinageandinscriptionsasanexpressionofimperial
identityandauthorityovertime. ThestudyendswithaninvestigationofthecessationoftheseGames
ii
underConstantineI,likelyduetotheinfluenceofChristianity,andshowsthattheLudiSaecularesceased
tobeheldafter248ce:referencestotheSaecularGamesinthereignsoflateremperorsareshowntobe
misinterpretationsofancienttextsorcoinlegends.
iii
Acknowledgements
Itisahappytasktothankthemanypeoplewhohaveassistedmewiththecreationofthisdissertation.
AndreasBendlinhasbeenasuperlativeadvisor,andIcannotexpressproperlymygratitudetohimforyears
ofwiseandpatientguidance. JarrettWelshandChristerBruunhaveofferedmuchhelpfulfeedback,as
haveHarrietFlowerandSethBernard.JonathanKirkpatricksparkedmyinterestintheLudiSaeculares
yearsago.OwenEwald,LukeReinsma,andKathrynBartholomewoversawmyundergraduateeducation
inClassicsandancientlanguages.Thegenerosityofvariousinstitutionsmademyresearchpossible:the
UniversityofToronto’sSchoolofGraduateStudiesprovidedfundingforaperiodofstudywiththeFaculty
ofClassicsatOxfordUniversity,andIamgratefultoNicholasPurcellandJeromeMairatforaccesstothe
HeberdenCoinRoomattheAshmoleanMuseum.TheGerdaHenkelStiftungandtheEliseundAnnemarie
Jacobi-StiftungenabledaperiodofstudyattheKommissionfürAlteGeschichteundEpigraphikinMunich;
IthankChristofSchulerandRudolfHaenschfortheirhospitalityandexpertise. Myparentshavelong
supportedandencouragedmypassionforoldthings.Iamindebtedtomanyothers–family,friends,and
colleagues,butmostofalltoAndrew,whosetypesettingofthisdissertationisbutanoutwardsignofthe
selflessnessthatsustainedmethroughthewholeendeavour.
iv
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 TheLudiSaecularesintheRepublic 5
2.1 AncientsourcesforLudiSaecularesintheRepublic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 ChronologiesofRepublicanLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 TextualproblemsinCensorinusandZosimus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 ModernscholarshiponRepublicanLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 Re-evaluationoftheoriginoftheritesattheTarentum:TheValerianconnection . . . . . 26
2.6 Re-evaluatingtheLudiSaecularesintheRepublic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 TheLudiSaecularesofAugustus 37
3.1 AncientsourcesfortheLudiSaecularesof17bce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2 Augustusandsaeculumrhetoric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3 ThegensValeriaintheageofAugustus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.4 RecreatingtheRepublicantradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5 ConstructingtheritualsequenceoftheLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.6 OfficiatingtheAugustanLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.7 CommemoratingtheAugustanLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4 TheDevelopmentofSaeculumRhetoricandtheLudiSaecularesofClaudius 62
4.1 Discussionofmethodologyandevidenceforsaeculumrhetoric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2 SaeculumrhetoricintheAugustanperiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3 Claudius’snewsaeculumandtheLudiSaecularesof47ce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5 TheLudiSaecularesofDomitian 82
v
5.1 LiterarysourcesforDomitian’sLudiSaecularesandtheirchronology. . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.2 NumismaticevidenceforDomitian’sLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.3 Domitian’sLudiSaecularesandcreationofimperialidentity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4 CommemoratingDomitian’sLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.5 Domitianandsaeculumrhetoric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6 SaeculumRhetoricintheSecondtoFourthCenturiesceandtheLudiSaecularesofSeptimius
Severus 98
6.1 Developmentofsaeculumrhetoricintheearlysecondcenturyce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.2 ThecelebrationofAntoninusPiusin148ce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.3 Saeculumrhetoricinthelatersecondcenturyce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.4 TheLudiSaecularesofSeptimiusSeverus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.5 PlanningtheGames:saeculumrhetoricandtheSeveranbuildingprogramme . . . . . . . 105
6.6 ReinventingtheAugustanLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.7 OfficiantsintheSeveranLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.8 Severansaeculumrhetoricinepigraphicevidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
7 TheLudiSaecularesofPhilipI,SaeculumRhetoricintheThirdandFourthCenturiesce,and
theReceptionoftheLudiSaecularesTradition 119
7.1 PhilipI’sLudiSaecularesof248ce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.2 Saeculumrhetoricofthelatethirdcenturyce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.3 SaeculumrhetoricinthereignofConstantineandlater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.4 SaeculumrhetoricafterConstantine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.5 TheinventionoftheLudiSaecularesofHonorius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8 Conclusion 142
Appendix1:LiteraryReferencestotheLudiSaecularesandtheSaeculum 145
Appendix2:EpigraphicReferencestotheLudiSaecularesandtheSaeculum 155
Appendix3:NumismaticReferencestotheLudiSaeculares 166
Appendix4:NumismaticReferencestotheSaeculum 174
Bibliography 190
vi
List of Tables
2.1 DatingofearlyLudiSaecularesinsurvivingsources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.1 Referencesto/survivingfromtheLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2 OccurrencesofsaeculumwithoutdirectreferencetotheLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.3 LudiSaecularesandsaeculumreferences,combined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.4 Datingofsaecula/LudiTarentini/LudiSaeculares,AugustanandClaudiancalculations . 77
vii
List of Figures
3.1 DenariusofAugustus,17bce(ric1².338) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 AureusofAugustus,18–16bce(ric1².138) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.1 LiteraryreferencestotheLudiSaecularesandthesaeculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2 EpigraphicreferencestotheLudiSaecularesandthesaeculum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3 NumismaticreferencestotheLudiSaeculares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4 Numismaticreferencestothesaeculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.1 SestertiusofDomitian,88ce(ric2.1².615) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.2 QuinariusofDomitian,88ce(ric2.1².599) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.3 SestertiusofDomitian,88ce(ric2.1².613) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.1 AureusofHadrian,119–122ce(ric2.136) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.2 DenariusofAntoninusPius,159–160ce(ric3.309) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.3 AureusofClodiusAlbinus,194–195ce(ric4.10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.4 AureusofSeptimiusSeverus,202ce(ric4.181b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7.1 SestertiusofPhilipI,248ce(ric4.3.157a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
7.2 DoubleSesteriusofTrajanusDecius,249–251ce(ric4.3.115) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.3 CoinofPhiliptheArab,248ce(ric4.3.20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.4 AntoninanusofGallienus,264–265ce(ric5.1.656) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
7.5 SolidusofConstantine,314–317ce(ric7.185) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
7.6 Porfyrius,C.19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
viii
Chapter 1
Introduction
TheLudiSaeculares,or“SaecularGames”,areuniqueamongthereligiousperformancesofancientRome.
From their mythic founding in the sixth century bce until their final celebration in 248 ce, the Ludi
SaecularestookplaceinthecityofRomeonceeverysaeculum.NootherRomanfestivalwascelebratedat
suchwideintervals–orunderwentsodramaticatransformationinitshistory. Succeedinggenerations
altered the character of the Games radically: a ritual once performed by the gens Valeria as an act of
propitiationtochthonicdeitiesbecameaciviccelebrationofRome’sprosperityundertheemperors,until
theGamesceasedtobeheldunderConstantineI.Thetermsaeculum,fromwhichthenameofthefestival
wasderivedduringtheAugustanperiod,cametofunctionasformofrhetoricthatallowedforthecreation
ofimperialauthorityandidentity,firstinthecontextoftheSaecularGames,andtheninepigraphicand
numismaticformulas. ThisdissertationwillofferacomprehensiveanalysisofthehistoryoftheLudi
Saeculares,bringingtolightthereligiousframeworksandpoliticalattitudesunderlyingtheirdevelopment,
anddemonstratinginturnhowtheGamesthemselveshelpustobetterunderstandreligiousexperiences
andsocio-politicalchangeatRome.
Despiteasteadystreamofscholarshiponthesubject,beginningintheRenaissancewiththeworksof
PanvinioandTaffin,thereexistsnomodernstudythatthoroughlyexaminestheLudiSaecularesandtheir
significanceforourunderstandingofRomanhistoryandreligion.1 Basiner’slengthydiscussionoftheLudi
SaecularesiswritteninRussianandisthereforeinaccessibletomostscholars;thenumerousreviewsofhis
workrevealthathisreconstructionoftheoriginsoftheGamesandtheearlyidentitiesofdeitiesassociated
withtheritesishighlyspeculative.2 Nilsson’soft-citedencyclopaediaentrygivesonlyalimitedsketchof
theGames’entirehistory.3 Gagésetsoutpreliminaryideasforafullstudyofthesubjectinseveralarticles,
buthisworksfailstopresentacohesiveandin-depthanalysis.4 Pighigathersmostoftheancientevidence
1 Panvinio(1558);Taffin(1641).
2 Basiner(1901).Reviews:Enmann(1902);Lezius(1902);Blanguernon(1903);Liebenam(1904).
3 Nilsson(1920).
4 FourarticlescollectedinGagé(1934);furtherarticlesin(1938)and(1974).
1
Chapter1. Introduction 2
relatingtotheGameswithacommentary,buthisworkismainlyintendedasasourcebookandneeds
updatinginmanyrespects;forexample,histextoftheActaoftheGamesofAugustusisnowsuperseded
bytheeditionsofMorettiandSchnegg-Köhler.5 NewapproachestothestudyofRomanreligionrender
obsoletemanyearlierconclusionsaboutthesignificanceoftheGames,whichhadconcentratedontheir
roleasa“statecult”.6 Thus,anaccessiblestudyoftheLudiSaecularesthatwouldprovideafreshanalysisof
theancientevidenceinlightofrecentscholarshipislongoverdue.
Thissituationishighlyunsatisfactory,astheLudiSaecularesarefrequentlycitednotonlyinstudies
of Roman religion,7 but also in other areas of classical scholarship. For example, a common practice
amongphilologistsistodiscusstherelationshipbetweenRomanreligionandliteraturebygivingparticular
emphasistotheCarmenSaeculare,asongwrittenbyHoracethatwasperformedduringtheGamesof17
bce,butscholarsfailtoexplainhowandwhysuchhymnscametobeconnectedwiththeLudiSaeculares.8
Historians hypothesize about the origins of the Ludi Saeculares and their later associations with the
anniversariesofRome’sfoundation,buttheirtheoriesareconjecturalanddonotgiveproperattentionto
theImperialGames,nordotheyfullyexplainthedivergentchronologiesassociatedwiththeircelebrations.9
Thisdissertationremediesthissituationbyprovidingathoroughinvestigationoftheentirehistoryofthe
LudiSaecularesatRome.Myenquiryhasthreeobjectives:topresentandanalyseallsourcematerialrelating
totheGames;toreconstructthehistoryanddetailsoftheGamesthemselvesfromfragmentarymaterial;
todiscusstheearliestassociationsoftheGameswiththeconceptofthesaeculumandexaminetheuseof
thisterminlaterimperialrhetoric;andtodemonstratethesignificanceoftheGamesforunderstanding
religiousdevelopmentinRomansocietyduringtheRepublicanandImperialperiods.Icentremyanalysis
aroundthesourcesthatattesttoperformancesoftheLudiSaeculares,particularlytheinscribedActaofthe
GamesofAugustus,Claudius,andSeptimiusSeverus;coinagecommemoratingimperialcelebrations;and
manyliterarytexts.Theancientevidencefortheuseofthetermsaeculumalsoappearsinavarietyofmedia
–literary,epigraphic,andnumismatic.IalsoutilizemodernresourcesforthestudyofRomanreligion,such
asRüpke’slistsofreligiousofficialsatRome.10
MyinvestigationofthehistoryoftheLudiSaecularesatRomebeganwiththepremisethatwecanbest
understandhowareligiousperformancefunctionedatanyparticularmomentinanancientsocietyonly
whenwehavethoroughlystudiedthefullrecordofitsdevelopmentacrossmanyyears.Suchamethodology
mayseemsointuitiveastobeobvioustoall,butwhenthesurvivingevidenceforariteishighlyfragmentary
orperplexing,itistemptingtoavoidthedifficulttaskofsiftingthroughancientsourcesfromerasfar
removedfromthehistoricalcontextoftheperiodinquestioninordertocompletethetaskathand.For
example,inhisstudyoftheAugustanLudiSaecularesFeeneyhasencouragedtheapproachofconcentrating
onwhatareligiousperformanceisdoinginaspecifichistoricalcontext,ratherthanengaginginthewild
5 Pighi(1965);Moretti(1982–1984);Schnegg-Köhler(2002).
6 Cf.Bendlin(1998)and(2000),Rüpke(2013).
7 Cf.Scheid(2005);Lipka(2009).
8 Cf.Feeney(2008);Putnam(2000);Lowrie(2009);Thomas(2011).
9 Cf.Brind’Amour(1978);Aronen(1989);Forsythe(2012).
10 Rüpke(2005),(2008).