Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

LUDI.

243

LUPERCALIA.

respecting the origin of the games, yet all
agree in stating that they were celebrated for
the purpose of averting from the state some
great calamity by which it had been afflicted,
and that they were held in honour of Dis and
Proserpina. From the time of the consul
Valerius Publicola down to that of Augustus,
the Tarentine games were held only three
times, and again only on certain emergencies,
and not at any fixed period, so that we must
conclude that their celebration was in no way
connected with certain cycles of time [sae-
cula). Not long after Augustus had assumed
the supreme power in the republic, the quin-
decimviri announced that according to their
books ludi saeculares ought to be held, and
at the same time tried to prove from history
that in former times they had not only been
celebrated repeatedly, but almost regularly
once in every century. The festival, how-
ever, which was now held, was in reality
very different from the ancient Tarentine
games; for Dis and Proserpina, to whom
formerly the festival belonged exclusively,
were now the last in the list of the divinities
in honour of whom the ludi saeculares were
celebrated. The festival took place in sum-
mer, and lasted for three days and three
nights. On the first day the games com-
menced in that part of the Campus Martius,
which had belonged to the last Tarquin, from
whom it derived its name Tarentum, and
sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, Juno, Nep-
tune, Minerva, Venus, Apollo, Mercury, Ce-
res, Vulcan, Mars, Diana, Vesta, Hercules,
Latona, the Parcae-, and to Dis and Proser-
pina. The solemnities began at the second
hour of the night, and the emperor opened
them by the river side with the sacrifice of
three lambs to the Parcae upon three altars
erected for the purpose, and which were
sprinkled with the blood of the victims. The
lambs themselves were burnt. A temporary
scene like that of a theatre was erected in
the Tarentum, and illuminated with lights
and fires. In this scene festive hymns were
sung by a chorus, and various other ceremo-
nies, together with theatrical performances,
took place. During the morning of the first
day the people went to the Capitol to offer
solemn sacrifices to Jupiter; thence they
returned to the Tarentum, to sing choruses
in honour of Apollo and Diana. On the
second day the noblest matrons, at an hour
fixed by an oracle, assembled in the Capitol,
offered supplications, sang hymns to the gods,
and also visited the altar of Juno. The em-
peror and the quindecimviri offered sacrifices
which had been vowed before, to all the great
divinities. On the third day Greek and
Latin choruses were sung in the sanctuary of

Apollo by three times nine boys and maiden*
of great beauty, whose parents were stiL
alive. The object of these hymns was to
implore the protection of the gods for all
cities, towns, and officers of the empire. One
of these hymns was the carmen saeculare by
Horace, which was especially composed for
the occasion and adapted to the circumstances
of the time. During the whole of the three
days and nights, games of every description
were carried on in all the circuses and thea-
tres, and sacrifices were offered in all the
temples. The first celebration of the ludi
saeculares in the reign of Augustus took
place in the summer of b. c. 17.

Ludi Tarentixi or Taurii. [Ludi Saecu-
lares.]

LUDUS. [Gladiatorf.s.]

LUDUS TROJAE. [Circus.]

LUPERCALIA, one of the most ancient
Roman festivals, which was celebrated every
year in honour of Lupercus, the god of fer-
tility. It was originally a shepherd-festival,
and hence its introduction at Rome was con-
nected with the names of Romulus and Re-
mus, the kings of shepherds. It was held
every year, on the 15th of February, in the
Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were
said to have been nurtured by the she-wolf; the
place contained an altar and a grove sacred
to the god Lupercus. Here the Luperci as-
sembled on the day of the Lupercalia, and
sacrificed to the god goats and young dogs.
Two youths of noble birth were then led to
the Luperci, and one of the latter touched
their foreheads with a sword dipped in the
blood of the victims; other Luperci imme-
diately after wiped off the bloody spots with
wool dipped in milk. Hereupon the two
youths were obliged to break out into a shout
of laughter. This ceremony was probably
a symbolical purification of the shepherds.
After the sacrifice was over, the Luperci par-
took of a meal, at which they were plenti-
fully supplied with wine. They then cut the
skins of the goats which they had sacrificed,
into pieces : with some of which they covered
parts of their body in imitation of the god
Lupercus, who was represented half naked
and half covered with goatskin. The other
pieces of the skins they cut in the shape of
thongs, and holding them in their hands they
ran with them through the streets of the city,
touching or striking with them all persons
whom they met in their way, and especially
women, who even used to come forward vo-
luntarily for the purpose, since they believed
that this ceremony rendered them fruitful,
and procured them an easy delivery in child-
bearing. This act of running about with
thongs of goatskin was a symbolic purification

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