Decorating the Temple, painted by Luigi Bazzani (1887).
In ancient Rome, from the year 19 BC onwards, October 12 marked the date of the Augustalia, the feast of Caesar Augustus. It was declared in commemoration of the consecration of the Ara Fortuna Redux, “the altar to returning fortune”, which was erected to mark Augustus’ return to Rome from his trip to Syria in 19 BC.
Not long after Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus was bestowed the title Augustus, “the noble one”, by the Roman Senate, he embarked on a grand tour of the Roman Empire’s eastern provinces, beginning with the island of Sicily, then sailing to Greece, then to the island of Samos, then to the western coast of Turkey, then to Bithynia, and finally ending in Syria. This overseas junket ended up lasting for two years, and upon the emperor’s return to the city of Rome, the Senate decreed that the date should be a day of celebration in Augustus’ honor (Cassius Dio, Roman History, book 54, chapters 6-7, 10).
“For this and other things he had done while absent from the city many honours of all sorts were voted him, none of which he would accept, save the founding of an altar to Fortuna Redux (for this was the name they gave to her), and the provision that the day on which he arrived should be numbered among the holidays and be called Augustalia” (Cassius Dio, Roman History, book 54, chapter 10).
“The Senate consecrated in honour of my return an altar to Fortuna Redux at the Porta Capena, near the temple of Honour and Virtue, on which it ordered the pontiffs and the Vestal virgins to perform a yearly sacrifice on the anniversary of the day on which I returned to the city from Syria, in the consulship of Quintus Lucretius and Marcus Vinucius, and named the day, after my cognomen, the Augustalia” (Caesar Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti, chapter 11).
From 19 BC to 12 BC, the Augustalia was celebrated in an ad hoc way, without being declared by an official Senatorial decree, but rather upon the authority of the city’s praetors. It wasn’t until 11 BC that the Augustalia was established by official decree by the Roman Senate as an annual holiday. Cassius Dio, writing at the beginning of the 3rd Century AD, wrote that the Augustalia was still being celebrated in his time (Cassius Dio, Roman History, book 54, chapter 34).
The death of Augustus in 14 AD and the accession of his step-son Tiberius as Rome’s new emperor marked a change in the Augustalia festival. It was decided that games were to be held on this date in the late emperor’s honor known as the Ludi Augustales, “the Games of Augustus” (Tacitus, Annals, book 1, chapters 15, 54).
“At the same time [14 AD], the plebeian tribunes asked leave to exhibit games at their own expense — to be called after the late emperor and added to the calendar as the Augustalia. It was decided, however, that the cost should be borne by the treasury; also, that the tribunes should have the use of the triumphal robe in the Circus; the chariot was not to be permissible. The whole function, before long, was transferred to the praetor who happened to have the jurisdiction in suits between natives and aliens” (Tacitus, Annals, book 1, chapter 15).
“The Augustal Games, now first instituted, were marred by a disturbance due to the rivalry of the actors. Augustus had countenanced these theatrical exhibitions in complaisance to Maecenas, who had fallen violently in love with Bathyllus. Besides, he had no personal dislike for amusements of this type, and considered it a graceful act to mix in the pleasures of the crowd. The temper of Tiberius had other tendencies, but as yet he lacked the courage to force into the ways of austerity a nation which had been for so many years pampered” (Tacitus, Annals, book 1, chapter 54).
Strabo, writing during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, states that the games were held every four years. “And at the present time a sacred contest is celebrated among them every four years, in music as well as gymnastics; it lasts for several days, and vies with the most famous of those celebrated in Greece” (Strabo, Geography, book 5, page 246). By contrast, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, who published The Twelve Caesars during the reign of Emperor Hadrian around 121 AD, says that the games were held every five years (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, book 2: “The Life of Augustus”, chapter 98). The Ludi Augustales were held in the major cities of the Roman Empire, not merely within Rome itself. The games were also held in Naples, Alexandria, Pergamum, Nicomedia, and others (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, book 2: “The Life of Augustus”, chapter 98; Smith, William, ed. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Volume 1. London: Taylor and Walton, 1842. Page 117). While the term “games” is often used in conjunction with gladiator contests, I haven’t found any evidence that swordfights in the arena were held on this day.
Please check out my “Today in Ancient Rome” series for more articles on the ancient Roman calendar. You can find the whole list by clicking here!
Bibliography
Augustus, Caesar. Res Gestae Divi Augusti.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Augustus/Res_Gestae/home.html.
Dio, Cassius. Roman History.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html.
Strabo. Geography.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html.
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, book 2: “The Life of Augustus”.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html.
Tacitus. Annals.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/home.html.
Smith, William, ed. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Volume 1. London: Taylor and Walton, 1842.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Antiquit/RNVPAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.
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