The Equirria (also as ''Ecurria'', from ''*equicurria'', "

horse races Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

") were two ancient Roman festivals of

chariot racing Chariot racing ( grc-gre, ἁρματοδρομία, harmatodromia, la, ludi circenses) was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from ...

, or perhaps horseback racing, held in honor of the god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, one 27 February and the other 14 March.

Site

The Equirria took place in the

Campus Martius The Campus Martius (Latin for the "Field of Mars", Italian ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers ...

outside the sacred boundary of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

''(

pomerium The ''pomerium'' or ''pomoerium'' was a religious boundary around the city of Rome and cities controlled by Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within its ''pomerium''; everything beyond it was simply territory (''ager'') belonging to Rome. ...

)''. The exact course is debated: perhaps near the Altar of Mars in the campus; or on the

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

, the site of the ''ludi tarentini'', which became the

Saecular Games The Saecular Games ( la, Ludi saeculares, originally ) was a Roman religious celebration involving sacrifices and theatrical performances, held in ancient Rome for three days and nights to mark the end of a and the beginning of the next. A , sup ...

; or the

Trigarium The Trigarium was an equestrian training ground in the northwest corner of the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars") in ancient Rome. Its name was taken from the ''triga'', a three-horse chariot. The Trigarium was an open space located south of the ...

. When the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

flooded, the Equirria were transferred to the ''Campus Martialis'' on the

Caelian Hill The Caelian Hill (; la, Collis Caelius; it, Celio ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill over ...

, a field without permanent structures.

On the calendar

The Equirria were said to have been founded by

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...

, the son of Mars. Both appear on the oldest

Roman calendar The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the Roman dictator, dictator Julius Caesar and Roman emperor, emperor Augustus in the ...

s inscribed on stone. The Equirria are part of what Michael Lipka calls "temporal focalization" in the Roman conception of deity. The festivals of Mars—the 27 February Equirria, a ''

feria In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, a feria is a day of the week other than Sunday. In more recent official liturgical texts in English, the term ''weekday'' is used instead of ''feria''. If the feast day of a saint falls on such a day, the ...

'' on the

Kalends The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a n ...

of March (a day sacred also to

his mother ''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ir ...

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

Agonalia An Agonalia or Agonia was an obscure archaic religious observance celebrated in ancient Rome several times a year, in honor of various divinities. Its institution, like that of other religious rites and ceremonies, was attributed to Numa Pompi ...

17 March,

Tubilustrium In Ancient Rome the month of March was the traditional start of the campaign season, and the Tubilustrium was a ceremony to make the army fit for war. The ceremony involved sacred trumpets called ''tubae''. Johannes Quasten, however, argues ...

23 March, the ritual of the

October Horse In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, the October Horse (Latin ''Equus October'') was an animal sacrifice to Mars (mythology), Mars carried out on October 15, coinciding with the end of the Roman agriculture, agricultural and mili ...

15 October, and

Armilustrium In ancient Roman religion, the Armilustrium was a festival in honor of Mars, the god of war, celebrated on October 19.H.H. Scullard, ''Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic'' (Cornell University Press, 1981), p. 195. On this day the weapo ...

19 October—cluster at his namesake month (Latin ''Martius''), except for festivals of Mars in October to close the

military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from the ...

ing season. In the earliest form of the calendar, the year began with March, and thus the 27 February Equirria originally preceded

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

, and was the last festival for Mars of the year. The 14 March Equirria occurs the day before the

Ides Ides or IDES may refer to: Calendar dates * Ides (calendar), a day in the Roman calendar that fell roughly in the middle of the month. In March, May, July, and October it was the 15th day of the month; in other months it was the 13th. **Ides of Mar ...

, when the Roman people celebrated the feast of Anna Perenna, whose name expresses her role as a goddess of the year (Latin ''annus''; cf. English "perennial"). The March Equirria and the

Regifugium The Regifugium ("Flight of the King") or Fugalia ("Festival of the Flight") was an annual religious festival that took place in ancient Rome every February 24 ( la, a.d. VI Kal. Mart.). History Varro and Ovid traced the observance to the flight o ...

("King's Flight") are the only such festivals to fall on an even-numbered date. Despite scholarly efforts, no explanation for this displacement has found wide acceptance.

Georg Wissowa Georg Otto August Wissowa (17 June 1859 – 11 May 1931) was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau. Education and career Wissowa studied classical philology under August Reifferscheid at the University of Bresla ...

thought the March Equirria had originally occurred on the Ides, and was moved up a day because of conflicts among religious events concentrated around this ritually fraught time; an alternate view is that it was placed "at some convenient day" between the

Nones Nones may refer to: * ''Nones'' (Auden), a 1951 book of poems by W. H. Auden * ''Nones'' (Berio), a 1954 orchestral composition by Luciano Berio *Nones (calendar), or ''Nonae'', days of the Roman Calendar *None (liturgy) Nones (), also known as N ...

and the Ides. At any rate, the horse races framed the ritual turn of the year, and the difficulties of the placement of the two Equirria arise from changes made to the calendar, when January became the first month.

Significance

Originally, the Equirria may have featured races on horseback, like the archaic festivals of the

Consualia The Consualia or ''Consuales Ludi'' was the name of two ancient Roman festivals in honor of Consus, a tutelary deity of the harvest and stored grain. ''Consuales Ludi'' harvest festivals were held on August 21,Plutarch. "Life if Romulus", in ''P ...

and

Taurian Games The Taurian Games (Latin ''Ludi Taurii'' or ''Ludi Taurei'', rarely Taurilia) were games ''(ludi)'' held in ancient Rome in honor of the ''di inferi'', the gods of the underworld. They were not part of a regularly scheduled religious festival on th ...

, rather than chariot races. The gods of the underworld ''(

di inferi The ''di inferi'' or ''dii inferi'' (Latin, "the gods below") were a shadowy collective of ancient Roman deities associated with death and the underworld. The epithet ''inferi'' is also given to the mysterious Manes, a collective of ancestral sp ...

)'' were characteristically propitiated by horse racing in the Campus Martius with "old and obscure" festivals such as the Consualia, at sites including the Tarentum and the Trigarium.

Hendrik Wagenvoort Hendrik Wagenvoort (23 August 1886 – 15 January 1976) was a Dutch classical scholar. He was professor of Latin at the University of Groningen and Utrecht University and published extensively on subjects relating to the Latin language and ...

speculated that the archaic Mars "had been imagined as the god of death and the underworld in the shape of a horse."

William Warde Fowler William Warde Fowler (16 May 1847 – 15 June 1921) was an England, English historian and ornithologist, and tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford, Lincoln College, Oxford. He was best known for his works on religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman ...

understood the Equirria as " lustrations of the horse" for the army. They occur during what most scholars see as a general "war festival" for Mars. The end of the campaigning season was marked in October, with the ritual of the October Horse, which also involved chariot races, on the Ides, and the

on 19 October. The paucity of evidence on the Equirria, as with other archaic festivals, may indicate that they were preserved for the sake of religious tradition, but not attended by masses of people.Jörg Rüpke, "Communicating with the Gods," in ''A Companion to the Roman Republic'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), p. 224.

References

{{Roman religion (festival) Festivals of Mars February observances March observances Ancient chariot racing Equestrian festivals