A lūstrum (, plural lūstra) was a term for a five-year period in
Ancient Rome.
It is distinct from the
homograph ''lustrum'' ( ): a haunt of wild beasts (and figuratively, a den of vice), plural ''lustra'' ( ).
[Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary (2005). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. vii, 109]
History
The
lustration was originally a
sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...
for
expiation and
purification offered by one of the
censors in the name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the
census. The sacrifice was often in the form of an animal sacrifice, known as a
suovetaurilia.
These censuses were taken at five-year intervals, thus a ''lūstrum'' came to refer to the five-year inter-census period. ' (from ', grc, λούω) is a lustration or purification of the whole Roman people performed by one of the censors in the
Campus Martius, after the taking of the census was over. As this purification took place only once in five years, the word ''lūstrum'' was also used to designate the time between two lustra.
The first ''lūstrum'' was performed in 566 BC by King
Servius, after he had completed his census, and afterwards it is said to have taken place regularly every five years after the census was over. In the earliest period of the republic, the business of the census and the solemnities of the ''lūstrum'' were performed by the consuls. The first censors were appointed in 443 BC, and from this year down to 294 BC there had, according to
Livy (X.47), only been 26 pairs of censors, and only 21 lustra, or general purifications, although if all had been regular, there would have been 30 pairs of censors and 30 lustra. Sometimes the census was not held at all, or at least not by the censors. The census might take place without the ''lūstrum'', and indeed two cases of this kind are recorded, in 459 and 214 BC. In these cases, the ''lūstrum'' was not performed because of some great calamities that had befallen the republic.
The time when the ''lūstrum'' took place has been calculated. Six ancient
Romulian years, of 304 days each, were, with the difference of two days, equal to five solar years of 365 days each, with one leap year of 366 days; or the six ancient years made 1824 days, while the five solar years contained 1826 days. The ''lūstrum'', or the great year of the ancient Romans, was thus a cycle, at the end of which, the beginning of the ancient year nearly coincided with that of the solar year. As the coincidence, however, was not perfect, a month of 24 days was interposed in every eleventh ''lūstrum''. It is highly probable that the recurrence of such a cycle or great year was, from the earliest times, solemnized with sacrifices and purifications, and that King Servius did not introduce them, but merely connected them with his census, and thus set the example for subsequent ages, which however, as we have seen, was not observed with regularity.
The last ''lūstrum'' was solemnized at Rome, in AD 74, in the reign of
Vespasian.
See also
*
Lustratio
*
Decade
*
Century
A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
A centennial or ...
*
Millennium
References
External links
Livius.org Lustrum
{{Time measurement and standards
Society of ancient Rome
Population
Units of time
Quinquennial events