ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

, the Quinquatria or Quinquatrus was a

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

sacred to the Goddess

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Ro ...

, celebrated from the 19–23 of March. The older festivals were of Etruscan origin and were to celebrate the Spring equinox, the spring rebirth rites of women. According to

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes ...

, it was so called because it was held on the fifth ''(quinqu-)'' day after the Ides, in the same way as the Tusculans called a festival on the sixth day after the Ides ''Sexatrus'' or one on the seventh ''Septimatrus''. Both Varro and Festus state that the Quinquatrus was celebrated for only one day, but

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the t ...

says that it was celebrated for five days, hence the name: on the first day no blood was shed, but that on the last four there were contests of

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some g ...

s. The first day was the festival proper, and that the following four were an expansion made perhaps in the time of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

to gratify the people. The ancient Roman religious calendars assign only one day to the festival. Ovid says that this festival was celebrated in commemoration of the birthday of Minerva; but according to Festus it was sacred to Minerva because her temple on the Aventine was consecrated on that day. On the fifth day of the festival, according to Ovid, the trumpets used in sacred rites were purified; but this seems to have been originally a separate festival called

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 ...

, which ancient calendars place on 23 March. When the celebration of Quinquatrus was extended to five days, the Tubilustrium would have fallen on the last day of that festival. As this festival was sacred to Minerva, it seems that women were accustomed to consult fortune-tellers and diviners upon this day.

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flav ...

caused it to be celebrated every year in his Alban villa, situated at the foot of the

Alban hills The Alban Hills ( it, Colli Albani) are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak the centre of the caldera, but the h ...

, and instituted a ''

collegium A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaf ...

'' to superintend the celebration, which consisted of shows of wild beasts, of the exhibition of plays, and of contests of orators and poets. There was also another festival of this name called ''Quinquatrus Minusculae'' or ''Quinquatrus Minores'', celebrated on the Ides of June, on which the '' tibicines'' went through the city in procession to the temple of Minerva.

Historical significance

At the Quinquatria in 59,

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

invited his mother,

Agrippina the Younger Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius. Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claud ...

, to his villa near

Baiae Baiae ( it, Baia; nap, Baia) was an ancient Roman town situated on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples and now in the ''comune'' of Bacoli. It was a fashionable resort for centuries in antiquity, particularly towards the end of the Roman ...

, in an attempt to assassinate her. His old tutor, Anicetus, whom he had raised to be captain of the fleet of Misenum, had undertaken to construct a vessel which could be sunk, without exciting suspicion. Agrippina landed at Bauli, between Baiae and Cape Misenum, and completed her journey in a

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

. After the banquet, when night had fallen, she was induced to return to Bauli in the vessel which had been prepared for her destruction. But the mechanism did not work as planned, and Agrippina succeeded in swimming to shore, from which she proceeded to her villa on the Lucrine lake. Nero soon after succeeded in his goal, however, with further help from Anicetus.Bury, p 279.

Notes

References

* * *Bury, John Bagnell.
The Student's Roman Empire
'. Harper. 1893. {{Roman religion (festival) Ancient Roman festivals March observances Festivals of Athena Minerva