History & Archaeology
Volume III - Issue III - December 15, 2003
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ANCIENT VOICES: SATURNALIA
AN EXPLORATION OF THE ORIGINS OF THIS "BEST OF DAYS"
Rome, Julilla Sempronia 
Quos ibit procul hic dies per annos! quam nullo sacer exolescet aevo! dum montes Latii paterque Thybris, dum stabit tua Roma dumque terris quod reddis Capitolium manebit. (Time shall not destroy that holy day so long as the hills of Latium endure and father Tiber while your city of Rome and the Capitol remain!) — Publius Papinius Statius, Silvae VI Our best resource from antiquity on Saturnalia is the ancient writer Macrobius, though the poet Catullus also called Saturnalia "the best of days." Essentially, Saturnalia and Christmas are similar in offering several days of feasting, gift-giving (including candles and little figurines) public gambling (usually forbidden) feasting and merriment. Saturn's Festival  Saturn is one of the "elder statesmen" in the Roman pantheon. While he is often paired with the Greek Titan Kronos, he is essentially a peaceful deity. His name, which may be connected either with satur (gorged) or sator (a sower), signifies abundance. According to Roman mythology, he was driven from the heavens by Jupiter and hid himself (latuit) in the countryside, called Latium in his honour. As a king, he reigned, together with his wife, Ops, over Rome's golden ages, bringing prosperity, abundance, and civilisation.
Saturn's public festival fell on December 17, and activities recapture the spirit of Rome's golden age. - During My week the serious is barred; no business allowed. Drinking, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping of frenzied hands, an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water—such are the functions over which I preside.
—Lucian, Saturnalia Worship on this day included, in addition to conventional sacrifices by His priests, conducted in the Greek manner, a lectisternium (a feasting couch set up for Saturn in front of His temple in the Forum), and the untying of red wool ropes that bound the feet of Saturn for the rest of the year. (This may be connected with the capture of Heaven from Saturn by Jupiter or to prevent Saturn from leaving Rome.) 
Interestingly, the Saturnalia holidays grew longer over time, just like the modern holiday season (causing some folks to complain) In late Republican times, Saturnalia was a two-day holiday, from December 17-19. By Cicero's time it had grown to seven days, then the Emperor Augustus cut it back to three days. But by the middle of the first century, celebrations started creeping up again: Saturnalia was celebrated from December 17-20 by the middle of the first century, and by the end of the first century celebrations continued to December 23. quem tu scilicet ad tuum Catullum misti, continuo ut die periret, Saturnalibus, optimo dierum! (..and this was the book which you sent your Catullus to kill him off at once on the very day of Saturnalia, best of days!)
—Catullus XIV: on receiving a gift of bad poetry The poet, Martial, wrote many clever "gift tags" for his amicii, and his surviving epigrams tell us how common it was to give and receive presents during the Saturnalia: - ...my basket of ice
isn't a good gift for December?
Retaliate by sending me a
summer-weight toga! -
It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real difference between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting business....Were you here, I would willingly confer with you as to the plan of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga. —Seneca, Epistolae Ancient voices: Saturnalia Horace Satire II.7 (published c. 30 BC. - Uses the setting of the Saturnalia for a Stoic philosophical dialogue between a slave and his master, in which the slave criticises his master for being enslaved to his passions.
Martial Epigrams Book 14 (c. 84 or 85 A.D.) - A series of epigrams, each based on Saturnalia gifts, some expensive, some quite cheap, such as writing tablets, dice, knuckle bones, moneyboxes, combs, toothpicks, a hat, a hunting knife, an axe, lamps, balls, perfumes, pipes, a pig, a sausage, a parrot, tables, cups, spoons, clothing, statues, masks, books, pets.
Statius Silvae I.6 (published 93/94 AD) - A poem commemorating the emperor Domitian's public celebration of Saturnalia.
Pliny Epistles (early second century AD) - 2.17.24 Pliny describes a secluded suite of rooms in his Laurentine villa to which he uses as a retreat, "especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with the license of the holiday and festive cries. This way I don't hamper the games of my people and they don’t hinder my studies."
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- 4.9.7 Discussing the trial of the governor Julius Bassus for corruption, Pliny notes that the law forbids provincial governors to accept presents, but that Bassus claimed only to have accepted small ones and only on his birthday and for the Saturnalia, and he had usually returned the presents.
Lucian Saturnalia (published around 180 CE) - A series of satirical sketches in Greek by a writer from Syria.
Macrobius Saturnalia (published early fifth century CE) - A scholarly dialogue set during the first three days of the Saturnalia around 383 CE. in which pagan aristocrats discuss classical culture (including the Saturnalia itself), serious themes in the morning, lighter ones in the afternoons and evening.
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Saturnalia Links This page is probably one of the best resources for Saturnalia from a historical point of view. AncientWorlds member emeritus Lucius Aelius Stilo's essay on Saturnalia from his magnum opus "Encyclopedia Romana": Here is a Saturnalia ritual (in detail). This is a neo-pagan page, so the chants are modern, but many of the rituals (including the making of little clay figurines and winding red wool around the jolly old figure of Saturn) are historical. And last, something for fun: - Saturnalia Word Search
- Saturn Quiz
Io Saturnalia!
EARLY ROMAN CALENDARS
Rome, Senex Caecilius The original Roman calendar (year of Romulus) was a lunar calendar consisting of a ten-month year based on agriculture. The months of January and February did not exist, and March was the first month of the year. Between December and March, little agricultural work was possible, and the period of time was not counted. The next year would start on a new moon to bring the calendar back into step with the lunar cycle. During the reign of Numa Pompilius (715 - 673 BC), two extra months were added to the calendar: January at the beginning of the year and February at the end. This increased the length of the year from 304 days to 355 days. The lengths of the various months were also altered. Tarquinius Priscus (616 - 597 BC) introduced the Roman Republican calendar, and it was later modified by the Decemvirs so that February followed January. A complicated system was introduced to intercalate an extra month to keep the year synchronized with the phases of the moon. This created an average of 366 1/4 days per year. The decisions as to when the intercalary month was added and how long it should be fell into the hands of the priests known as pontiffs. This power was abused for political ends, and by the time of Julius Caesar the civil equinox was three months away from the astronomical equinox. This caused Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus, to order the production of the new Julian calendar in 46 BC. He abolished the lunar year and the intercalary month and instituted the solar year and a leap year with its extra dies bissextilis. The length of the normal year was 365 1/4 days. Until 153 BC, March was the first month of the year, and the forms septem-, octo-, novem-, and decem- made a lot more sense in naming the months. First of December Higgledy-Piggledy
Mensis December was
Last in a year having
Ten months in all;
Calendars now, though, are
Dodecamensural,
Leaving that prefix for
"Ten" in a stall. | Fuller accounts of the Roman calendar and its changes may be found at Early Roman Calendar and Calendopaedia. | |
