Equirria

The Equirria were a military-religious celebration of the Roman festival calendar , which was held on February 27 ( February ) and March 14 ( Martius ) with processions and equestrian games on the Martius campus . The fixation of the festival at the beginning of spring came from the archaic warfare, which limited the campaigns to the temperate and warm months. Related festivals were tubilustrium (also in spring) as well as armilustrium and the October horse at the end of the military season.

In addition, the found equirria at the turn of the year (in the Roman calendar of 1. March instead), which was symbolized by the expulsion of a goat. In addition to the ritual cleansing ( lustrum ) of the horses, funeral celebrations, as known from Homer's Iliad , are suspected as a possible background to the festival .

See also

• List of festivals and holidays in the Roman Empire

literature

• Kurt Latte : Roman religious history . Beck, Munich 1960, ISBN 3406013740 (Handbook of Classical Studies, V 4).
• Howard Hayes Scullard : Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic . Thames and Hudson, London 1981, pp. 82/89, ISBN 0801414024 (Aspects of Greek and Roman life).