October horse

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The October horse ( lat. Equus October ) was a ritual sacrifice for the god Mars in ancient Rome , which took place on the Ides of October (October 15).

That day, two-team races were held on the Field of Mars . (These games in honor of the god of war took place twice a year, except in October and early March). After the races in October, the right horse (hand horse) of the victorious pair was offered as a sacrifice to the god Mars. For this purpose it was killed with a spear , presumably by the high priest of Mars, the Flamen Martialis , outside the ritual city limits, the Pomerium . The head and tail were then cut off. The head, crowned with bread, was the subject of a battle between the inhabitants of two districts, the Subura and the Via Sacra . If the Suburanenses won , the horse's head was brought to Turris Mamilia , an unknown building in the Subura; if the Sacravienses conquered him , he was brought to the Regia at the Roman Forum .

The still bleeding tail was carried at a run from the Marsfeld to the Regia in order to let the blood drip into the flames of the hearth burning there. It has long been assumed that the ashes of this hearth were later swept up by the Vestal Virgins and used to make suffimen , a cleansing incense used on the feast of Parilia (or that the blood was collected by the Vestal Virgins for this purpose); but this assumption has been called into question by recent research.

meaning

According to the author Sextus Pompeius Festus from the 2nd century AD, it was a ritual "for the end of the harvest" (whether frugum eventum) . It is controversial in research whether this formulation refers to the future harvest, which should give Mars fertility, or in the sense of an offering of thanks for the completed harvest. In addition to the time of the festival in October (shortly after the harvest), the wreath around the horse's head with bread speaks in favor of the second hypothesis, which indicates a harvest ritual (bread as the result of a good harvest). The answer to this question is significant for the interpretation of the god Mars: in one case he would have features of a fertility god, in the other case he would be thanked for sparing the harvest (or for preventing enemies from destroying the harvest).

literature