An ancient Roman celebration held at the completion of various eras or on important anniversaries
A Roman religious festival held every saeculum (100–110 years) to mark the end of an era, blending sacrifice, theatre, and public games.
Key Facts
- Duration
- Three days and three nights
- Saeculum length
- 100 or 110 years years
- Earliest attested Republic date
- 249 BC
- Notable revival
- 17 BC by Emperor Augustus
- Final known celebrations
- AD 248, before Christian abandonment
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Romans conceived of a saeculum as the longest possible human lifespan, either 100 or 110 years, and used this interval to mark the end of one era and the start of another. Mythological origins traced the games to a Sabine man named Valesius, instructed by supernatural means to sacrifice to underworld deities Dis Pater and Proserpina on the Campus Martius.
The Secular Games (Ludi Saeculares) were held irregularly in Rome over three days and nights, involving sacrifices to various deities, theatrical performances, and public games. Celebrated in 249 BC, the 140s BC, 17 BC, AD 47, 88, 148, 204, and 248, each celebration marked a centennial or saecular interval, with ritual content evolving across time and regime.
The Games shaped Roman civic religion, linking imperial authority to cosmic renewal; Augustus used the 17 BC celebration to legitimize his new order. The festival persisted into the third century AD but was ultimately abandoned under Christian emperors, who rejected its pagan sacrificial rites.
Work
Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games)
The Games embedded periodic renewal rituals into Roman civic life, linking imperial legitimacy to saecular time-keeping and influencing later Western notions of jubilee and centennial commemoration.