{"id":3955,"date":"2016-02-25T00:59:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T00:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2016-02-25T00:59:31","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T00:59:31","slug":"the-fugalia-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/latin\/the-fugalia-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fugalia Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Festival Time!!!!!<\/p>\n

In\u00a0ancient Roman religion,\u00a0Regifugium<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0Fugalia<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(“King’s Flight”) was an annual observance that took place every February 24. The Romans themselves offer varying views on the meaning of the day. According to\u00a0Varro\u00a0and\u00a0Ovid, the\u00a0festival\u00a0commemorated the flight of the last\u00a0king of Rome,<\/p>\n

\"Tarquinius

Tarquinius Superbus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, depicting the king receiving a laurel; the poppies in the foreground refer to the “tall poppy” allegory (see below)<\/p><\/div>\n

,[ Lucius Tarquinius Superbus<\/strong>\u00a0(died 495 BC) was the legendary seventh and final\u00a0king of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 that led to the establishment of the\u00a0Roman Republic.<\/p>\n

He is commonly known as\u00a0Tarquin the Proud<\/strong>, from his\u00a0cognomen\u00a0Superbus<\/em>\u00a0(Latin<\/a>\u00a0for “proud, arrogant, lofty”) ] in 510 BC.\u00a0Plutarch<\/a>, however, explains it as the symbolic departure of the priest with the title\u00a0rex sacrorum<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Statue

Statue of Ovid Courtesy of Wikimedia Common and Author Kurt Wichmann<\/p><\/div>\n

In his\u00a0Fasti<\/em>, Ovid offers the longest surviving account of the observance:<\/p>\n

Now I must tell of the flight of the King, six days<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>from the end of the month. The last of the Tarquins possessed the Roman nation, an unjust man, but nevertheless strong in war.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga. Traxit ab illa sextus ab extremo nomina mense dies. Ultima Tarquinius Roman\u00e6 gentis habebat regna, vir iniustus, fortis ad arma tamen.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Plutarch holds that the\u00a0rex sacrorum<\/em>\u00a0was a substitute for the former king of Rome here as in various religious rituals. The\u00a0rex<\/em>\u00a0held no civic or military role, but nevertheless was bound to offer a public\u00a0sacrifice\u00a0in the\u00a0Comitia\u00a0on this date. The “flight of the king” was the swift exit the proxy king was required to make from that place of public business. It may be that the two versions are to be reconciled by taking the “flight” of the\u00a0rex sacrorum<\/em>\u00a0as a reenactment of the expulsion of Tarquinius.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Festival Time!!!!! In\u00a0ancient Roman religion,\u00a0Regifugium\u00a0or\u00a0Fugalia\u00a0(“King’s Flight”) was an annual observance that took place every February 24. The Romans themselves offer varying views on the meaning of the day. According to\u00a0Varro\u00a0and\u00a0Ovid, the\u00a0festival\u00a0commemorated the flight of the last\u00a0king of Rome, ,[ Lucius Tarquinius Superbus\u00a0(died 495 BC) was the legendary seventh and final\u00a0king of Rome, reigning from 535…<\/p>\n

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