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Maius or mensis Maius (May) was the fifth month of the ancient Roman calendar in the classical period, following Aprilis (April) and preceding Iunius (June). On the oldest Roman calendar that had begun with March, it was the third of ten months in the year. May had 31 days.
The Romans considered May an infelicitous month. Although it began with one of the most notoriously licentious holidays of the Roman calendar, the Games of Flora (Floralia), the middle of the month was devoted to propitiating the lemures, the restless shades of the dead.H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), p. 115.
On the calendar of the Roman Republic and early Principate, each day was marked with a letter to denote its religiously lawful status. In May, these were:
By the late 2nd century AD, extant calendars no longer show days marked with these letters, probably in part as a result of calendar reforms undertaken by Marcus Aurelius.Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 17, 122. Days were also marked with nundinal letters in cycles of A B C D E F G H, to mark the "market week"Jörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, translated by David M.B. Richardson (Blackwell, 2011, originally published 1995 in German), p. 6. (these are omitted in the table below).
On a dies religiosus, individuals were not to undertake any new activity, nor do anything other than tend to the most basic necessities. A dies natalis was an anniversary such as a temple founding or rededication, sometimes thought of as the "birthday" of a deity. During the Roman Empire, the birthdays and anniversaries of the emperor and his family gained prominence as Roman holidays. After the mid-1st century AD, a number of dates are added to calendars for spectacles and games (ludi) held in honor of various deities in the venue called a "circus" (ludi circenses). After the time of Constantine I, the first emperor to convert to Christianity, sacrifices were omitted from the ludi. In the mid-4th century, games celebrating the victories of the Constantinian dynasty were held May 4–9 (the Ludi Maximati) and May 13–17 (Ludi Persici).Salzman, On Roman Time, pp. 17, 121–122, 133, 137–138, 142.
Festivals marked in large letters on extant fasti, represented by festival names in all capital letters on the table, are thought to have been the most ancient holidays, becoming part of the calendar before 509 BC.Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 41. The Ambarvalia, a "moveable feast" (feriae conceptivae) involving the lustrum of the fields, seems to have been held in May, with May 29 commonly the date on which it fell.
Unless otherwise noted, the dating and observances on the following table are from H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. 116–125.
| • sacrifice of a pregnant sow to Maia by the Flamen Volcanalis • dies natalis of the Temple of Bona Dea on the Aventine Hill • sacrifice to the Lares Praestites • Ludi Florae, begun April 27 on the pre-Julian calendar, continue |
| • Ludi Florae continue |
| • Ludi Florae conclude |
| • LEMURIA |
| • dies natalis of Claudius Gothicus (268–270) |
| • LEMURIA resumes • sacrifice to Mania |
| • LEMURIA resumes |
| • dies natalis of the Temple of Mars Invictus in the Circus Flaminius • procession of the Argei |
| • Feriae Iovi, the monthly sacrifice on the Ides to Jupiter • merchants' festival and a sacrifice to Mercury and Maia |
| • Zenziarius, an otherwise unknown festival on the Calendar of Filocalus (after the mid-1st century AD)Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 125. |
| • Agonalia for Vediovis |
| • Tubilustrium • Feriae Volcano, rites for Vulcanus • Macellus rosam sumat, marked on one calendar as the day when roses were brought to marketSalzman, On Roman Time, p. 125. |
| • to Vesta for the birthday of Germanicus (on the Feriale Cumanum, 4–14 ADBeth Severy, Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire (Routledge, 2003), p. 130. and the Feriale Duranum, 224–235 AD) |
| • dies natalis of the Temple of Fortuna Populi Romani or Fortuna Primigenia |
| • a common date for the Ambarvalia • Ludi Fabaraci begin, games leading to the Bean Kalends of June 1 (after the mid-1st century AD) • dies natalis for Honos and Virtus • Zinza, an otherwise unknown festival on the Calendar of FilocalusSalzman, On Roman Time, pp. 92, 122. |
| • Ludi Fabaraci continue |
| • Ludi Fabaraci continue • Rosalia signorum, when the Roman army adorned the military standards with rosesAs preserved in the Feriale Duranum. |
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