The Megalesia, Megalensia, or Megalenses Ludi was a festival celebrated in ancient Rome from Aprilis, in honour of Cybele, whom the Romans called Magna Mater ("Great Mother"). The name of the festival derives from Greek megalē (μϵγάλη), meaning "great". The festival was one of several on the Roman calendar celebrated with ludi, games and performances.
Background
Festival
Roman bystanders seem to have perceived Megalesia as either characteristically "Greek";In the late Republican era, Cicero describes the hymns and ritual characteristics of Megalensia as Greek. See Takacs, in Lane (ed), p. 373, citing Cicero, De haruspicum responsis, 12.24 or Phrygian. At the cusp of Rome's transition to Empire, the Greek Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes this procession as wild Phrygian "mummery" and "fabulous clap-trap", in contrast to the Megalesian sacrifices and games, carried out in what he admires as a dignified "traditional Roman" manner; Dionysius also applauds the wisdom of Roman religious law, which forbids the participation of any Roman citizen in the procession, and in the goddess's mysteries;Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, trans. Cary, Loeb, 1935, 2, 19, 3 - 5. See also commentary in Roller, 1999, p.293 and note 39: "... one can see how a Phrygian priest in an elaborately embroidered robe might have clashed noticeably with the plain, largely monochromatic Roman tunic and toga"; cf Augustus's "efforts to stress the white toga as the proper dress for Romans." Slaves are forbidden to witness any of this.Roller, 1999, p. 296, citing Cicero, De Haruspicum Responsis, 13. 28. In the late republican era, Lucretius vividly describes the procession's armed "war dancers" in their three-plumed helmets, clashing their shields together, bronze on bronze,Recalling the Kouretes and Corybantes of Cybele's Greek myths and cults. "delighted by blood"; yellow-robed, long-haired, perfumed Galli waving their knives, wild music of thrumming tympanons and shrill flutes. Along the route, rose petals are scattered, and clouds of incense arise.See Robertson, N., in Lane (ed), 1996, pp. 292 - 293. See also Summers, K., in Lane (ed), 1996, pp.341, 347 - 349. The goddess's image, wearing the Mural Crown and seated within a sculpted, lion-drawn chariot, is carried high on a bier.Summers, in Lane, 1996, pp. 348 - 50. The Roman display of Cybele's Megalesia procession as an exotic, privileged public pageant offers signal contrast to what is known of the private, socially inclusive Phrygian-Greek mysteries on which it was based.Roller, 1999, p. 317.
During the festival, wealthy Roman nobles played host to each other, in rotation, in honour of the goddess; these were lavish, costly and competitive occasions in which the wealthy sought to impress their inferiors and peers; or in the latter case, to outdo them in extravagance. In direct response to this, the Roman senate issued a decree in 161 BC, limiting expenditure on meat, wine and silverware for such feasts.Aulus Gellius, 24, 2 Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights), 24.2; Loeb, 1926 (revised 1946) accessed
In the late republican era, Cicero attacked his political opponent Clodius for sacrilegious disruption of the casti, sollemnes, religiosi (pure, traditional, religious) rites of Megalesia. Clodius had sought popular support by defecting from a patrician to a plebeian gens. The Megalesia was a predominantly patrician affair; and in an apparent attempt to undermine patrician privilege, Clodius had hired slave-gangs to forcibly take control of the festival. The attempt was a failure, and Clodius was prosecuted for this and other outrages against Rome's traditional and social proprieties.Roller, 1999, p. 296, citing Cicero, De Haruspicum Responsis, 13. 28.
See also
- Sacerdos Matris Deum Magnae Idaeae
Notes
- Lane, Eugene, (Editor) Cybele, Attis, and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M.J. Vermaseren, Brill, 1996.
- Cicero 'De Haruspicum Responsis'
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