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In ancient Roman religion, a votum (plural vota; ) is a vow or promise made to a deity. As the result of this verbal action, a votum is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as Votive offering, a statue, or even a Roman temple. The votum is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion, a bargaining expressed by do ut des, "I give that you might give."John Scheid, "Sacrifices for Gods and Ancestors", in A Companion to Roman Religion (Blackwell, 2007), p. 270; William Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 1922), pp. 200–202.
Under the Empire, the Roman Senate decreed vota on behalf of Octavian (later Augustus) as princeps in 30 BC.Duncan Fishwick, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West (Brill, 1987), vol. I,1, p. 89. These vows for the well-being of the imperator (vota pro salute imperatoris, principis,. or Augusti). were moved to 3 Januarythe usual date of the Caligula in AD 38. Vota for the state continued to be held on January 1st, while the vows for the emperor came to include his family as well.
During these public vows, offerings were made to Jupiter, Juno, Salus, and sometimes other deities.J. Rufus Fears, "The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology", Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II.17.2 (1981), p. 98. In Rome, these ceremonies were conducted by the consuls and pontiffs, and in the Roman province probably by Roman governor and local priests and officials.Fishwick, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, pp. 89–90. For the vota for the emperor and his family, SPQR of the capital were assembled to offer collective vows;Peter Herz, "Emperors: Caring for the Empire and Their Successors", in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 312; Fowler, Religious Experience, p. 200. it was refusal to take part in these events and similar rituals that sometimes led to persecution of Christians.
Subsequently, the dies imperii (dies imperii) were celebrated with similar rituals; larger rituals marked the quinquennalia (quinquennalia) and decennalia (decennalia). Incomplete records have led scholars to debate whether particular quinquennalia and decennalia were celebrated at the beginning of the year, on the dies imperii, or at some other time for specific reasons in each case.
Vota publica continued in Rome even after Christianity had become the official religion of the Empire, possibly as late as the 6th century.Fritz Graf, "Roman Festivals in Syria Palaestina", in The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture (Mohr Siebeck, 2002), vol. 3, p. 441. Because the vows were as much affirmations of political loyalty as religious expressions, they were difficult to abolish without undermining the sacral aura of the emperor's authority.Fears, "The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology", pp. 99–105, 119–122. Fears explores the question through the transition from the cult of Jupiter to that of the Christian god: "Appropriating the central role of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the theology of victory, the Christian god passed easily into his pre-eminent position in the imperial ideology of the Christian Empire. … Like the theology of victory, the theme of the royal office as an imitatio Dei was easily Christianized. … It is precisely in this association of emperor with the high god that we observe most clearly that continuity between pagan and Christian imperial ideology" (pp. 121–122).
In the Eastern Roman Empire, this festival was known as the Vóta (Βότα). The emperors Arcadius and Honorius banned the sacrifices associated with the festival. In 692 the Quinisext Council forbade Christians from celebrating, but it remained on the court calendar at least until the reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r, 905–959).
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