Salvete Quirites!

I hereby open the Ludi Megalesia!

The Ludi Megalesia [April 4th - 10th], were games offered in honor of a foreign goddess, Magna Mater (Cybele), imported to Rome after the 2nd Punic War.

The goddess' sacred black stone was brought from Phrygia in Asia Minor and housed in a temple consecrated/opened on April 10, 191 B.C.E. The Ludi were organized by the Aediles, elected magistrates charged with the organization of various festivals. The priests of the Magna Mater were called the Galli. They were non-citizen eunuchs. The poet Catullus offers us a good example (Poem 63) of the Roman mind trying to comprehend the kind of religious belief that would lead a man to castrate himself in order to serve the Magna Mater. Lucretius provides one of the best descriptions we have of the festival as it was celebrated around the time of Julius Caesar (De Rerum Natura, 2.600 ff.). The Galli led a procession in honor of the Magna Mater through the streets of Rome. They carried a statue of the goddess riding in a chariot drawn by lions in a litter.

Some priests played music, which sounded strange, sexy and scary to the Romans, on musical instruments (tambourines, cymbals, flutes and trumpets) from Asia Minor. People watching the procession threw flower petals and coins before the priests. While most upright, uptight Romans shuddered at this kind of excess, they not only allowed the procession and supported the Ludi, they considered the state sponsored worship of the Magna Mater Pius and venerable and absolutely necessary to Rome. When the Magna Mater was first introduced to Rome, aristocratic families formed sodalites [clubs] in honor of the Cybele. A practice rapidly developed from these clubs in which patrician families held dinner parties [mutitationes] for each other on the first night of the Ludi. Over time these banquets became wildly elaborate and ostentatious.

May Magna Mater, the Gods and Goddesses of Roma continue to protect the Res Publica!

I thank my Cohors Aedilis for the work they have done and still are doing for me as a Curule Aedile. When it comes to the Ludi, I especially thank my Quaestor Illustrus Franciscus Apulus Caesar!

For information about the Ludi Megalesia see:
http://italia.novaroma.org/cohorsaedilis/ludi/

Vale

Caeso Fabius Quintilianus
Senator et Senior Curule Aedile
Propraetor of Thule
AUCTOR LEGIONIS, Legio VII "Res Publica"

Closing Message by Caeso Fabius Quintilianus

Salvete Quirites!

I has been my duty and my pleasure to, with the assistance of my Cohors Aedilis, give You, the citizens of Nova Roma and the whole Res Publica the first Ludi Megalesia in Roma since the interdiction of paganism. Ludi Megalesia has been given to honor Magna Mater also known as Cybele, as it was in ancient times.

It was said in the Sybille books that Magna Mater would protect and assist the Romans in the Second Punic war if the could find the Black Stone of Magna Mater. The Stone was found and transported to Rome 205 B.C. and the Romans won the war. Since then Magna Mater have been
worship with deep sincerity in Rome until the interdiction of paganism, even though her worship was strange to the Romans.

During the Ludi Megalesia we have had a contest in writing a literary work, a contest in horse-racing and an initiative to support the re-building of the Temple of Magna Mater in Rome. I now wish my Colleague the Junior Curule Aedile Illustrus Amulius Claudius Petrus Good Luck in the coming Ludi Cerialia!

It is the hope of my Cohors and myself that You the citizens of Nova Roma have enjoyed yourselves during the Ludi Megalesia. My Cohors and I hereby thank all who have participated in these Ludi or enjoyed them and the contests and ask all citizens to go to: http://italia.novaroma.org/cohorsaedilis/ludi/megalesia/temple.htm to see how You can assist in the re-building of the Temple of Magna Mater in Rome.

I hereby declare the Ludi Megalesia of the year of 2755 A.U.C. closed!!!

Keep an eye on the web site of Cohors Aedilis C. Fabius Quintilianus http://italia.novaroma.org/cohorsaedilis It is the place were things happens! ;-)

Valete

Caeso Fabius Quintilianus
Senator et Senior Curule Aedile
Propraetor of Thule
AUCTOR LEGIONIS, Legio VII "Res Publica"