Cerealia
ancient roman religion cerealia major festival celebrated grain goddess cere held seven day mid late april various agricultural festival held last half april cerealia celebrated harvest may begun th surviving description rome city festival cere presumably urban version originally rustic agricultural festival treatise agriculture cato elder recommends farmer sacrifice sow porca praecidanea cere harvest cerealia listed oldest roman calendar institution city attributed semilegendary king numa earliest regal period festival archaic agricultural nature shown nighttime ritual described ovid blazing torch tied tail live fox released possibly circus maximus origin purpose ritual unknown may intended cleanse growing crop protect disease vermin add warmth vitality growth ovid offer aetiological explanation long ago ancient carleoli farmboy caught fox stealing chicken tried burn alive fox escaped ablaze flight set fire field crop sacred cere fox punished festival ever since ludi ceriales game cere held part festival circus maximus ovid mention ritual cere search lost daughter proserpina represented woman clothed white running lighted torch probably refers thesmophoria element cere native cult identification rome native goddess libera proserpina republican era cerealia public religious festival organised plebeian aediles elected position political religious obligation cere one patron deity pleb common people cerealia occasion exclusively plebeian banquet cerealia festival included ludi circenses circus game opened horse race circus maximus starting place aventine temple cere liber libera around bc cerealia included ludi scaenici theatrical performance religious dimension held april – plebeian aedile gaius memmius credited staging first ludi scaenici distributing new commemorative denarius coin honor event indirect appeal continued political support distribution free subsidised grain particular interest pleb innovation led claim presented first cerealia rome traditional religious festival including cerealia still managed aediles imperial era banning pagan cult festival cerealia marked calendar philocalus ad roman festival eleusinian mystery lacus curtius sitewilliam smith dictionary greek roman antiquity cerealia dictionary greek roman antiquity