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Audiobook edition · 17 h 2 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a year of sacred fires, field processions and winter feasts reveal about ancient Rome?
In The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic, W. Warde Fowler follows the religious calendar from March to February. Each month brings questions about what Romans do and why. Farming, flocks, water, fire and the dead shape rites that connect the needs of households with the life of Rome.
Fowler draws on the old calendar, Ovid's poem on the festivals and later Roman antiquarians. He explores how a farming town's habits of worship persist as Rome becomes ruler of the Mediterranean. Along the way, he distinguishes what the sources say from what he can only suggest, making uncertainty part of the discovery.
What you’ll discover
- A calendar with sacred duties See how priests mark days for public business and days that belong to the gods.
- Fresh fire in March Begin with Vesta's renewed flame as Fowler opens the Roman year in the month of Mars.
- Fields, flocks and protection Follow spring sacrifices and processions through rites intended to protect crops, herds and the soil.
- Winter rules grow loose Explore Saturnalia through Fowler's account of gifts, feasting and the loosening of social rules.
- Evidence handled with care Learn to separate recorded ritual from interpretation as Fowler weighs scattered clues about Roman worship.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy ancient Rome, curious customs and the roots of religion, and who like a scholar who weighs clues and admits what stays a mystery.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The Roman year was a clumsy machine
- Months and days carried religious meaning
- Surviving calendars let us rebuild the Republic
- March belongs to Mars and his dancing priests
- April guards the growing crops and herds
- May fears ghosts and brings the Bona Dea
- Summer festivals keep lost gods and ancient oaths
- Harvest festivals and Jupiter's feast
- Autumn ends with a horse and winter begins with fun
- January and February prepare the year and the dead
- Roman religion rested on duty rather than belief
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Le feste romane nel periodo della Repubblica
by W. Warde Fowler · 1899
Fowler follows Rome’s religious calendar through the year, exploring its festivals and rituals.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with medium classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
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In short
How did a Roman farmer spend the year? On the first of March, the sacred fire of Vesta is lit anew.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The Roman year was a clumsy machine
Fowler begins with the problem of counting time. The Romans mixed moon and sun so carelessly that by the last century of the Republic the calendar had lost touch with both.
The state calendar rested on the year credited to Numa, with twelve months. To keep pace with the sun, the priests added extra days to February in a four year cycle. The cycle ran too long, and the pontiffs were careless. In the end the calendar ran several weeks ahead of the seasons. Julius Caesar settled it with the mathematician Sosigenes. He stretched the year 46 BC to four hundred and forty five days and added one day every fourth year.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1899
- Language
- Italiano
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Fowler, W. Warde. The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-festivals-of-the-period-of-the-republic.
Fowler, W. W. (2026). The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-festivals-of-the-period-of-the-republic (Original work published 1899)
Fowler, W. Warde. The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-festivals-of-the-period-of-the-republic.
@book{fowler2026roman,
author = {Fowler, W. Warde},
title = {The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-festivals-of-the-period-of-the-republic},
note = {First published 1899}
}
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What is The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic about?
It goes through the Roman religious calendar month by month, starting in March, and explains each festival, its rites, its gods and the doubts scholars have. It shows how an early farming people ordered life through ritual.
Why does Fowler begin the Roman year in March?
Month names after June are numbers counted from March, and the sacred fire of Vesta was renewed on the first of March. January became the official start only later, probably in 153 BC, when consuls took office.
What were the Lupercalia and the Salii?
The Lupercalia was a February rite in which young men in goat skins ran round the Palatine striking women to promote fertility. The Salii were warrior priests of Mars who danced with sacred shields through Rome in March.
The author
W. Warde Fowler
1847–1921 · English classicist and ornithologist
William Warde Fowler (1847–1921) was a British classicist and ornithologist. He lived and worked in Oxford, where he taught at Lincoln College. He wrote about ancient Roman religion and British birds. His books included The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic, published in 1899.
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