pr. Id. Mart.
March 14 in Ancient Rome
Equirria and Mamuralia: horse races for Mars
Racing for Mars, unless the Tiber floods
festivalRepublic & Empire (annual)
Roman calendar date
Horse races were run for Mars on the Campus Martius; the Calendar of 354 calls the day Mamuralia after the legendary smith of the sacred shields.
Background
Rome held two Equirria, horse races in honour of Mars: one on 27 February and a second on 14 March, at the start of the war god's month. They took place on the Campus Martius, the broad "Field of Mars" in a bend of the Tiber that had once been an exercise ground for the citizen army.
Ovid describes the day in a few lines: when the sun had risen and set six times after the Nones, "you will see horse races again on the Campus, that grassy plain that Tiber's winding waters wash." He adds a detail that rings true for a low-lying city: if the river had flooded the field, the races moved to the dusty Caelian hill. Spring floods of the Tiber were a regular hazard for the people who lived and worked near it.
By the fourth century the Calendar of 354 names 14 March as the Mamuralia, after Mamurius, the smith who in legend made the copies of the sacred shield. Later writers connect the name with a ritual in which a man dressed in skins was beaten and driven out of the city late and disputed evidence, perhaps an expulsion of the old year. What the calendar itself tells us is only the name.
Ancient source: Ovid, Fasti 3.517–522; Calendar of 354 (Prid. Id. Mart.: MAMVRALIA) · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 15°/5°C (59°/41°F) · rain 20% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Columella
West wind or south wind; sometimes north-east wind. (De Re Rust. 11.2)
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
All days in March →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.
“Tomorrow's life is too late: live today.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.15 · translation ours (literal)
