Religious calendar

See also: Roman calendar

Ides

The Ides (the midpoint of the month, with a full moon) was sacred to Jupiter, because on that day heavenly light shone day and night.^[71] Some (or all) Ides were Feriae Iovis, sacred to Jupiter.^[72] On the Ides, a white lamb (ovis idulis) was led along Rome's Sacred Way to the Capitoline Citadel and sacrificed to him.^[73] Jupiter's two epula Iovis festivals fell on the Ides, as did his temple foundation rites as Optimus Maximus, Victor, Invictus and (possibly) Stator.^[74]

Nundinae

The nundinae recurred every ninth day, dividing the calendar into a market cycle analogous to a week. Market days gave rural people (pagi) the opportunity to sell in town and to be informed of religious and political edicts, which were posted publicly for three days. According to tradition, these festival days were instituted by the king Servius Tullius.^[75] The high priestess of Jupiter (Flaminica Dialis) sanctified the days by sacrificing a ram to Jupiter.^[76]

Festivals

See also: Roman festivals

During the Republican era, more fixed holidays on the Roman calendar were devoted to Jupiter than to any other deity.^[77]

Viniculture and wine

Festivals of viniculture and wine were devoted to Jupiter, since grapes were particularly susceptible to adverse weather.^[78] Dumézil describes wine as a "kingly" drink with the power to inebriate and exhilarate, analogous to the Vedic Soma.^[79]
Three Roman festivals were connected with viniculture and wine.
The rustic Vinalia altera on August 19 asked for good weather for ripening the grapes before harvest.^[80] When the grapes were ripe,^[81] a sheep was sacrificed to Jupiter and the flamen Dialis cut the first of the grape harvest.^[82]
The Meditrinalia on October 11 marked the end of the grape harvest; the new wine was pressed, tasted and mixed with old wine^[83] to control fermentation. In the Fasti Amiternini, this festival is assigned to Jupiter. Later Roman sources invented a goddess Meditrina, probably to explain the name of the festival.^[84]
At the Vinalia urbana on April 23, new wine was offered to Jupiter.^[85] Large quantities of it were poured into a ditch near the temple of Venus Erycina, which was located on the Capitol.^[86]

Regifugium and Poplifugium

See also: Regifugium and Poplifugia

The Regifugium ("King's Flight")^[87] on February 24 has often been discussed in connection with the Poplifugia on July 5, a day holy to Jupiter.^[88] The Regifugium followed the festival of Iuppiter Terminus (Jupiter of Boundaries) on February 23. Later Roman antiquarians misinterpreted the Regifugium as marking the expulsion of the monarchy, but the "king" of this festival may have been the priest known as the rex sacrorum who ritually enacted the waning and renewal of power associated with the New Year (March 1 in the old Roman calendar).^[89] A temporary vacancy of power (construed as a yearly "interregnum") occurred between the Regifugium on February 24 and the New Year on March 1 (when the lunar cycle was thought to coincide again with the solar cycle), and the uncertainty and change during the two winter months were over.^[90] Some scholars emphasize the traditional political significance of the day.^[91]
The Poplifugia ("Routing of Armies"^[92]), a day sacred to Jupiter, may similarly mark the second half of the year; before the Julian calendar reform, the months were named numerically, Quintilis (the fifth month) to December (the tenth month).^[93] The Poplifugia was a "primitive military ritual" for which the adult male population assembled for purification rites, after which they ritually dispelled foreign invaders from Rome.^[94]

Epula Iovis

See also: Epulum Jovis

There were two festivals called epulum Iovis ("Feast of Jove"). One was held on September 13, the anniversary of the foundation of Jupiter's Capitoline temple. The other (and probably older) festival was part of the Plebeian Games (Ludi Plebei), and was held on November 13.^[95] In the 3rd century BC, the epulum Iovis became similar to a lectisternium.^[96]

Ludi

See also: Ludi

The most ancient Roman games followed after one day (considered a dies ater, or "black day", i. e. a day which was traditionally considered unfortunate even though it was not nefas, see also article Glossary of ancient Roman religion) the two Epula Iovis of September and November.
The games of September were named Ludi Magni; originally they were not held every year, but later became the annual Ludi Romani^[97] and were held in the Circus Maximus after a procession from the Capitol. The games were attributed to Tarquinius Priscus,^[98] and linked to the cult of Jupiter on the Capitol. Romans themselves acknowledged analogies with the triumph, which Dumézil thinks can be explained by their common Etruscan origin; the magistrate in charge of the games dressed as the triumphator and the pompa circensis resembled a triumphal procession. Wissowa and Mommsen argue that they were a detached part of the triumph on the above grounds^[99] (a conclusion which Dumézil rejects).^[100]
The Ludi Plebei took place in November in the Circus Flaminius.^[101] Mommsen argued that the epulum of the Ludi Plebei was the model of the Ludi Romani, but Wissowa finds the evidence for this assumption insufficient.^[102] The Ludi Plebei were probably established in 534 BC. Their association with the cult of Jupiter is attested by Cicero.^[103]

Larentalia

The feriae of December 23 were devoted to a major ceremony in honour of Acca Larentia (or Larentina), in which some of the highest religious authorities participated (probably including the Flamen Quirinalis and the pontiffs). The Fasti Praenestini marks the day as feriae Iovis, as does Macrobius.^[104] It is unclear whether the rite of parentatio was itself the reason for the festival of Jupiter, or if this was another festival which happened to fall on the same day. Wissowa denies their association, since Jupiter and his flamen would not be involved with the underworld or the deities of death (or be present at a funeral rite held at a gravesite).^[105]