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84:. It was held for seven days from mid- to late April. Various agricultural festivals were held in the "last half of April". The Cerealia celebrated the harvest, and may have begun on the 19th. Surviving descriptions of Rome's city festival of Ceres are presumably urban versions of an originally rustic, agricultural festival. In his treatise on agriculture,
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explanation: long ago, at ancient
Carleoli, a farm-boy caught a fox stealing chickens and tried to burn it alive. The fox escaped, ablaze; in its flight it set fire to the fields and their crops. As these were both sacred to Ceres, foxes are punished at her festival ever since.
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coin in honor of the event. This was an indirect appeal for continued political support in the distribution of free or subsidised grain, a particular interest of the plebs. His innovations led to his claim to have presented "the first
Cerealia".
111:. The origin and purpose of this ritual is unknown; it may have been intended to cleanse the growing crops and protect them from disease and vermin, or to add warmth and vitality to their growth. Ovid offers an
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or "Games of Ceres" were held as part of the festival in the Circus
Maximus. Ovid mentions a ritual in which Ceres' search for her lost daughter
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167:(circus games), which opened with a horse race in the Circus Maximus. The starting place was just below the Aventine Temple of Ceres,
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155:. Theirs was an elected position, with both political and religious obligations; Ceres was one of the patron deities of the
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The
Cerealia is listed on the oldest Roman calendars, and its institution in the city is attributed to the semi-legendary
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or common people. The
Cerealia was an occasion for exclusively plebeian banquets. The Cerealia festival included
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Hayne, Léonie. “THE FIRST CERIALIA.” L’Antiquité Classique, vol. 60, 1991, p. 132. JSTOR,
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Rome's traditional religious festivals, including the
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245:(University of Texas Press, 1996), pp. 36–37.
175:. After around 175 BC, the Cerealia included
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271:, Macmillan and Co., 1899, Mens Aprilis, ff.
322:(Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 137.
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88:recommends that farmers sacrifice a sow (
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304:http://www.jstor.org/stable/41655332
341:Tertullian.org: Chronography of 354
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781:Ancient Roman games festivals
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133:; this probably refers to
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331:Hayne, 1991, pp. 131-140
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243:The Roman Goddess Ceres
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203:Calendar of Philocalus
36:ancient Roman religion
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205:, 354 AD
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209:See also
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187:denarius
123:Ceriales
78:festival
40:Cerealia
750:Vinalia
690:Rosalia
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575:Lucaria
565:Lemuria
520:Feralia
500:Divalia
153:aediles
131:torches
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173:Libera
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38:, the
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282:Fasti
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169:Liber
158:plebs
141:with
82:Ceres
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171:and
121:Ludi
105:Ovid
51:ɪər
34:In
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