gifts for the Roman festival of Saturnalia

On the 19th December, the Trust retweeted a Tweet by Following Hadrian, @carolemadge . The Tweet read: What did ancient Romans give each other for Saturnalia? Here’s a list of 223 possible gifts by the poet Martial http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book14.htm . The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia was originally held on the 17th December. It developed into a seven-day festival which was held on the 17th-23rd December. The 23rd December was when the Romans celebrated Sigillaria by exchanging gifts. The 25th December was the festival of Sol Invictus (the celebration of the birthday of the sun).* The festival of Saturnalia included public feasts at the Temple of Saturn and private feasts, as well as gambling with dice. It was, apparently, customary to attach a written epigram or motto to your gift and the Roman poet Martial wrote 223 epigrams about Saturnalia gifts, each one being a kind of riddle in the form of a rhyming couplet. The gifts described in the epigrams range from dice, a dice-box, a gaming-table and nuts to gamble with, to writing materials, drinking-vessels, small figurines (the sigillaria) and special foodstuffs. One gift is a red cloak, although this seems to be a joke about not wearing the colours of the blue and green chariot-racing factions of the Roman circuses in Rome.

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) of Hispania – modern Spain – was born in AD 38-41 and died in AD 102-104. He wrote twelve books of Epigrams and these were published in Rome between AD 86 and AD 103. Two sets of his epigrams are about gifts, ie those given during Saturnalia and those given to guests at feasts, including special foods such as lentils, a jar of Syrian figs, grapes, and dates on the stem. According to Martial, gilded dates or dates on the stem were given as a gift or an offering on the kalends (the 1st) of January, to celebrate the new year. Coincidentally, in 2014, the Trust excavated a large assemblage of Roman foodstuffs on our site at the Williams & Griffin store in Colchester, including lentils, figs, grapes, and even some dates on the stem…

Read about the gifts for Saturnalia at ‘Dormice and other Saturnalia gifts’, by author Caroline Lawrence, at http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dormice-and-other-saturnalia-gifts.html and ‘On the Feast of Saturnalia, my master gave to me…’ at www.ashmolean.org/ashwpress/latininscriptions/2014/12/12/on-the-feast-of-saturnalia-my-master-gave-to-me/ . See the 223 epigrams by Martial in translation at www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book14.htm .

Follow the Trust on Twitter as @CATRomanCircus at https://twitter.com/CATRomanCircus and follow @carolemadge on Twitter at https://twitter.com/carolemadge .

The image shows the five gold rings of the Roman ‘Fenwick treasure’ from our site within the Williams & Griffin store.

 

 

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* In the Christian calendar, the 25th December is, of course, Christmas Day, the birthday of Jesus. The Christmas festival consists of ‘the twelve days of Christmas’, from the 25th December to the 6th January. ‘The twelve days of Christmas’ is a traditional carol about the gifts of Christmas, full of Christian religious symbolism: one version of the carol is published online at www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm :

On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!

(In 2014, the Trust discovered the Roman ‘Fenwick treasure’ within the Williams & Griffin store in the High Street at Colchester and, coincidentally, this included five gold rings…)

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