Regifugium
TheRegifugium( "Flight of the King" ) orFugalia( "Festival of the Flight" ) was an annualreligiousfestivalthat took place inancient RomeeveryFebruary 24(Latin:a.d. VI Kal. Mart.).
History
[edit]VarroandOvidtraced the observance to the flight of the lastking of Rome,Tarquinius Superbus,in510 BC.In hisFasti,Ovid offers the longest surviving account of the observance:
Now I must tell of the flight of the King, six days from the end of the month.[a]The last of the Tarquins possessed the Roman nation, an unjust man, but nevertheless strong in war.[b]
Plutarchholds that therex sacrorumplayed as a substitute for the former king of Rome in various religious rituals. Therexheld no civic or military role, but nevertheless was bound to offer a publicsacrificein theComitiaon this date. The "flight of the king" was the swift exit the proxy king was required to make from that place of public business. It may be that the two versions are to be reconciled by taking the "flight" of therex sacrorumas a reenactment of the expulsion of Tarquinius.[1]
See also
[edit]- February 24
- Terminaliaand otherRoman festivals
Notes
[edit]- ^Actually five days, but reckonedinclusively.
- ^Latin:Nunc mihi dicenda est regis fuga. Traxit ab illa sextus ab extremo nomina mense dies. Ultima Tarquinius Romanæ gentis habebat regna, vir iniustus, fortis ad arma tamen.
References
[edit]- ^William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D., "Regifugium" inA Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities(London, 1875)
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